Unfortunately here in Georgia all the rag shops packed up and moved to
Central America or China years ago. Virtually no surplus industrial
machines left around here.
The Singer shop let me bring a demo 550 and a few #18 needles home for the
weekend to try out. Last night I made, or more correctly, butchered, a
small box cushion out of some Sunbrella and V-92 thread. To tell the truth,
anything more powerful would scare the hell out of me! :-)
The hardest part was closing up the last seam where it had to go through 5
layers of Sunbrella and some Velcro and it didn't seem to notice. I do see
that at very low speeds it has trouble starting through more than 5 layers.
I will still keep looking but this machine gives me an idea what is
available for little money that will do the job.
--
Glenn Ashmore
I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or lack
there of) at:
http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division:
http://www.spade-anchor-us.com
"Dennis Pogson" wrote in message
...
Glenn Ashmore wrote:
SWMBO will not let me close to her sewing machine so I am pretty
ignorant on the subject. I need a machine for making cockpit
cushions, canvas items around the boat and minor sail repairs. I
know I need zigzag, enough power to make it through 5 or 6 layers of
Sunbrella and maybe a walking foot but that's about it. Looked at
the Sailrite zigzag machines but they start at $600.
Packed up some Sunbrella scraps and stopped by the Singer store today
and pleaded ignorance. Asked about used machines but they didn't
have any that would do what I wanted but showed me a new CG-550. It
is an all metal "commercial" model which means they sell them to
schools and dry cleaners. It is not glamorous or fancy but it is
pretty heavily made. The lady put in a #18 needle (what ever that
is) loaded it with #92 thread and let me run 8 layers of Sunbrella
through it. Worked great. I could even get it slow enough for a
first timer to keep up with it pretty accurately. It also does 2
point and 4 point zigzag. (See I did learn something!)
I know this thing doesn't have that big honkin' power wheel like the
$800 Sailrite but it did what it was supposed to do, has a 25 year
warranty and only costs $250 plus another $30 for a walking foot .
Am I missing something?
Spent my whole working life in the rag trade. You need an industrial
machine. Heavy, built like a battleship, and usually with 3-phase motor.
Surely some manufacturer who is going bust must advertise in the trade
press
as they usually auction off all the equipment. If you're in the States,
New
York City is the place to look, the garment jungle area. Best zig-zags are
by Pfaff. Don't buy it unless a hefty supply of needles comes with it.
Ball-point for knitted fabric, diamond-point for wovens. Size 18 or 20 to
do
really heavy work, 12-14 for spinnaker repairs. The people who make
webbing
articles will have the right machine. Parachute factories, seatbelt
manufacturers, even sailmakers!
Dennis.