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By BlueOvalKid
#11940
I'm new to trying my hand at auto upholstery. I have a chance to buy 5 machines but have only seen pictures. Can anyone tell me what each machine is and whether it would be useful to auto/boat upholstery?

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By souperdoo
#11941
Out of that lot, I think the Chandler would be the one you would want. It looks like an Adler/Chandler 167. That would be a compound feed machine suitable (puddle-wonderful, actually) for upholstery work. It will have a vertical-axis bobbin that is quite large, a decided advantage when working with heavy thread.

The Singer is a fast garment machine and not what you'd find useful unless, perhaps, you'd be sewing a lot of mouse fur headliners or had a side business hemming dress pants.

The Brother overlock and the US blindstitcher haven't any use in upholstery.

I am not sure what the fourth machine is. It looks like a bar tacker, but which one I don't know. Regardless, not much call for it in upholstery work.

All of those machines appear to be in remarkable condition.
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By souperdoo
#11946
I could not begin to give an authoritative number on the lot from the pictures. The best I can do is give you a rough-order-of-magnitude opinion. That opinion is based on what I have seen going on in my area. There used to be a lot of textile around here so machines are plentiful, though most have been used really hard.

Your best bet for getting good numbers on the lot is to look at your local FB marketplace, Offerup, Craigslist, sewing machine shops, etc to get an idea of what similar machines are going for in your area. By looking at the age of ads you might even be able to get some idea of how hard it is to sell stuff off.

Condition and functionality is everything and these appear to be well cared for and in an active shop, so their condition is good and they work. All of the tables seem to be in great shape. I have no idea what the motors are, though I'd guess they are all older clutch motors. Those aren't that desirable and many folks will subtract the cost of a servo motor from the seller's asking price.

The Adler Chandler ought to be worth $600-$800. The downside to it is that parts are not as readily available as they would be for a Juki or Consew and they will be more expensive. It's a dang good machine, though.

The bartacker thing looks like it might be a PFAFF and it could fetch $400-$500 depending on what it is and what it will do or can be set up to do.

The Singer could fetch $200-$300.

Blind stitchers, in some locales, can't be given away so figure it's valued at $150. The overlock is an old Brother that does a 514 stitch. I think they might have been made by Pegasus and parts might be available. The 514 stitch is a good one and quite handy in garment manufacturing. That said, it is an old machine. Maybe $150. Much more than that and one would be better served to get a Juki 2514 of similar vintage for just a bit more cash.

What all that means is that you've got some boob on an internet forum saying the lot is worth $1800. You'd have to lay out that much, in very rough terms, to get a $700 machine, and then try and sell off some stuff that may not be very saleable. There's not much call for old Brother overlocks and US blindstitchers. You could get stuck with them. The bartacker could be something you could move, but it could take a while. The Singer is a great machine but they are like Chevy Silverados and F-150s. Everybody has one, maybe even two.

If you have a motivated seller and can get the lot at a very attractive price (such that your risk of getting stuck with some of it is covered) it could make good sense to buy the lot. It's going to be a bit of a hassle, though, simply transporting (heavy, very heavy), storing (you're gonna need a bigger shed), and marketing what you don't want (dozens of Cheeto-fingered basement dwelling Craigslist doofi will be calling offering $50 for '...yer old sown machine. My mama had one like that but it all stuck') . Since I'm essentially a shiftless and lazy bum, I'd be looking for a machine like the Adler Chandler, but with a Consew or Juki brand name. Parts and accessories are widely available and pretty inexpensive.
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By BigRig
#11947
Superdoo pretty much says what I am thing. You really taking a chance and trust me what looks good and sews may not perform like it should . Keep looking is what I say.
By BlueOvalKid
#11950
Thanks to both of you.

I also have a chance to buy a Consew 206rb in working condition but it hasn't been serviced recently and still has a clutch motor. I can probably get that one for $700 which still seems on the high side to me but what are your thoughts?
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By Adam12
#11951
Yeah, the Chandler would be a great machine but it is the only appropriate one in that line up and if you have to buy those others in order to get it then i'd pass. Now if you can get them to separate it from the rest then yes anything in the $6-800 would be reasonable. And don't be too scared of adler parts, they are more expensive but if it's complete and in good working order, chances are you'll never replace a part on it. A 206 for $700 is about right and also an excellent choice. Clutch motor and the need for service are grounds for negotiations. But even at $700, i still dont think you're getting hosed.
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By souperdoo
#11952
The Singer 111 was the original "industrial" sewing machine. It is from that machine that most of today's machines owe their existence. The 111W155 was the first compound feed industrial.

Many compound feeds that are now industry standards are essentially clones of the 155, including the 206RB and the Juki 1541. These machines, to this day, use Singer (SIMANCO) part numbers. When you order feet you can look in a hundred-year-old catalog and find the feet and their part numbers and order them. Of course, SIMANCO doesn't make anything anymore and these parts are made by various companies around the world, but the part numbers persist. For the most part, the design persists as well with some improvements (most notably the addition of reverse).

The 206RB is an industry-standard machine and you cannot go wrong with it. Even one that hasn't been run in a bit can be brought back to life. About the only way to make one inoperable is to chain it to the bumper of a truck and drive down the interstate for a hundred miles with it.

The only real step up from a 206 would be to a vertical axis bobbin machine like the 255RB or a Juki 1508. With that machine, you have a larger bobbin which means fewer bobbin changes when using heavy thread. There are other minor advantages, but none are real decision-makers. Take that for what it is worth; are there very often cases where an upholstery seam is much longer than 10 feet?

If you find a good 206 that is in good condition and hasn't been abused at a good price, especially if it a bit older and made in Japan, do not hesitate to buy it.
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By souperdoo
#11963
A nice machine! Those old motors with the cast-iron external clutch mechanism were real works of art. The old tables, too, were very nice being solid hardwood. It's interesting to note and think about the wood in that table having come from one single old-growth tree, most likely, rather than being a glued up pile of wood from a bunch of random, farmed, trees and a couple of different species. It was made by a craftsman in a woodshop instead of by machines in a factory. It has a hundred years of wear patterns, oil stains, coffee rings, cigarette burns and stories untold.

Are you going to be using it in your shop?
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By BigRig
#11964
@souperdoo , I will take a picture of it for you it is in amazing shape original owner. I was really curious about. I got it out of its original home which was a 1940's the owner went to a nursing home. Originally I was going to junk the machine and keep the thread stand but was told it would be good for the linen work I do so it it being cleaned up and put into service! I know it is old it has a leather pulley belt rather than a rubber one.
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By souperdoo
#11968
You can still get the round leather belt stock in bulk and the staples to hold it all together if the belt is getting dry and cracked.

That machine is a good machine for light to medium weight work! Really cool that you have a 70-year-old machine and you're the second owner! Don't separate anything; that falls under my First Corollary to my Second Rule of Life (which is "Don't add entropy to the universe"). The Corollary to that is "Don't **** stuff up that you can't un****".
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By BigRig
#11970
@souperdoo , I am going to haul it in the house and start cleaning it now. Vacuum it down and such. I know it sews I tried it out when picking it up. It is all original and wont ad any aftermarket parts.
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By souperdoo
#11973
@BlueOvalKid, that appears to be a lightly used 206RB-2 or lower dash. For some reason, the Censew badge has been removed and the model number badge is missing. The model number badge is glued on so you often see those go missing.

If it were there it would look like this:
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It looks like a very nice machine! Congrats!
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By BigRig
#11975
@superdoo, he did get a super machine may not know it yet but will figure it out. I really have more work than work for this machine if I get it operable. You will notice I am missing the piece to hold the needle and unsure of that lever on the body. It cannot be reverse? I will assume it stitches just one length too.

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