Re: Sewing vinyl -- Help!

It pretty much is the wrong machine for the job. You should have looked into
walking foot machines.
That said you can do one of 2 things, aside from practice feathering the
clutch and that will get better with time as it wears in. Change the motor
pulley to a 2 inch O.D. pulley should reduce the maximum speed by at least
1/3 maybe half depending on how they set it up.
The other is far more expensive but it will allow you vastly more control
over speed, purchase and install a servo motor for it these have a radio
like dial on them to turn the speed to near zero or maximum and everywhere
in-between, it has no clutch and is the next generation of industrial
machine motor.


--
Ron Anderson A1 Sewing Machine
PO Box 60, Sand Lake, NY 12153
518-469-5133
http://www.singera1sewing.com
http://www.a1sewingmachine.com
"Gogarty" <Gogarty@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4L-dnZ4ZpfCxwenZnZ2dnUVZ_uidnZ2d@xxxxxxxxxxx
We have been doing some heavy duty canvas work for our boat, dealing
with Sunbrella fabric. We were using a Brother home sewing machine. The
last project, a sail cover, spelled finis for that machine. It just
burned out but it had delivered yeoman service for many years.

Now we have a new project rebuilding the dodger. (A dodger is a canvas
-- Sunbrella -- enclosure with heavy clear vinyl windows, all supported
on a metal frame with various big zippers to enable installation,
removal and folding.) This job would need more than a small domestic
sewing machine. So seeing a good buy, we bought an industrial high speed
lock stitch sewing machine, a Yamata GC8500. This is one humongous
mother of a sewing machine! It does 5,500 stitches per minute, is driven
by a ½ HP motor and weighs, all up with table and motor, some 225
pounds. (For those interested, we bought it from Harbor Freight.
Shipping for the whole shebang was only nine dollars. But some! assembly
was required, like two weeks worth.)

We have figured out how to make straight stitches in any number of
layers of fabric, though controlling the speed of this monster is a real
and not yet mastered art. The problem lies with the clear vinyl plastic
windows. We did this job once before with the old and now defunct
machine and had no problems. But this machine is so fast it literally
melts the vinyl, even causes it to smoke. We are not able to get more
than a few inches of stitching of vinyl to Sunbrella before any number
of bad things happen. The thread balls before the needle. The upper
thread breaks. The upper thread shreds. There's a bird's nest on the
bottom side. Etc., etc. Correcting one problem seems to cause another.

We are using best quality polyester thread. We bought a new presser foot
made of plastic. We are using No. 18 needles.

Any ideas on how to deal with this problem would be most welcome.



.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Hotrodding a Pfaff
    ... So my favorite sewing machine has a problem. ... It has a clutched motor that is 50 or 60 years old. ... So being as I use the Pfaff a LOT, and in the interest of not burning ... foot controls, adapting potentiometers to foot pedals, and all such ...
    (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting)
  • Re: New Old SM is home
    ... Fingers crossed your sewing machine guy comes ... up with the belt! ... Well I plugged her in and the motor is absolutely sound. ... Ash loves the cabinet. ...
    (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting)
  • Re: Hotrodding a Pfaff
    ... So my favorite sewing machine has a problem. ... It has a motor that is 50 or 60 years old. ... foot controls, adapting potentiometers to foot pedals, and all such ... If your going that route no need to look into foot controls as it does not ...
    (rec.crafts.textiles.sewing)
  • Re: Bought a sewing machine
    ... :-) Now that would be a fun job, ... I was at a workshop last week and a few of the girls had the Janome Jem Platinum 760. ... It has more stitches and I liked it a lot, but when I sewed on it, I didn't think it fed the top and bottom fabric right. ... So the sewing machine place was across the street from the workshop site and the next day I went. ...
    (rec.crafts.textiles.quilting)
  • Re: My new old sewing machine and some mysteries
    ... > I picked up my new old sewing machine today. ... I know my French isn't *that* great, ... > safe to operate an old motor rated for 127-220V in the US? ... > "Coco", of course, but I think Coco would be in all black with some ...
    (alt.sewing)
Loading