New sewing machine.

[DTill]

I've been useing a brother xr 1300, following  pfaff 1222's on ebay. Are there any other machines in should be looking for? Looking for heavy duty with a walking  foot. All and any old pfaff's, Japanese built Kenmore, whites, singer heavy duty44__ series? 

[DTill]

Picked up a Singer kinda "Heavy Duty 4432" for 25$ at a thrift store today. Almost grabbed a Sears Kenmore 1311 made in Japan w/ a 1.2amp motor earlier. This was to new and cheap to pass up.

[DTill]

 Then I  picked up this beauty. White model 8000, Made in Japan. Super smooth, pedal feed. 19.99 at a local thrift store. Start trolling the stores, this stuff is out there! Just ordered a walking foot and some bobbins for 20$.

[DTill]

Better pic?

[DTill]

 https://www.pinterest.com/pin/385339311845271109/ Would love to find one of  these.

[Wayne Dowler]

Just be aware of the distance, body to needle. Not sure what projects you have in mind, but a bigger gap lets you feed more material through easier. That and the ability to sew thick materials.

[DTill]

This machine has a deeper needle to base than the others. Messin around with big thread, and themed center panel.

[Paul LaMasters]

Harold (Kitsquid) Ames had an industrial sewing machine that could stitch a couple of times THRU a quarter.  

He could source kite building stuff from Mars. I could buy a 1/4 width but Squid gets a six inch roll!  We had some great times doing cooperative building projects together.  Alas other interests have been deemed more important, but I miss the big fella

 

[DTill]

Dropped the deck on the table. Built it to fit the girlfriends machine. Will cut out a filler plate to fit the White machine.

[riffclown]

Nice work.

[DTill]

Found the unicorn, Pfaff 1222 in great shape, serviced a year ago, local Craigslist $125. 

[eric67m]

I recently picked up a pfaff 1214 from craigslist for $200. 

So far it seems to work fairly well. I have been working on heavy duty projects like a fur suit for my daughter and some thicker material for covering my kite buggy while transporting it on the back of my car. 

[eric67m]

I also picked up a Singer 500a "Rocketeer" from facebook marketplace. Only has a couple of chips in the paint.   It is one of the last all metal gear machines built by Singer. I like that the multi step zig zag on the Singer is more adjustable than on the Phaff.

[DTill]

So I've been having some issues with the pfaff. The bobbin timing doesn't seem to hold a set. One local store told me to trash to and buy a more modern  machine. I'd  like some opinions, does anyone need a 1222 parts machine? I'd rather fix it than part it out. Is it worth sending to brubacker`s sewing  for a repair. Seems to be the Pfaff guy.https://brubakerssewing.com/welcome-2/parts-service/  

 

[DTill]

Guess what time it is? Time to take apart a Pfaff time.👎👎 I never what to take apart a Pfaff. Although I'll probably learn how to time a Pfaff this week.

[Wayne Dowler]

Hope you have good luck on that!!

[DTill]

Not sure what revived this thread, but a new contrbuter is always welome. Picked up a Pfaff 1525 recently, the pedal feed is actually smoother than the 1222. To bad that one is still in the shop.

[John Barresi]

It was a spammer, but still good to hear you're sewing @DTill!

[DTill]

I thought it was a weird post. Anything to worry about?

[John Barresi]

Only one guy with the master keys.

[savcolletti]

On 3/10/2019 at 10:00 PM, DTill said:

I've been useing a brother xr 1300, following  pfaff 1222's on ebay. Are there any other machines in should be looking for? Looking for heavy duty with a walking  foot. All and any old pfaff's, Japanese built Kenmore, whites, singer heavy duty44__ series? 

I can not figure out how to adjust the timing of the bobbin and the hook CAN YOU PLEASE HELP ME nobody on the internet has a 1300 it’s hard to find any help.

[Icarus]

On 3/13/2019 at 1:10 AM, DTill said:

Picked up a Singer kinda "Heavy Duty 4432" for 25$ at a thrift store today. Almost grabbed a Sears Kenmore 1311 made in Japan w/ a 1.2amp motor earlier. This was to new and cheap to pass up.

Is the Singer 4432 okay for stunt kite kite making? How have you got on with it? I'm wondering about getting a 4411. I'd only be making a few kites and repairs for myself. 

Thanks in advance

[ifitcanfly]

Long time kite flier and many other hobby flying things.  Have built flying models of all sorts for decades, but never have attempted to sew!  It is time I dive into this and want to over the winter months.  Reading through the above posts which are a couple of years old, I wonder what the current recommendation for a starter sewing machine would be?  Any new recommendations?   thanks!

 

[Fireliner]

I have no special recommendations on witch machine you "should" buy as it seems that most machines has their own shortcomings. (new /old/plastics/metal/longevity/features/condition) I could think of a couple of things that may be helpful and one is "walking foot" and also make sure you get the 3 stitch zigzag. 

Most consumer oriented machines has comparable power(might need some help for many layers of dacron at low speeds.)

Sewingmachines are fascinating little machines.

[ifitcanfly]

thanks for the comments!  I'm excited to see if my sewing skills will rise to the challenge :)