Sewing Cushions and Bimini

[dLj]

While I'm a bit late to this discussion about sailrite machines - I had watched an indepth comparison between the sailrite and competitors. The conclusion was that sailrite had made all the needed minor adjustments and alterations to make their machines run well and remain "in-tume" over time. All of those small details could be done to these lower cost machines but you need to know what they are and to execute them.

It was quite some time back and I don't have the link or I'd post it.

dj

 

[Tin Kicker]

I thought that by the '70's Singer had moved to plastic gears, etc. What model is yours?

Made me go look and it's a Sears-Kenmore model 158. Definitely metal guts.

 

[jviss]

Made me go look and it's a Sears-Kenmore model 158. Definitely metal guts.

Nice!

 

[Ward H]

I also have a Kenmore 158-1251 which has all metal gears and is mostly metal. Some external pieces are plastic. I've heard it referred to as a shirt makers machine as part of the platform is removable to make a narrow table so shirt sleeves can fit over it.
I believe it is a late 60s or early 70s machine. It's about 2/3 the weight of the Singer Post War 15-91 Clone.

Reading the comments from Greg and Dave triggered a memory of reading a article on the history of the SailRite Ultrafeed sewing machines a few years back so I went searching for it.
Here's the link: Ultrafeed History

It's obvious that some of my previous comments came from suppressed learnings when I read this article several years ago. It was probably in late 2016 as I found notes I made when preparing my order for my LSZ1 V3 in December 2016.

We should have a sewing subforum.

While I think there are way too many subforms now, I agree a subform for "sewing" would be valuable. There are many very cool sewing projects imbedded in various threads. SailRite used to run a sewing forum but locked it around 2020. It's still available to read but not open to posts.

 

[dLj]

@Ward H that wasn't the video I'd watched, but does stress the tuning, the same conclusion in the video. If I find it I'll post it but searching on my phone has never been my forte.

A sewing forum might be a cool idea. The sailrite videos are pretty good but some skip over important details that can make them hard to follow.

dj

 

[jviss]

Reading the comments from Greg and Dave triggered a memory of reading a article on the history of the SailRite Ultrafeed sewing machines a few years back so I went searching for it.
Here's the link: Ultrafeed History

I read that and it has altered my opinion of Sailrite, and the machines. Now I don't doubt that of all the lookalikes, the are better machines. As an example, I'm having troubles with my Monster Wheel on my Alpha Sew. I've come to the conclusion that the face of the shaft on the machine is not true. This wouldn't happen on a Sailrite. (I might take that shaft out and face it off on my lathe that I gave to my son.).

I would be torn, though, between spending the money on a Sailrite LSZ or finding a used Juki.