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By Austin3litre
#16145
Hi everyone I found out so much from reading posts on the forum, I am now thinking of purchasing a machine, I have no auto sewing experience but do sew a little domestically, I am UK based, the machines I am looking at are a Seiko STH 8BL good working order £325 or Singer211G266 no motor £400 or a Singer 211U566A working order £400. Any info on any machine and thoughts as to which one maybe better for me greatly appreciated. Thankyou
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By TedP
#16147
The Seiko looks like the Consew 206RB . . . it should do a nice job (walking foot, compound feed) and it is a complete, working machine (according to your description)
By Austin3litre
#16250
Hi all thank you for replying I messed around too much and missed the seiko at £320, but I have just purchased a Seiko STH 8BL with table thread stand and servo motor all working for £400 so pleased. Now to start trying it out, it has 134-35 130/21 needles in it and I have just ordered 135x17 110x18? I might have the size wrong but definitely 18 needles, will these go straight in?
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By Adam12
#16251
You can use either, slight difference in length so it requires a slight needle bar height adjustment. Originally it used 135-17 but someone probably had adjusted the needle bar for the 135-35. I did the opposite, we have a bunch of consews on the 135-17 system and 2 adlers on 134-35, so i switched the adlers so i only have to stock 1 needle system.
By Austin3litre
#16252
Hi thank you for that, the guy I purchased it off used it for leather, I am planning on auto seats and my first project is to stitch carpet to fit the tunnel on my Austin 3 Litre and put the vinyl edging on, which needles would be best? Am I correct in thinking that 134-35 is the needle system and 130/21 is the needle size? so I could go 134-35 and a size 18 needle which would give me a smaller hole? as the hole made by the 130/21 looks to be too big in my practice runs with my vinyl. Also I am a little confused on the thread sizes I have a reel of Somabond 20 100% bonded nylon, I have seen everywhere that a size 92 is best for most auto tasks how does that compare to what I have? Thank you
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By Adam12
#16254
Yes you can get all sizes in either needle system. Can't say that one is better, except that your machine is set up to use the 134-35 so if you don't like to tinker, then that's the better one for you. It makes sense that a leather guy would opt for the shorter needle system, less deflection on thick/hard stacks. Size 18 will be a nightmare with that thread, size 21 is still on the small side for 138/tkt20. Leather point needles have cutting tips on them so i'd reserve judgment and get the same size 21 in a ballpoint and see if the stitch holes dont tighten up
By Austin3litre
#16258
Hi thank you for the link wild bill, and thank you Adam I have so much to learn. Thread I have is just some I had and not necessarily the one I will use so any info on what size to choose will be great. Yesterday I found an old car mat and I have some vinyl so I practised sewing it around the edge just to see how things work, and I noticed that there were missed stitches on occasions all the way round and in some places the stitches changed length (became shorter) , any ideas?
By Austin3litre
#16262
Hi Adam12, I am quite hopeless with pics but I will give it a go at some point, I read a reply you gave to another user sometime ago about missed stitches where you said to start with the basics thread path then this and that and today I have been through all of that with the help of an online manual( which was not too clear on some points )any way everything seemed to be as it should be, as for the threading I watched four videos and they were mostly the same so I have gone from spool to eyelet at the top of the stand then down to the post on top of the machine through the middle hole right to left then round the back and through the top hole back to front then down to the bar with three holes in and top hole right to left then middle hole left to right and bottom hole right to left(that was the only difference in the videos some wound round top to bottom hole) then round the tensioner and around the pin so nearly full circle then under the other tension and through the wire loop through the clip up to the eye right to left back through the clip down to the next clip and then the felt clip through the small clip on the needle bar and finally through the needle left to right, lower needle through foot hole and pull thread through, voila :astonished: I hope I have explained well enough for you to follow. Today I ran out of the thread that came with the machine so I wound a bobbin of the 20s thread and threaded the machine with this thread and tried another small amount of stitching, only one missed stitch, but I dont have the tension quite right as the knot is almost showing underneath, maybe just not enough material so to speak and could it be just lack of use as I am beginning to think maybe the previous guy didn't actually use it much, also his needles were R point, so I have decided to stay with his needle system 134-35 so I dont have to change the set up at the moment and I have purchased some 110/18 needles and some 40s thread, I have learnt that polyester thread is numbered v__ and nylon thread ??s and a 40s is similar to V69 (the 20s was similar to V138) so slowly making headway I hope. Thank you to all that read this and understand it. :thumbsup:
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By Adam12
#16266

Here is an excellent video that details the adjustment procedures for just about every aspect of the machine. A consew 206 used to be a re badged seiko machine so the inner workings should be the same. May be a few discrepancies but they will be minor. Thread path sounds fine except dont go around the pin on the tension disks. That 40 thread with an 18 needle will be fine, 21 may be too small for the 20 thread, if you have issues shredding the top thread then go up to a 23 needle. R points are for leather, fine to practice with but i wouldn't reccommed using them on a canvas or upholstery project use ballpoints.
By Austin3litre
#16277
Hi Adam 12, thank you for all the very helpful info, I have watched about 1 1/2hrs of the first video in that series and yes very informative on all adjustments. The new needles thread and carpet for my car all arrived this week so a 134-35 size18 needle was inserted with the 40s thread and I have produced two edged carpets for the back of the car, no skipped stitches and tension good, so, so far happy. Can I ask why to not go round the pin on the tension discs? Thank you.
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By Adam12
#16278
Excellent! Glad to hear you're up and going, it's a great machine should serve you well. The pin on the tension discs is kind of a topic of debate. Plenty of people swear that you are supposed to thread around it and have probably had successfull careers doing so but the manuals make no mention of it. It's there to keep the discs from spinning. The pin is not hardened and the thread will cut through it with heavy use.
By Austin3litre
#16295
Thank you Adam12 once again, yes all carpets have now been done when I sus the picture situation I will try and post some, now imagine you have a carpeted tunnel with a cut out for the handbrake lever that is edged in vinyl fairly tight rounded corners how would you go about it to get it as smooth as possible? oh my days I have tried it and not too bad but there must be an easier way :fearful: :weary: :scream: :joy:
By Stichnjon's
#17092
Adam12 wrote: Fri Apr 14, 2023 9:52 pm You can use either, slight difference in length so it requires a slight needle bar height adjustment. Originally it used 135-17 but someone probably had adjusted the needle bar for the 135-35. I did the opposite, we have a bunch of consews on the 135-17 system and 2 adlers on 134-35, so i switched the adlers so i only have to stock 1 needle system.
when you switched from 134-35 to 135-17 system did you have to change the timing?
thanks
Jon

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