Recommendations please for new or second hand heavy duty sewing machines.
I want to use it for sewing canvas, upholstery, heavy duty cushions, recommissioning old sails, jeep covers etc. I’m using a regular sewing machine right now, but of course it’s very limiting, the largest needle I can use is a 10 and it’s struggling with that.
I’ve been looking on ebay - there are some ancient machines there for very reasonable prices, but I would imagine parts would be an issue.
Old Singers are a good bet - the parts are simple and common, and lots of people service them. You also used to be able to send away to Singer for the manual to any model they ever sold. Not sure if that’s still possible.
I used to have a 99k. That’s a household model from the 50s/60s. They don’t make 'em like that anymore! It easily passed through 4 layers of 1200D nylon, a layer of webbing, and two layers of synthetic fleece.
Are you using a “denimn neeedle” when sewing heavy fabrics? It has an extra sharp point and is more stiff than a regular needle.
Seriously? I frickin’ love the internet.
YEah, I would say go with older rather than newer.
My grandmother was a seamstress her entire life, so she had 80 years’ worth of sewing machines in her house. And she’d go from one to the other, depending on what she wanted to do.
One day, she went and spent something like 40 thousand dollars <!!!> on a fancy sewing machine that took up half the room; I think you could sew tents on it without a problem. It did EVERYTHING you could possibly imagine: it was before personal computers were big, but it had stuff programmed into it that would have made the 3-D printers jealous.
And she hardly used it. 
On top of it being ‘just too complicated to get REAL work’ done on it, when it broke down…and it did that often, for some reason…she had to wait for someone to come fix it, and that took weeks or months, because they came from…Sweden? I want to say Sweden, or Norway…I don’t think I am imagining that, this was at least 30 years ago, but still. It was crazy.
For what you’ve described, you want a walking foot.
Have a look at Consew 206 or 208, Pfaff 545 or 1245, as well as Adler and Juki. Oddly enough, most of these models may be 20 years old, but are still being made, just with fairly minor enhancements.
These workhorses hold their value pretty well, so unless youre familiar with fixing and evaluating sewing machines, it may be just as well to buy new. A quick look at eBay shows someone selling a new Consew 206 RB5 head for $985 and free shipping, or someone else has a really old used head without reverse for $660, plus shipping. Believe me…you want reverse, so skip that particular relic. You can get a new current model with motor and table for $1100-1300.
Or, if money is tight and this will be a lowish volume hobby sort of need, check out the Sailrite. For about $600-700, it’s pretty much a portable clone of the Consew 206 and is complete with motor and case.
Thanks everyone. Money is tight, so I was looking at old Singers - that’s the brand I’m most familiar with too.
Also I’d be shipping overseas and paying duties on arrival here, so I think I might choose a couple of old Singers, they seem to be going pretty cheap.
I would be expecting to make money with it, but I don’t have any huge job lined up to make a USD$700 investment - also as I said it will cost quite a lot to ship and clear even if I get a $50 machine.
Yes I do use demin needles.
So again thanks for all the comments and the Singer link. I’m presently beating up an old Brother but it seems to have lost the will to zig zag, and it can’t handle more than a couple of thicknesses.
I have the Sailrite LSZ-1, and I love it, but it isn’t an inexpensive machine. For upholstery, and other heavy work, you want a true walking foot machine, not one with a pseudo “walking foot” attachment. Trust me on that.
Sailrite… A regular home machine, even an older one, just isn’t up to the task of heavy work.