The surprising genius of sewing machines [video]
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Also part reuse happens all over... Lamborghini’s have used Mazda headlamps.
Props to your pop. His skills were probably awesome.
Also agreed on the parts reuse. I design medical devices and I know of heart pumps that have Mercedes solenoids in them, I just designed a surgical robot that I put a ford part in. One of those little clip nuts. It was perfect for what I needed.
turns out, vacuums and sewing machines share a lot of the same internal parts so for repairs they go together quite nicely.
Machine works just fine with original parts. Has seen heavy usage at a school until 20 years ago when they changed to modern machines and sold out the old ones. Best buy ever :-)
How do you walk properly with such sizable cojones?
Sure, there is a whole bunch of subcategories and outliers, but it’s all very mature technology if you aren’t pushing boundaries with things like full sail fabrics intended for paragliding wings, ultra fast and small cross braced speed machines and such. I’m not innovating here, i use the same designs, fabrics and processes, even the same sewing machines.
I also skydive with a commercial reserve parachute and a tertiary belly mounted emergency rig for good measure. The secondary reserve is rigged into a so called "automatic activation device" [1]. The chances of murking myself due to negligence, complacency or by pushing my luck with disciplines like relative work (flying formations) or free flying (acro) are wayyy higher than a fatal accident because one of three parachutes malfunctioned. Skydiving is a deadly sport, it says so on the waiver you have to sign, and if i don’t feel comfortable with the inherent risks, I’ll gift my gear to a newbie and call it quits.
[1] AAD - device monitoring velocity and altitude, fires a cutting charge, severing the reserve closing loop if still in free fall at set altitude. I use this one
https://dl.cypres.aero/userguide/991002_cypres_2_user_guide_...
Additionally, i also have designed a variety of mods and paraphernalia, including DLC coated closing loop pins - friction has foiled attempts to deploy reserve parachutes in the past, as well as a self-designed, modded slider to be retrofitted onto a model produced by performance designs parachutes.
The reason for the slider mod? The oem one is too small to slow down the deployment sequence, breaking the bones of unsuspecting parachutists. They are far from perfect in many cases and have never been sued for it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dvy7ywQK18
Here’s another scary case in point if you’re interested in going down that rabbit hole. But I’m getting off track, I’m just having fun and I’m aware of the risks I’m taking by pursuing this. You’re risking your life on potentially badly designed gear either way, i just only have myself to blame lol
Rare I find someone who even knows what a blind stitch machine is.
"In 1814, Joseph Madersperger was granted a patent in Vienna. It took him a decade to build the machine, but he never commercialized it. He spent the rest of his life trying to perfect the design."
If you are concerned in making the production of some article quicker, better or cheaper, you will naturally study how it is being done at the moment. It may seem paradoxical but the man least likely to help you is the operator in charge of the machine. The more 'down-to-earth' and 'practical' he considers himself the more 'unpractical' and 'up-in-the-air' he is likely to be from your point of view. He is too near the machine to know why it works. He only knows how it works. He will have learnt what handwheels to turn or what controls to adjust to keep the line running efficiently, and will be able to use that knowledge most skilfully and responsibly.
I think this video has really made it stick. It’s more like a knitting machine than something that does “sewing” like how I was taught by hand. The thread never goes through to complete any knots. It’s just tangles.
I also finally understand how the bobbin inside the base can be so small: it supplies much less thread to the tangle.
When the needle is slanted it prevents wrinkling of thin fabric. Better than Walking Foot even, which I also have as on add-on.
Also it has the super-zigzag, when means that it makes extra stitches between zigs and zags. Very durable stitch for stretchable fabrics.
It seems to be crazy expensive on Ebay: €250. Good reputation I guess.
I like to call them clothes printers.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMrsT6jPR7s
There are also 4, 5, and 6-thread overlockers but a quick search didn't find any videos showing how they operate in detail.
Bernina mechanical parts are incredibly solid but their electronics are as vulnerable to failure as everything else nowadays.
I ran an old Singer 127 through a pile of fabric a Sailrite was struggling with. The old domestic Singers aren't industrial, but if you can't do it once, slowly on a 15, it's even odds whether it can be done at all[0].
The 15 (or 66) is a much, much more refined machine. Parts (bobbins, notably) are readily available, and if you find you do need more, you can sell it for what you paid for it. The Sailrite, IME is a clunky, value engineered version of what you really need when you hit a problem an old Singer can't solve. Once you get to that point, you'll know what you need and how a machine should run.
If you've already hit this point, I'd suggest looking for an old industrial machine on your local Craigslist or Facebook marketplace equivalent. The Sailrite is likely to piss you off with how crudely it runs and handles. I'm told by my upholsterer colleague that an import servo motor is a huge upgrade from a clutch motor. Especially if you're coming from a domestic machine with a variable speed control. On the rare occasion that I've used a machine with a clutch motor, it's a grab hold and hang on for the ride kind of experience.
[0] I'm explicitly not including things that require a serger, blind-hemmer, cylinder bed or other specialized garment/leather machines. The Sailrite won't do those either.
I later picked up a Sailrite LSZ to do some zigzag work on sails. Compared to the Consew, the sailrite feels really clunky, even with the Sailrite servo motor upgrade. It's relatively rough and noisy compared to the Consew, and has less power. Main upsides are the size, and the zigzag stitch for sail work where you need some stretch.
I've ultimately kept the Sailrite because it's still pretty solid, and can be stored on the boat where I need it the most. If I was doing upholstery or canvas work in a permanent shop, I would've kept the Consew, hands down, it was a much more capable and pleasant machine.
The walking foot feature is very useful for heavy materials. I tried sewing light-weight materials on both of these machines and it was awful (bunching, tearing on the foot, can't use really fine needles, etc).
I know I was pretty down on the Sailrite, but if you're doing diy sail sewing, it's probably a pretty good compromise for the job.
Background for non-sewers: all fabric stretches, but for most things on a human scale, you can ignore it when you're sewing. When you get into sail-sized products, you'll end up with puckering if your seams can't stretch with the fabric. A zigzag seam will stretch with the fabric. A straight stitched seam will not.
Further background: AIUI industrial machines are a lot more job and/or fabric-specific than domestic machines. And you also get into needles and bobbins that you can't pick up at Joann.
Your sibling commenter is likely more knowledgeable than I am. I was helping a friend doing some cushions for her boat. The Sailrite was struggling with the Sunbrella-type canvas. For sailcloth (on that size boat?) it probably would've been fine.
Good luck!
We've been practicing at the shop, and I keep wondering if I should pick up some electronics repair from him- he seems like he does okay with the mechanical stuff but anything electronic is generally out-of-scope for him. In general, it looks like interesting work and I was hoping to get him to teach me, though fortunately the music and audio work has been paying the bills this year.
I'm starting to get okay at fixing some kinds of circuits (analog electronics for music), but fortunately I haven't had to dig into that stuff. My assumption would be that it's much cheaper to replace whole boards as is the case with most consumer electronics. But I haven't looked into it, and so I am a bit curious.
The Asian-built boards are usually the point of failure in the new machines (a distant second are sensors, but those also have smaller, simpler boards in em). A few years back Bernina actually lost the ability to claim they were Swiss-manufactured because the electronics were being made in Maylasia (if memory serves, this was back in 2017, I think).
This is very true. The one exception that comes to mind is the 44S, which is notable for being a solid piece of equipment, widely available for a reasonable price, and without electronics. I suspect it's an old design in a new case.
The one computer that “just works” and stays out of the way the most? My wife’s embroidery machine. When she wants it off, it’s off. When she wants to do classic sewing, it works like normal. It has some buttons to do traditionally mechanical operations automatically. But it also has those mechanical options as well. (Raising the foot, for example)
And like you said: it has never once asked her to subscribe.
It’s my favorite computer in the house. :) (and the most expensive)