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[faust554]

I have a husqvarna designer diamond, but I'm looking for a machine with way more power. specifically I like to use large decorative thread with veg tanned leather. finding anything in these larger needle systems seems next to impossible. I've found like 3-4 models of juki that take the larger 794 system but they seem to be $4k used.

Does anyone know of an extra heavy duty sewing machine that would be good without costing an arm and a leg used? I prefer servo driven or at least machines that can be converted over. the machine does not have to be fast. my husqvarna is waaaaay too fast and is almost uncontrollable

[sandmanred]

I'm no expert in this area. The one machine I have owned that handled T350 thread was a Singer 132K6. It's got a kicking foot feed, rotary hook without safety clutch, 1/2" long max stitch and no reverse. I don't remember the needle system. I lucked into the one I had for $150 but there are not a lot of them around.

[faust554]

$150 is certainly cheap! I also just found out about the cowboy cb3200 which is supposedly 1500 new, but I didn't see any used ones up for sale.

There is also a shoe repair place going out of business near me. I see they have a machine for stitching goodyear welts. I wonder if it can be used for other leather items or if it's too specialized.

[Adam12]

Flat bed or cylinder machine? My flat bed pick would be an older singer class 7, most probably will not have reverse but not a huge deal. For cylinder machine i have seen a few Ferdinand Bull's in my area that seemed reasonably priced to me. But you're at the mercy of what is available in your used market. If you need to sew an inch of veg tan you will want a needle and awl stitcher like a champion or landis.
CB3200 would be a fine choice but i bet that 1500 is for the head only if it's new.

[faust554]

You'll have to excuse my ignorance on which is better suited to my needs, the cylinder or the flatbed. I have a million hobbies and unfortunately it takes me a while to get proficient at any given one. I'm decent at hand stitching leather and just now getting to the point where I can do some really cool stuff with my husqvarna. my current project is I have this really nice expensive set of headphones and I'm on a quest to remake every part myself....

I've already replaced the cables, the jacks, the baffles, the dampening material, the head strap, the support strap ... I just designed some isodynamic planar magnetic headphone drivers and they'll be in the mail to me soon. next up is the earcups. the ones that came with it are pretty anemic and I've ordered two different kinds of replacement earcups that while they're both better they each have their issues. I have some leather ones that are made out of leather that's too stiff, and the foam is really low quality. the second pair is a faux seude and has really nice foam in the middle. I think i've identified the exact foam that's used and I have some italian lambskin that should be in today that i'm going to make my version out of.

headphone ear cups are about par for the course for the size of items I work on. sometimes I do stuff that's a bit thicker like wallets, phone cases, leather bags etc.

One thing that I like though is the really thick decorative thread. I think it really makes items pop visually. it seems like doing large thread with a machine is pretty niche

[Adam12]

Cylinder arm is quite popular with leather folks. You can purchase or build a flatbed attachment for a cylinder machine which makes it more versatile. Sounds to me like a cb3200 may be just right for the material, but may max out at 277thread? Not exactly sure. I believe that the Ferdinand Bull i referenced is probably closer to a cb4500 both of those should accept 346. Either way you'll have a difficult time adjusting tension to hide the knot using thread that big on 2 layers of lamb skin