Sewing Machine for Prototyping recommendation

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At $300 it’s going to be very challenging to get a solid industrial walking foot, but not impossible if you’re willing to put in time waiting for the right deal. I would get the craigslist app if you don’t have it already and set up as many alerts for all relevant keywords: Consew, Pfaff, Juki, Singer, Brother, Sailrite, Seiko, walking foot, Industrial Sewing etc.

At that budget range you might be waiting for a while and if you do find something be sure to bring lots of heavy duty test material and run the machine for significant time to make sure it’s not a lemon. Bring a bottle of high quality sewing machine oil since many industrial machines often sit idle for years and can seize up when not regularly used. I have a Consew 206RB-2 walking foot and it was in serious need of oil when I got it.

A lot of industrial machines are often sold as just the “head” unit, so it’s possible to buy the head, then get an industrial sewing table to mount it (maybe $50 if you get a really great deal on CL) then mount a 1/3 or 1/2 HP clutch motor (crappy no name ones can be found for $100 but don’t expect much and they are challenging to control depending on how you gear them). That would leave about ~$150 budget for the head unit which would be an amazing deal for walking foot.

Are you sure you need a walking foot? What’s the heaviest material package you’re looking to run through the machine? For $300 to $400 you could probably pick up a decent industrial (non walking foot machine).

One last thought, pretty much every major city has at least a couple industrial sewing machine service places/retailers. Go sniff around there, befriend the owner and let them know you’re interested in getting your hands dirty but are on a tight budget. I’ve found the 3-4 I’ve befriended were always pretty open to cutting me a deal once they knew I was genuinely interested in the machines and not just trying to be cheap.

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If the majority use is 10-20 oz duck canvasthen a walking foot is probably overkill. If you think you’ll be quickly moving up to heavier stuff like full grain leather, stitching through foam padding, etc. then it’s worth it in the long run.

Honestly for that weight of fabric you could get by with a decent home machine, the big thing is you have to use an appropriate heavy duty needle and upgrade your thread to a bonded nylon or something similar that can take the extra tension and won’t fray as it’s passing through multiple layers.

I was using a Singer 4423 Heavy Duty home machine for a while and was able to run 4 layers of duck canvas, or two layers of full grain leather pretty easily with the appropriate needle, thread and tension settings. http://www.amazon.com/4423-Extra-High-Machine-Stainless-Bedplate/dp/B003VWXZQ0

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I bought one of these in Shanghai for about $70, new. Had it for four years now and has done numerous prototypes. Rough but does the job. They list on ebay for $200. They will sew through four-five layers of leather without flinching. Very manual machine, great for webbing prototyping, five-six layers of seatbelt webbing, no problem.

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Congrats on your purchase Keno, Gaby looks pretty!