Whee another sewing machine thread... hahahahha

[gmerkt]

Good on you for adopting this machine and putting it back into use. Sewing machines are a little complex, many moving parts that must work at the proper moment in relation to everything else. Unfortunately, lots of quality sewing machines have been tossed away. The problem being in our consumer country, it no longer pays to make clothing at home. It's cheaper to buy clothes from far away over the seas. The cost of yardage goods and sewing notions is prohibitive, not to mention the labor.

Heavy duty projects are another story. One of my good friends, now deceased, had a Pfaff industrial machine that he used for sewing automotive interiors and convertible tops. None of it looked much like Mrs. Merkt's little home Pfaff.

Some of those machines made in Japan were good items. They made some low-end cheapies too but the Singer is probably a good one. Like electronics and optical goods, making sewing machines in Japan got too expensive in relation to labor costs. They may still make some high end stuff, but I'd guess consumer grade for export is now made somewhere else.

 

[CamoDeafie]

The newer Singer 20U series, those in white paint are all Chinese made, I think and of a lesser quality. There is also a tan with white stripe Singer 20U that was made in Japan, I think came after the baby blue one.

Edit. It is also the Chinese white 20U33 that also have been sold under other brand names

 

[JustShoot]

The reason I've been eyeing bartack machines....I just want to cut down on the tedium of attaching MOLLE to the fabric panels, particularly if I'm gonna be making MOLLE bags and chest rigs otherwise, doing it Tactical Tailor style works for the back of pouches.

Ya if you just had a crapload of buckles to webbing, or PAL's orientation to burnout on a huge order, where rows are all 1"spaced. then a bartack would payoff . Hard for me to justify 5-k for another Bartack that is just taking up space most of the time not getting used much . I got a couple straight-stitch/zigzag machines if I need to do a reinforcement stitch, or bartack, and zigzag comes real handy for butt-stitch also.

For most part Most all Tac. gear items are all modular connect Malice webbing stacked rows, with 1.5" spacing stitch. For the Malice layout it perfectly satisfactory for field gear to stitch space the webbing with just a 3-pass stitch lock-off . For the most part I just do a back-stitch, then 3 stitch pass, and then another small back-stitch, on all the Malice spacing . The 3- pass stitch It is pretty friggin strong with webbing on 1-k den. with using 69/t-70 thread and 5 or 6 SPI .

I had to bustout some mag pouches today and, this is pretty good generic example of 3/4 double-needle seam-bind using needle feed machine, and also Malice webbing stack using 3-pass straight-stitch lockoff on the Malice spacing

Here a crappy Pic.of my stitch junk.
-


-

 

[CamoDeafie]

There is a backpack design I want to do, but it will take more time doing the MOLLE than I want to... basically Medium ALICE, fits ALICE/1606/FILBE frame, but all MOLLE all over it. Thats about 10 rows or so and I'm not 100% how many columns.. just.. a lot.

 

[CamoDeafie]

MOLLE bartack practice on the 20U33. Settings are a bit wonky. Definitely will need to get a roller foot, theres the plastic snap on zig zag foot with the knurled rollers, and then there's the all metal roller foot with zig zag slot, for almost twice the money, only comes from China... not sure which.. I honestly would feel better with the all metal foot but... eh. Seems if I'm not careful, the stitches can jam up in the standard foot's slot and I end up building a knot on the underside. Also, the 20U bobbin only holds enough T70 for about 35 to 40 bartacks.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Internals of the 20U33;

Bobbin winder assembly on the underside of the top cover, fairly simple.

Top cover off, that felt pad thing is for oil, and there are tubes with oil wicks to the important parts on the main shaft

Main drive shaft and metal gears

Zig zag gears and cam assembly, also steel and iron


Needlebar and presser foot bar assemblies area, fairly simple as well, all metal.

Underside of the machine, feed dog shafts and bobbin/shuttle shaft, also all metal. The black L shaped bracket assemblies are for the knee arm, one of them is to raise the presser foot, the other I think is for doing zigzag on the fly. I could be wrong, I'll have to consult my manuals again.

Gears, shuttle drive shaft and arm. Again, very simple assemblies compared to my 4411 HD.

Only two stitches, straight and zigzag. Nothing fancier than that. Very easy to maintain and get parts for

 

[JustShoot]

You getting pretty obsessed with the Bartacking....LOL .. Up'ing your game from a drop-feed 'light duty' (singer 20U33) to a Med-Heavy duty, Drop-feed walk, or a unison-feed would be so much better for a Combo/straight-stitch-zigzag machine.
My very 1st industrial sewing machine I ever owned 30+ years ago was a real old Singer 107-w1 zigzag-straight stitch . if you can score on one of those. made in 40's and 1950's they are REALLY Overlooked for a medium weight industrial . They are real strong industrial stitchers that you can score pretty cheep sometimes.

For a simple Drop-feed (bottom feed) and Straight/zigzag 'light medium' duty machine. About the best your going to find. If you can score a used/old ( Bernina 217 ) . I have had a lot of machines in my life, but I still keep a old Bernina 217 at a station. Those old 2i7's even though only a bottom feed. They have a great balancing with feeding materials, and foot pressure. lays down nice stitches with their feed-dog design (in Pic.) . They were made in Switzerland, and the 217's really run so ultra smooth balanced. High speed they just HUMmmmm no table vibration. They take Cam stitch Box, but they are pretty rare to find in the wild.
Only thing negative is that is suffers with using small Bobbin size like your 20U .

For a Drop-Feed Walk-Foot, heavy duty, Straight-Stitch ZigZag machine . Consew 146RB-1A is one of the best heavy duty industrial machines. Also they are set-up for Cam Box, in doing different zigzag stitch like triple-stitch and quad-stitch . Also it uses the large M-size Bobbins .
-
Bernina 217
-

-
Consew 146RB-1A
-

-

 

[CamoDeafie]

Eh, just trying to find a good setup, although... the 20u33 seems to be quite good at laying down basic zigzags and straight stitches. The plastic binder foot failed to work good with 1" grosgrain on 500D+ clear vinyl (6 or 8 gauge, not 100% sure, is the $3.47/yard double polished stuff from Wal-Mart).., so I tried doing curves manually... big fat nope for the 20u33. Oh well. Medium ALICE lid using Army Navy Sales' decomposing "new old stock" Medium waterproof bottom side as pattern transfer. Guess for the Medium ALICE with lasercut MOLLE design, I'll go for a box lid with rolled hems and mayve sewn elastic on sides insides