Sailrite walking foot sewing machine

AngusMcDoon

AngusMcDoon

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Worth the £750 it costs? I've had 2 used ones in the past of other makes, one supposedly reconditioned. Both were unreliable and failed completely in the end. Time for a new one. For sail covers, upholstery, sprayhood/dogers and not too tough sail repairs.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
Worth the £750 it costs? I've had 2 used ones in the past of other makes, one supposedly reconditioned. Both were unreliable and failed completely in the end. Time for a new one. For sail covers, upholstery, sprayhood/dogers and not too tough sail repairs.
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Sailrite - I have heard they also sell sunbrella
 
I bought one from Solentsew about three years ago, it paid itself after the first couple of projects (41' boat)

Among them: genoa UV strip replacement, bimini, sun awnings, weatherclothes, plenty of re-stitching of canvas pieces onboard, interior cushions, framed mosquito netting, various clothes, various sail repairs, anchor riding sail, watercatchers... on and on (+ endelss favours to passing boats)
If you plan to use it by hand I suggest to buy the steel "monster" wheel too
 
AngusMcDoon said:
That's the one I'm considering. Did you get it from Solent Sewing?
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Yes, they are the UK distributors. I think I bought the last one, but they are getting more in. The folding thread stand is worth having, as are zipper feet (at least to a novice). I look forward to you making a YAPP to control it. :)

I've very little experience with a sewing machine, but I managed to make a new seat for the chart table out of Naugahyde type vinyl. It breezed over 6 layers without a murmur. The only problem I had was how to sew the corners, but this was down to my design, not the machine.
 
Some 20 years ago when I was cruising with little money and repairing my own sails I had a used Pfaff. [maybe a 1471 ??] it is a long time ago. It had a walking foot with zig zag and was a big improvement over the original hand cranked Singer I started with.

Mine came from a charity shop and was pretty cheap.

I think it was comparable to a Sailrite. At least people who borrowed it thought so.
 
We have one in the loft .Is often taken out to jobs on site .They really are the best portable machine .
it's done some really tough work in relation to its size.I have only had it trip up once when we allowed a student to use it ,although it jambed up ,it was fairly quick to unravel the lower works.
I have another make called a Reliable which I bought in the States to alter stuff when the boat was over there.Thats not as good because it doesnt have the monster fly wheel ,which thumps the needle through thicker materials .
The weight of the machine is good too, as you can shove a sail at it with out the machine falling over .
They are definatly worth the money .
Cindy
 
wilkinsonsails said:
We have one in the loft .Is often taken out to jobs on site .They really are the best portable machine .
it's done some really tough work in relation to its size.I have only had it trip up once when we allowed a student to use it ,although it jambed up ,it was fairly quick to unravel the lower works.
I have another make called a Reliable which I bought in the States to alter stuff when the boat was over there.Thats not as good because it doesnt have the monster fly wheel ,which thumps the needle through thicker materials .
The weight of the machine is good too, as you can shove a sail at it with out the machine falling over .
They are definatly worth the money .
Cindy
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Hi Cindy, glad you mentioned the heavy monster flywheel. It is now a bolt-on accessory and I had to buy and pay extra for it from Solent when I was over there 18 months ago. It is heavy and weighs about 10 or 15lbs on its own.



.
 
It looks like the one to go for. I don't know of anything similar at that sort of price apart from the Chinese cheese metal rubbish that Nigel tried. I don't want all the silly embroidery and fancy stitch features that domestics have - I want one made of metal and able to get through tough stuff.
 
AngusMcDoon said:
It looks like the one to go for. I don't know of anything similar at that sort of price apart from the Chinese cheese metal rubbish that Nigel tried. I don't want all the silly embroidery and fancy stitch features that domestics have - I want one made of metal and able to get through tough stuff.
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It can certainly do that, see this:
http://youtu.be/x2sdGz7C2aA

The only complaint I have is that there is no light, so I bought one of these:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00DNVK5WG/dolcetto-21
 
I've had LSZ-1 for 3-4 years now, excellent piece of kit and IMHO well worth the money, it's more than paid for itself at least twice over. The monster wheel is worth having, more flywheel weight to get through thick materials. Zipper feet also useful.

Solent Sewing have given me brilliant and friendly service, I always get my threads and needles from them. The manual is worth printing out, good instructions for servicing and adjusting when necessary.
 
nigelmercier said:
Is there a more in-depth manual than the printed ones that comes with it? I suspect I need to increase the bobbin tension a little; I know how to do it, just not how to get the optimum setting.
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It's a while ago now but, IIRC, it didn't come with a printed manual, I had to print one from either a disk or, on-line - a lot of pages with detailed adjustment instructions. Have you looked at the USA Sailrite site? Quite a few downloads there.

Optimum setting? It will change with different materials and thickness but, so far, I haven't needed to adjust bobbin setting, just foot weight and top thread tension. One thing which helps is silicone spray for thread and needle and, watch out for needle gumming up when sewing through double sided sticky tape.
 
When you buy the machine, it comes with the printed manual, but also a DVD about "fine tuning and troubleshooting", which covers a lot of extreme cases.
I once broke one piece on the shaft underneath (proof the machine does not sew through 4mm thick steel grommets), solentsew advised contacting SailriteUS direct and Matt Grant sent me the part and a video about how to replace the part, all settled in ten days US-Europe.

There were/are other clones I knew before buying the Sailrite, (look for "Familysew" for an almost exact clone, see image), FWIW should I buy again it would be a Sailrite

fs388b.jpg


Oh, one of the led spotlights from Ikea fits perfectly :)
 
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