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Sewing machine to purchase

N

Newhunter1

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Dec 20, 2018
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What should I look for in a sewing machine to sew heavy webbing, canvas and other items to make my stuff. Also where should I source the thread and what should I look for in the thread. How much weight per stitch?


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@ckossuth , @skell , @Squirrels , and @JCLINE84 could all answer better than me, but if you want to buy once cry once get the Juki DDL-8700H. There are older machines that work fine too, all depends how many layers you will be sewing through. I couldn't sew through 4 layers of webbing with my wife's old home machine and it struggles at times with 3 layers. An older machine with metal gears is what you are looking for.
 
I tend to agree with @DanO. I have a couple of older machines (1953 Singer 201 & 1970ish Kenmore) that I get by with. I would have a heavier duty machine if I had the spare money to throw around. Daycare kind of limits my fun money. I keep my eye on the ads watching for a used industrial machine.

I'm pretty sure I put at least a little info on looking for older machines in the sewing thread: http://www.saddlehunter.com/community/index.php?posts/86572

If you are only doing a couple items. You can probably get by with an all metal older home machine. With mine, if it is really struggling... I turn the wheel manually to spare the motor.

If you have a bunch of stuff planned. Save yourself some frustration and fork out the money for a bigger machine.

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What about the speedy stitcher? I only wNt to make some adjustable tethers and bridges. My webbings are rated for 6000lbs


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Newhunter1 said:
What about the speedy stitcher? I only wNt to make some adjustable tethers and bridges. My webbings are rated for 6000lbs


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Do not make life supporting equipment with a speedy stitcher. Only plan to do that with the proper machine and knowledge of what your doing. Don’t take this the wrong way but you need to remove the idea from your mind in regards to making tethers and bridges until you get some really good sewing experience under your belt, even if you drop $700 plus in a new machine. I just don’t want to see you hurt brother.


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Squirrels said:
Do not make life supporting equipment with a speedy stitcher. Only plan to do that with the proper machine and knowledge of what your doing. Don’t take this the wrong way but you need to remove the idea from your mind in regards to making tethers and bridges until you get some really good sewing experience under your belt, even if you drop $700 plus in a new machine. I just don’t want to see you hurt brother.


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That helps. I took some webbings to our local upholstery shop and he sewn several items for me that held me in the tree.

Thanks..:I’ll just leave this to the experts.


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Really important to get the right machine, the right thread for your project, and use the right stitch pattern. Also experience helps a lot and that comes from just jumping in and making stuff. Gradually taking on bigger projects. I look at some things I made a couple years ago and I am disgusted by the stitching. At the time I thought it was "pretty good".
One more thing, dont just assume because you are making stitches that they are proper stitches. Get to know your machine and how to set it up to sew a certain material or thread weight. This mostly comes from experience as well so buy a machine, start small, and enjoy making things. You will gradually move up to bigger projects with better outcomes
 
I have just acquired a really old singer 96-49 so going to see how i get on my other singer wasn't really up to the webbing side of things as the plastic gear let go, this is all metal and looking through the book handles all kinds of materials and threads, fingers crossed we can start turning a hand to some nice gear. good luck wayne
 
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