Sewing Machine?

Brian L. wrote:You want sharp needles. Dull needles are more likely to catch and tear a thread in the webbing, and will make your machine work much harder than it needs to. Ball point needles are only to be used with knit materials, not woven materials. Inspect your needles before starting a project.

You need to make sure the needle is not a diamond tip what ever you do. I've done a bit of sewn eye splicing in my arborist ropes and the diamond bit cuts the materials once the compression gets high enough due to the density of the stitches.

Dan Provasnik wrote: You need to make sure the needle is not a diamond tip what ever you do. I've done a bit of sewn eye splicing in my arborist ropes and the diamond bit cuts the materials once the compression gets high enough due to the density of the stitches.

Yeah, I think those are meant for sewing leather. The diamond tip helps to slice through the leather, instead of just making a small puncture and trying to force it wider like a regular needle would.

I've got the Singer 3232. Joann's was having an awesome sale and I snagged it for around $70. I used it to make a Tentsile Stingray clone tentsile.com/collections/fr… (for a lot less than $650 I might add) and it was able to handle it for the most part.I say for the most part because I did end up breaking 3 needles when I was going through two layers of tow strap and two layers of 420D rip stop... Yeah I might have been pushing the capabilities, but it pulled through!I'm not sure what the difference is between the 3232 and the heavy duty models, but they look pretty similar at a glance.

I have a pfaff 145, one of these babies:

A remnant from our pack making days in the 80's. Floor shaker, yes, but it's on a concrete base so solid. And yep, really steep learning curve to learn to control the beast/ clutch motor. I modded the clutch lever to slow it down, and still want to change pulley sizes to reduce speed further, but at least can handle the beast now.

Glad we still have it, it has been a total work horse for everything. The heavy duty walking foot handles many layers of fabric, webbing, stitching through foam pack belts etc.

We used to have another, a Union Special which didn't even have a reverse, it was just a race horse for straight stitching.

One of these years I want to pick up a lighter (but still industrial quality) machine for clothing with a zig zag stitch.

Just to learn sewing, consider a thrift store or craigslist cheapie or auntie's hand me down, just be sure it is working when you get it.

If you want to aquire a machine to last a lifetime, look for one with metal gears. The home consumer grade plastic gears will eventually break, they can be fixed, but service charges are often more than another consumer quality machine. You'll probably get 5-10 years out of a new good brand name machine like Singer anyway.

Stay with main brands. 20 years ago or so, we made the mistake of buying a new Necchi with a range of cool stitches. It never worked right, and we never were willing to pony up more $$ to have it fixed. Piece of crap!

Correct about diamond point needle and webbing, you need ball point needles to part the fibers rather than cut them.

We've always used nylon #69, we bought big spools of the stuff back in the dayand re: the UV issue, we still have nylon cordura, packcloth etc fabrics from the 80's and the thread does not wear out due to UV any faster than the fabric itself.

But, if was buying fabrics and thread now, I'd buy polyester.

I have a Durkopp Adler 767 1hp computer controlled walking foot beast I LOVE. Got it for $800 at a factory closure, should have been double. Very slow sewing, even a foot tap for one stitch is possible. I also have a Brother 42 stitch bartacker machine, which is a lot of fun, but hardly necessary...

If you get a straight stitch industrial, or even an older walking foot (worth it), get an add on servo motor to replace the clutch motor, vastly less frustrating and less hazardous.

mountainhick wrote:I. One of these years I want to pick up a lighter (but still industrial quality) machine for clothing with a zig zag stitch.

What is wrong with the blue one in the photo? The Singer 20U.

There are sewing machines in between home and industrial. Look up Reliable Barracuda 200 it will sew straight, zig zag and it has a walking foot. All that for 400 new. I think it is marketed for sewing sails.
I wish it had a cylinder bed

Check out the sailrite LSz-1. Straight and zigzag with reverse and a walking foot.
A home machine will have a hard time with the larger threads and will be quite difficult with doubled tubular webbing. If you try with a home machine you will have to be a master at setting lower thread tension.

sailrite LSz-1 and reliable barracuda 200 is the same sewing machine. Sailrite looks like it has a nicer paint job but it also costs twice as much. There are a couple companies making the same sewing machine since the 50's

Toyota Super jeans might be another option if you like fancy stitches

I bought my first machine (Dresmaker) from Paul pianna around 1988 when he and his wife used to make Lycra tights. A year later I bought a singer 6235 that I still use for general sewing. And around 1990 I bought a Juki LU562 walking foot industrial that uses size 16-24 needles. This thing will sew through just about anything (I have made my own padded pack straps with 1/2" foams cordura and webbing) it sees heavy vinyl haul bags. Trampoline decks.

I would tell you start with an old heavy duty machine and if you desire more get an industrial machine or I would tell you the Sail Rite. Use #69 bonded nylon thread. Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics, The Rain Shed, Rockywoods and Denver Fabrics are all good sources for patterns, books, materials and good advice.

Keep an eye out for other businesses going out of business or moving production as you can score well. I bought a lot off Bob Culp from his outdoor clothing company and from Lowe Alpine as they moved from Lafayette to Broomfield and then to offshore production. In the 80's and early 90's it was easier before all the bigger corporations. When mom and pop operations and climber entrepreneurs businesses were quite common and most were willing to help out and share ideas. I used to run in to get ideas from folks like J-Rat, Mountain Mend, Lowe, Pika, Yates, Fish, Bibler ...........

If you never turn it into a business you will become a more in tune customer when it comes to looking at other companies products and you will be able to do your own repairs.

";Necessity is the mother of invention ";

I want to buy heavy duty sewing machine too
Thanks for interesting topic!

I have an old Kenmore 158? and it’s great for most repairs... still haven’t bit the bullet to try to sew a pack or anything technical yet...
The key is metal components rather than plastic which is more common with newer and cheaper machines... 

For those going the Speedy Stitcher route, beware that the needles that come with it are chisel pointed. They can cut fibers when pushed through material.  The points need to be rounded to push through, rather than cut. Tippmann Industries is one place to get round tipped industrial sewing machine needles.

I own a Janome Sewing Machine and it works really well and simplifies the stitching process. 

way to wake the dead in this thread......

anyone looking for the answer to the original posters question, as said above in a few posts, 69 thread will work, its pretty much the equivalent to t-70 or e thread. its what i use for parachute rigging, doing bar tacks, container repairs, and making replacement slings for cams, etc. 4 or 5 bar tacks done correctly on a sling and i guarantee you arent breaking it on a whipper.  get an industrial machine, a home machine is useless for stuff like this. a bar tacker for slings,  a 308  (zig-zig-zag zag) is a great machine for pretty much everything. pseudo bar tacks can be made by doing a few 308 stitches back and forth and a couple straight stitches over it back and forth to lock it in. learn what youre doing first correctly. back up some gear on top rope and take some falls on your experiments, youll be surprised how strong it is. take what i say with a grain of salt. some people wont trust anything unless a huge name company is behind it and its tested. they forget the first sewn slings were made by guys in their loft or basement making gear......<DO SOME RESEARCH AND LEARN WHAT YOU ARE DOING FIRST>

As a sailor I’m familiar with the Sailrite machine. Fantastic unit if you can spring for one. As most have mentioned, industrial units are great if you know what you are getting into. They are not for the faint of heart. I keep mine only because I can’t spring for the Sailrite I’m so envious of.

Layne Zuelke wrote: As a sailor I’m familiar with the Sailrite machine. Fantastic unit if you can spring for one. As most have mentioned, industrial units are great if you know what you are getting into. They are not for the faint of heart. I keep mine only because I can’t spring for the Sailrite I’m so envious of.

Gosh, these are fantastic, Layne. I had to chance to try it (basic one, LSZ-1), and I must admit - this is an amazing device.
Though they're quite pricey, Philipp, and not everyone could afford such a device.

Janome's (aristotle mentioned them) are nice, though I've never considered them to be heavy duty one's. Worked with them, and from my experience my sister's HD3000 can handle most of fabrics, but no leather and thick synthetics, so I've never tried to fix my equipment with it (guess sister would kill me if I try, it's called the sister's love hah!).

Another story with Juki, though a reliable one (DDL 8700, for instance) will cost you about 1k, which is almost the same as LSZ-1.
The choice is yours, ofc, but for repairs I'd choose a Sailrite. These are portable and - from my colleagues words - Sailrite have very nice support. 

Look at the Sailrite LSZ-1 machine. It's a semi industrial. It will handle up to V92 thread (V138 if you push it) which is great for soft production of bags, packs, etc. I use mine to make and repair all kinds of stuff. The good thing about this machine is that it is a straight stitch and also has a zig-zag setting. If you keep stick length as short as possible with the zig-zag, you can get a bar-tack type of stitch, that is more than strong enough for critical attachment points.These are not cheap, but will last a lifetime. Sailrite support is 1st class.

Hi, I don't know if it is still relevant for you, but maybe some one will also look for info on sewing machines. I use Singer 4411 Heavy-Duty it perfectly handle both hard and light fabrics. I hope it would be useful. 

Ted Pinson wrote: Yer gunna die.

And its gonna hurt the whole time