Industrial Sewing Machine Shopping Tips...

Whether you are new or old to world of Industrial Sewing Machines you know that these machines can make your or break your business. Unlike buying many types of things, it is hard to find out all that much about these machines or find all that many reviews. Even the information on some of the manufacturers own web sites can seem lacking. To help make things a little easier we created this launch page to help you find out what you can, compare some prices and learn what some of the terminology means.

"You would think there would be more information on machines that are so vital for your business and that cost as much as these do..."

There is a lot more interest during these times in home businesses, and people starting out are not that likely to know all the ins and outs of industrial sewing machines. Industrial sewing machines differ from their home grade siblings in a large number of ways. First off, they are highly specialized to one task like making a button hole or bar tacking or lockstiching rather than trying to do many tasks like a home machine. These machines are usually bigger, more expensive and not always as easy to get serviced - "Juki who, never heard of it?" They are also powerful, fast and some need to be lubricated quite often. Most of them have a separate motor, control box and table.

You will want to know what options and features like Thread Cutter, Presser Foot Knee Lift, Automatic Needle Threading, Panel, Thread Wiper, Double Capacity Hook are. With so much to know where does one begin? Although your needs may differ, there is a general path to take in deciding what machine is for you. Below we have written a list of decisions for you to make. The decisions are arranged in the order they should be made. If you make it past these hurdles then you have pretty well narrowed down your machine other than price and brand. Be aware that to make some products you may need a number of machines but for each machine you can go through the list below.

Where To Begin:

• Product: Apparel or Items Made With Heavy Weigh Materials...
• Sewing Location: Portable or Stationary (most machines are stationary)...
• Task: Lockstitch, Zig-Zag, Safety Stitch, Overlock, Coverstitch, Chain Stitch, Double Chain Stitch, Decorative, Overedge, Button Hole, Button Sewing, Bar Tacking, Shape Tacking, etc...
• Bed: Flat-Bed, Post-bed, Cylinder-bed and Box-bed etc...
• Number Of Needles: Single Needle, Twin Needle, Three Needle, etc...
• Feed: No feed, Needle Feed, Walking Foot, Compound Feed, Upper and Lower Feed, Unison Feed, Adjustable Top and Bottom Feed, Wheel Feed, etc...
• Weight: Sewing Light Weight materials, Medium Weight, Heavy Weight, Extra Heavy Weight etc...
• Features: Presser Foot Knee Lift, Automatic Needle Threading, Thread Wiper, Double Capacity Hook, Side Cutter, Center Knife, Stacker, Split Needle, Built in Bobbin Winder, Direct Drive etc...
• Options: Gauge, Panel, Automatic Thread Cutter etc...
• Motor: Direct Drive, Servo, Belt Drive, Clutch etc...
• Table: K style, H style, Plywood, Particle Board, etc...

Terminology:

• Automatic Thread Cutter: Cuts the thread at the end of the stitch. Very handy time saver.
• Thread Wiper: Used to pull back the thread upon completion of a trim to get it out of the way for the next process.
• Presser Foot Knee Lift: Used to lift the press foot without using your hands as you use your knee instead. Also on some models lifts the foot higher for more room under the foot.
• Automatic Needle Threading: Threads the needle quickly and easily.
• Double Capacity Hook: Basically this a bobbin that is twice the size of a the normal bobbin. This means you have to fill the bobbin less.
• Triple Capacity Hook: Basically this a bobbin that is triple the size of a the normal bobbin. This means you have to fill the bobbin less.
• Vertical Axis Hook: The bobbin is oriented vertically.
• Horizontal Axis Hook: The bobbin is oriented horizontally.
• No Feed: You feed the fabric through the machine for more free hand control like in shoe repair.
• Needle Feed: The needle(s) feed the fabric through the machine.
• Lower Feed: The feed dogs feed the fabric through the machine.
• Walking Foot: An upper moving (walking) foot feeds the fabric through the machine. This helps when there are multiple layers or a changing number of layers where you need them to sew evenly without puckers or stitching issues.
• Adjustable Top and Bottom Feed: This is where you have a upper and lower feed that you can adjust the ratio of one to the other. This helps when there are multiple layers and particularly where you have a changing number of layers (more and less and/or less and more etc) where you need to sew evenly/consistently without puckers, broken needles, or other stitching issues.
• Unison Feed: This is where you have a upper and lower feed and needle feed all in unison.
• Split Needle: This feature allows you to stop or reset the left or right needle. This allows the machine to produces neatly finished stitches at corner parts of the material.

Other important considerations is the length of the warranty, is the table, motor and pedal included and how much is shipping? If you are used to shopping on Amazon then (at the time of the writing) Reliable is your only choice that is available. There are many web sites that offer machines but not that many that list the prices. Below we have included some of the web sites that list prices. There are many sewing machine makers so we started with some of the top brands we know.

Links:

1Reliable industrial sewing machine on Amazon.

2Juki at their official site. A company based in Japan. Juki PDF Brochures And Manuals

3Brother at their official site. A company based in Japan.

4Reliable at their official site. A company based in Canada.

5Reliable A web site that sells machines and lists the prices online.

6SewingMachinesPlus A web site that sells machines and lists the prices online.

7SewVacDirect A web site that sells machines and lists the prices online.

8SewingMachineOutlet A web site that sells machines and lists the prices online.

9All Brands - TYPE A web site that sells machines and lists the prices online.

10All Brands - BRAND A web site that sells machines and lists the prices online.

11Japsew A web site that sells OEM machines to manufacturers, but wow, what a selection.

Pricing Examples:

1Reliable MSK-8420B on Amazon. This is a double needle walking foot machine for close to $2100. It is a somewhat no frills machine as it does not have a thread cuter or panel and the price reflects that.

2Juki LU-1560N on Amazon. This is a double needle walking foot machine for close to $3600. It is a higher end machine yet this one is not configured with the optional thread cuter or panel.

3Juki LU-1560N on Ebay. This is a double needle walking foot machine for close to $3200 as it is on sale. It is a higher end machine yet this one is not configured with the optional thread cuter or panel.