To all you sewing lot...

SOLD

Works fine. Just needs a clean up.

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I have some unfinished straps from a scicon duffle bag that they sent due to stupidity. Does anyone have any use for them (they're missing the mounting hardware)?

How much would you be looking for this, as been on the hunt and trying to decide if necessary! This is extremely tempting?

EDIT: NOW SOLD (got £70 locally).

Bear in mind I’m in Devizes, and a little reluctant to post as I don’t want to have it arrive damaged and you kinda need to be shown how these work. I could post at cost but it’s a lump.

I put it on fbm at £75 since that’s the lowest they’re selling on ebay.

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I have hundreds of metres of 45mm webbing. Definitely need a good affordable buckle or alternative project to turn the lengths into....

If I want a machine that’s easy to use as can cope with cordura, a the singer heavy duty the right path to go down?

The 4432 that I’ve used daily for three years was fine - until it died yesterday - for making bags using Cordura, X-pac, webbing etc, but did struggle on thicker stuff. Had to replace it with the 6635m “Denim” model which is about the same price (I paid £279) but has a more powerful motor; for true industrial sewing you’ll pay a fair whack more - the Juki one I’ve been eyeing up is £800 or so - but the Singer is a good cheap alternative. Just get decent needles and Gutermann Tera thread!

There's a nice Pfaff on eBay at the moment if you must have a newer machine

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304818951523

The dual feed design and high lift presser foot make it appealing for heavy-duty work.

I'd still preferentially buy an older, all-metal machine, ideally with an external motor.

As far as the Singer Heavy Duty goes, the Necchi Q132A (or Q411A Jeans Pro) seems a better bet at that price range

can vouch for the necchi

Zigzagged some ex-MOD parachute webbing into a bag earlier.

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necchi

Necchi are good machines, they take a lot of abuse. I’d still buy one if I did it all again. Kinda miss the one from my teens that I sold a little while ago.

The overlocker is still here, would consider posting but it’ll cost at least a tenner due to size, by the time I get a box and packaging and wrap it up safely.

Finally looking at the electric singer I got in a charity shop ages ago. It is a 1930 66k.

Motor turns fine but belt slips, tried re-tension any tighter it binds. Guessing new belt is the answer so ordered one from a singer spares place, plus some singer machine oil too.

Was hoping this helps restore sewing mojo for some myog play, but...

The bobbin cover plate is missing and the spring clip for it likewise with a sheared screw in place.

Realised I could swap the motor to the other singer a 99k from 1951 then we have a familiar machine motored up with the 66k converted to a manual machine and if I can remove the sheared screw and find those parts it will mean have 2 functioning machines.

n+1 always a good result.

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Update turns out the belt is fine as it drives the 99k no problem.

Think the 66k moving bits might just all need a clean/oil.

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I am liking this a lot - there must be whole parachutes that can be repurposed [many years ago I was given a spool of thread that is used for them]

Liberal oiling and gentle manipulation without bobbin or needle in place. Sometimes “gentle” might not be gentle.

The guy used the parachutes themselves for other things yea, just had all the webbing left. Singer 20U had a mission zz’ing this bag. Wouldn’t do it often, laborious.

Have you tried your Singer (s) on heavier materials under motor power?

I'm getting some satisfying results from a 99K manual with 100/16 denim and leather needles - easy to judge by feel how many layers of vinyl / cordura / reclaimed leather it can cope with, and slow enough to avoid most mistakes.

I could probably fit a motor to mine , but at this point I'm really looking for opinions regarding the 'worth' of such a conversion...

Sometimes “gentle” might not be gentle.

4lb sledgehammer gentle?

Funnily enough I tested on this offcut, it was no trouble.

When it was manual & I made bags the thicker seams where multilayers came together due to my poor design were hard to punch through, I guess there's a point where the motor will struggle the same.

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To add, not sure how much a motor unit would cost, but if cheap I think it'd be worth a go.

Where did you get the webbing from? Would be good for bag straps and the like

It was someone local-ish (all gone now), but if you came to Devizes I could sell you a roll or two of my stash...

I've done 3x cordura (or 2x plus zip) without problems - 4 layers needed some assistance to get through (finger pressing down on the needle clamp) but I wouldn't fancy doing that if a motor was involved.

Having said that, I have a spare (and suitably vintage looking) universal motor and a foot switch for one of my lathes. It uses a Singer compatible belt as a primary drive - I might be able to lash something together...

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Sounds like a good hack/bodge project!