Heavy Duty Industrial Strength Sewing Machine Sews Leather Steel Gears
The sellers making the most money out of selling vintage sewing machines online, are advertising them as " Heavy Duty Industrial Strength Sews Leather Sewing Machine", claiming to have refurbished the machine, and sewn samples on everything from denim & canvas, to leather & an aluminum soda can. Ironically, these same terms are being used to sell new plastic machines, by big brand name sewing machine companies, too, because these click bait terms really snag a lot of buyers!
Some of the machines do live up to the description, but most machines do not. Many offer a guarantee, but remember, their guarantee is only good, as long as they are on EBay, and only if they are still selling under the business name you purchased it under. Anyone can legally describe any machine "heavy duty industrial strength", click bait terms for sure, because it is just an opinion, an advertising gimmick, even if it irritates the heck out of those of us who know exactly how junky some of those machines are! "Sews Leather" is another click bait term used, but keep in mind, that leather can be anything from thick saddle leather, to super fine, thin, soft, suede leather, like is used for a blouse, ladies gloves, or baby moccasins, important details to keep in mind, when bidding on sewing machines online.
Part of their success is due to listing their machines as "all steel" (many are aluminum, not steel, but these guys don't bother to really check), & otherwise hoodwinking unsuspecting buyers. (To test if a metal is aluminum or steel, just use a magnet. A magnet will stick to steel, but will not stick to aluminum.) Many good machines have an aluminum casing or frame, but steel mechanical parts, and having plastic on the outside is okay, as long as the mechanical parts are good quality metal, but even metal gears & parts can break, if used improperly, or if they are poor quality. Newer machines usually have much thinner metal mechanical parts, which help them weigh less, but they typically aren't going to sew as heavy of materials, without stressing the machine, sometimes literally knocking it out of timing. That is the real risk of sewing too firm, or heavy of materials, on lightweight home sewing machines.
 |
| Industrial Singer 31-15 sewing machine with industrial clutch motor, lightweight true industrial machine |
 |
| Industrial Singer 31-15 sewing machine in industrial sewing table, with the industrial bobbin winder installed to the right. |
 |
| Roller feet for sewing leather, velvet, suede, velour, vinyl, plastic, & difficult fabrics industrial sewing machines have special feed dogs & needle plates available, to work properly with the wheel type of feet. The regular bearing style of foot on the far right, is a high shank sewing machine foot. The Sewing accessory on the left, is for a low shank sewing machine, with wide zigzag & 4 rows of feed dogs, so it won't work on machines with narrower feed dogs. |
A regular home sewing machine is capable of sewing very soft, thin suede & leather, but it works best, if you use a special roller presser foot, or teflon foot, or a walking foot, and sometimes, people manage to sew soft, fine leather, with just an ordinary foot, but it is slow, tedious work & because leather catches against the feed dogs & presser foot, setting the stitch length for the longest stitch, you will still wind up with pretty short, tiny stitches, which is why using the roller foot, walking foot, or teflon foot, to help leather & suede feed properly, & evenly.
Keep in mind that even Singer advertised their machines as being strong enough to sew wood paneling, in their embroidery books, but as their technicians told me, it was a great way to talk people into thinking they needed the more expensive model of sewing machine, and while it is possible to literally sew through thin paneling or balsa wood, it does knock a machine out of time, easily, in the same way that sewing too many thick, hard layers of anything, will damage a sewing machine. Common sense should guide you, when purchasing a sewing machine, and advertising hype is just that, hype! Choose a machine according to the type of sewing you plan to do, & use the correct type & size of needle & thread.
Early sewing machines, including the majority of treadle sewing machines, & hand crank sewing machines, were cast iron, but as demand for portable machines increased, cast aluminum machine bodies became the norm, although now, the majority of sewing machines only have a cast aluminum frame, inside the plastic covering, and some new plastic machines, do not even have enough metal frame inside the machine, to actually stay timed. If the feed dogs, bobbin hook & needle bar are not properly timed, the machine cannot form stitches properly.
Be aware that many sewing machines sold with "all steel gears", also have fiber gears, which typically have a resin impregnated fiber, which is stronger than most ordinary "plastic", and while some fiber gears are almost indestructible, others are famous for falling apart, so it is worthwhile to investigate which type your sewing machine has, if any, what condition they are in (if they have been oiled, it causes them to break down, so make sure the fiber gears have not been oiled) and whether or not you are willing to pay a technician to replace them, and/or replace them yourself, and retime the machine, afterwards.
 | ||||
Pfaff 229 note the white fiber gear, 1/3 of the way down, in the photo, in the upper quarter if the photo. I've never seen, or heard of anyone having these gears break, not even my many sewing machine repair friends, but it is important to note that these machines are regularly sold as "all metal", but they do have this fiber gear, as well as a timing belt, which has the metal staple like cleats in it,and the pottery handwheel. These are some of the heaviest, fastest, high quality home sewing machines ever made, but it is important to note that they do have some parts which can be damaged from sewing too heavy of materials, or improper use.
|
https://khkgears.net/gear-knowledge/introduction-to-gears/characteristics-of-gears/
What is the difference between a true industrial sewing machine, and a home sewing machine? A true industrial usually is designed to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and the motor is anywhere from the size of a gallon of milk, to 2 gallons of milk, and is bolted to the underside of a large, ugly, industrial table, with steel legs, & a treadle style pedal. The motors are either clutch motors, or a servo motor, which are much larger, & heavier than a home sewing machines motor. Because industrials sew at such high speeds, the needles become hot, from the friction, of sewing through fabric so quickly, so specialized needles, often with titanium coating, are common.
Industrial machine heads are usually much larger, heavier, with thicker, stronger internal parts, and because they are expected to run at much higher speeds, typically 1,500 to 6,000 stitches per minute, they usually have built in lubrication systems, which include an oil pump, and the machine base sits in an oil pan. Some lower speed, older industrial machines don't have the pressurized lubrication system, but require more frequent stops, to clean & oil the machine, like my Singer 31-15.
Most industrial sewing machines take high shank presser feet, which come in thousands of different, specialized designs, shapes, & sizes, as well as having many folders & specialty accessories to help sew elastic, bias tape, rolled hems, velvet, leather, cording, & any other kind of fancy detail work you desire!
Some are walking foot machines, others have a wheel, instead of a presser foot, and industrial machine come in all kinds of configurations, from looking like a home sewing machine, to huge, computerized sewing stations, which are only loaded by humans, and do all the sewing on their own, at speeds higher than a human is capable of safely handling. Industrials are usually more specialized machines, many only sew one type of product, like a buttonhole, or sewing on a button, there are machines that only sew on pockets, like for jeans. Blind hemmers are another specialized industrial sewing machine, which sew a chain stitch, very fast, very well. Industrials come in all sizes & types, but expect them to generally be larger, heavier, and more complicated, than your home sewing machine, unless you get a straight stitch only, lock stitch industrial machine, like my Singer 31-15.
I personally consider Zeus on Ebay, to be the Pfaff expert, & regularly recommend sewing machine mechanics & technicians like Ray White of WhiteSewingCenter.com, as sewing machine repair gurus to aspire to be like! There are many other incredible people who know their sewing machines, & freely share their knowledge with strangers online, hoping to keep these sewing treasures from being wasted in landfills. I salute all who are committed to helping not only other people, but committed to the "green idea" of keeping these mechanical treasures in running condition, & teaching upcoming generations the joy of creation, the pleasure of being able to build on the inventions & ideas of generations already past.
One of my online sewing friends, Wk Binger (Wayne) has created a wonderful new Vintage Sewing Center and Museum, Inc. in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he has refurbished hundreds of machines, & collected probably thousands of machines, with everything from the early hand crank & treadle sewing machines, through the beginning electrical sewing machines, & even computer run embroidery sewing machines! He has home sewing machines, as well as industrial sewing machines of a variety of sizes & types, even machines for sewing BOOKS, or boots & shoes!
I highly recommend visiting and/or joining the Facebook group online, to help you learn about, & keep up, with the various classes, tutorials, and new collections!
Wayne has even created a children's room, with a child sized treadle machine, and a variety of wonderful children's sewing machines. Believe it or not, Wayne actually allows visitors to SEW on the museum's machines, you can also rent some machines. Need information about a machine? As the museum is further organized, there will be a research area, since the museum has a wide variety of instruction & service manuals, too. There are contests to win prizes sewn by Wayne, or museum supporters, through the Facebook group-
https://www.facebook.com/groups/407787369596207/
Enjoy seeing some of the sewing machines that played a part in U.S. history, from the nuclear submarine's sewing machine, to NASA's Bernina 830 Record sewing machine, which was used to sew the space suits! There is a children's room, with a variety of children's sewing machines, including treadles, hand cranks, battery operated, dolls, and plenty of vintage toys to keep kids entertained, even if they don't want to sew, while visiting the museum!
