I saw these advertised in the latest 'Cruising Helmsman' magazine.
Looks pretty good and reasonably priced. Made in Taiwan, not China and can be hand cranked.http://www.strongarmsewing.com.au/
From the photo this looks similar to Sailrite's LZ-1 Ultrafeed machine (www.sailrite.com). Whether it's a copy, rebadged or whatever I've no idea. I've got the LZ-1 and I love it. Built like a tank, a really great machine.
Not sure what the big deal is about not being Chinese. I have a Singer 20U industrial zig zag, its made in China. Beautiful machine.
Select to expand quoteRamona said..
Not sure what the big deal is about not being Chinese. I have a Singer 20U industrial zig zag, its made in China. Beautiful machine.
Some peepz are just xenophobic about that kinda thing.
I also have a Sailrite LSZ-1 it is a great machine . It has saved me a fortune on all those odd jobs. The Strong arm machine looks the same as the Sailrite in every way including the carry case which you do need. At $800.00 it is a super deal compared to the Sailrite. 3years ago my Sailrite cost me $1449.00 +gst. On top of that you will need some accessories.
This bought the cost up to $1,840+gst.
The accessories you will also require.
Machine kick stand (stops machine falling over backwards when tilted)
Spare bobbins
Spare needles (I use #22/140)
Thread (I use black and white M20/V138 UV-sunstop this is about a big as the machine will handle)
20mm or 25mm swing out binding guide.
Zipper / roping foot (left)
3/8" Seamstick basting tape. (This is the best thing of all. It is double sided tape that allows you to stick things together prior to stitching as pins do not work
Oil.
The rest of the things you should be able to steal from the wife's sewing machine.
My machine came from Queensland sewing machines at Loganholme. The Sailrite is probably cheaper now as the Aussie dollar was very low then. If I was buying the machine today I would buy the Strong arm as I recon the Strong arm is a badge engineered Sailrite as all the accessories also look the same.
Select to expand quoteLooseChange said..Ramona said..
Not sure what the big deal is about not being Chinese. I have a Singer 20U industrial zig zag, its made in China. Beautiful machine.
Some peepz are just xenophobic about that kinda thing.
I was just repeating what they said in their description which would imply it is not a cheap Chinese knock off. Some really good quality products come out of China as well as some really poor quality products. If it carries the CE logo (certified quality for sale in the EU) the product should be OK.
My 20U is the blue version which indicates it was made in China, people actually seek out the Chinese one versus the British or Japanese. Bought it off eBay complete with table and heaps of accessories. It was used by a little old lady that made bras. Have heaps of thread in nice pastel colours! Buy my thread off US eBay and needles from a bloke in Tasmania. Use the tables on Sailrite to get the part numbers for the recommended needles and buy local. Postage from Sairite is phenomenal and buying good thread in Australia is hard, good range on USA eBay though.
I used a strongarm to mend a mainsail tear recently. I don't know much about sewing machines and I have had some bad luck trying to use other machines, but this one was easy to use for a gumby like me.
Leecloths and an awning next.
I bought a Strongarm last year and have used it for all sorts of stuff, it's never skipped a beat. Built like a tank. I got the optional heavy flywheel and the roadcase too, definitely worth getting. Far as I could see,the next machine capable of doing the same jobs was like twice the price, and bigger.
The early Pfaff machines make good sail making machines according to threads on forums on sail making. You would have to do some research for the model number. The critical factor in good results is matching the needle with the thread and setting the thread tensions, especially the bobbin. I found videos on Youtube that showed how to correctly set the bobbin tension for my industrial Singer and that transformed the experience. My machine has a half horsepower motor and can handle heavy thickness stuff fine but I have my mothers old pedal Singer from the early '50's, its just a straight sew but with the correct needle I can handcrank through about 6mm no sweat!
For those within striking distance of Sydney I have found Bainbridge over on Harbord Rd Brookvale to be good suppliers of a wide variety of boat related cloth.
Until I started using one I hadn't realised that making stuff with a sewing machine was fun!
Yes its addictive, you find yourself making winch covers and all sorts of weird stuff, especially during the winter months.
top topic , one of these machines is on the wish list . very handy tool .
wanted one of these for ages .
have often thought , maybe a two or three partnership in a machine would work !
I get the Sailrite newsletter emailed to me, from todays issue a bit of history on their machine.
sailrite.wordpress.com/2013/06/13/the-history-of-the-sailrite-ultrafeed-sewing-machines/
Select to expand quoteSandS said..
top topic , one of these machines is on the wish list . very handy tool .
wanted one of these for ages .
have often thought , maybe a two or three partnership in a machine would work !
Best setup if you have the room is a permanent installation. I have a sail room downstairs where I have sails in shelves around the room. In the middle I have the sewing machine/table with a dining room table at 90 degrees to the feed and another table the other side to take the sail after it has been sown. My machine can drag a rolled up mainsail across the table but of course it pays to assist it. Its interesting how often you use a machine when its there for instant use. Even a normal domestic machine with the correct needle will be fine. Keep an eye out in op shops, those pre electronic domestic machines are fine even for sailcloth up to about 6 oz. I bought mine off eBay.
howdy all,
I have a straight stitch heavy duty walking foot industrial( great for tarps) but a cross stitch would be awesome.
Any feed back on the strongarm machines would be much apreciated.
I have contacted strong arm , they are sydney based ,only use australia post and are happy with pay pal ( sounds good as you can get your money back if there is a problem)
There is an old sail maker locally also interested if feed back is positive.
Thanks Cisco for the heads up on the strongarm. After reading the positive comments on this thread I tracked down the charming Ursula and her husband who run Strongarm Sewing in Sydney and picked up my machine and the accessories in person. Had the opportunity to talk to Ursula about the machine and how to use the features. I have been looking to buy a machine for some months and was put off by the cost of the industrial machines. Looking forward to getting stuck into some serious sail and boat cover repairs and assorted new things like winch covers as soon as I get back from Mackay (departure from Sydney Heads was to be Thursday now leaving Saturday). So whilst I am heading north can anyone advise where I can buy small quantities of sunbrella or or other suitable material. Please don't say sailmaker. The mistakes and deficiencies of the sailmaker is the reason I have decided to do it myself.
I've bought all my fabric from Bainbridge International at 273 Harbord Rd Brookvale and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Good range and good customer service. It's a few doors down from corner of Harbord Rd and Pittwater Rd
Select to expand quoteHaveFun said..
Looking forward to getting stuck into some serious sail and boat cover repairs and assorted new things like winch covers as soon as I get back from Mackay (departure from Sydney Heads was to be Thursday now leaving Saturday).
Good move. Bad luck to leave port on Friday.
You better call in and say Hi at Bundaberg or I will find out where you live, steal all your chooks and kick your dunny over.
Plan to arrive Bundaberg Sunday 14th and depart Thursday 17th for Mackay. Looking forward to saying hello.
How much of a difference does the power wheel make?
I don't really need the ability to run without power,.
The package is now $899, including the hardcover and the power wheel.http://www.strongarmsewing.com.au/
I'm going to make another boom bag, and the old singer does an ok job, but I miss zig zag.
Plus my old webbing tramps are now onto 10 years, so new tramps will be on the list.
Lets see, 20 webs wide x 20 webs across, x 2 tramps, plus edging= a few stubby job....
this is a frustrated rant warning regarding this machine... so read on with that in mind.
Having followed this and other Strongarm threads on SB, I purchased a machine 2 weeks ago, and thought it appropriate to give so feedback here about the machine.
I'll preface it by saying at the outset I really want this machine to be great, and will persevere and hope to be corrected but for now....
The Strongarm can only be best described as a POS not very nice machine. Much like a fake Rolex, you can sort of see what they are getting at, but it's not quite there and it soon becomes evident where the shortcuts are. I know I didn't pay full rolex price, but at nearly $1000 for the power kit, a roll of thread and 10 spare needles, you'd want to think it would do a good go at sewing. I can handle dodgy castings, and rough finish, it's a sewing machine.
So after 2 weeks here's a hands on description:
- The Powerwheel kit includes a hardcase, which the machine secures on via a pair of hinges. The poor casting of the machine base does not allow correct positioning of the machine, meaning a poor fit with the machine not sitting flush. No a big problem, but not nice either.
- I'd be reluctant to store this case onboard any form of timber boat, as the cheap plywood had borer holes in a previous life.
-Machine arrived with no powerkit flywheel (sent to another customer)
No drama, another promptly send express post. Thanks
- Fitting the powerwheel uses allen head grub screws in lieu of clutch washer to transmit drive. Using these however, removes any ability to disengage the drive when winding bobbins. No massive drama, except in my case when loading the bobbin for the first time, the (empty) shuttle decides to come out past the retaining holder and crash the machine. Enter 'machine retiming'' no.1.
This brings me to the real machine drawbacks. Basically, it's pretty 'soft'' for want of a better word. If the machine experiences any form of resistance, eg thread binds at the needle eye, the machine goes out in sympathy and chucks the timing out. At the very least, it will change the drive arm height rather than break anything. Sounds good in theory, but in practice you have to nurse the thing along just to keep sewing, and it wimps out way before your girlfriend/wife/greaty aunty's machine would have.
Bear in mind we are only talking about single thickness sunbrella, onto single thickness webbing. For the techs, V138 and size 20 recommended needle.
Even sewing reversing and sewing over existing thread can introduce enough of a resistance to generate a dummy spit.
So on a new machine, how much time would you expect to have to spend playing around with machine retiming/setup adjustments compared to actual sewing? 70/30, even 50/50. Sorry, but the small pockets of joy actually sewing something are far overshadowed by the frustration of a the next 15 minutes unjamming, rethreading, and retiming the needle.
As it's a new machine, I expect to have to read the manual. I've done that, actually both the manuals as supplied. It's threaded correct. I understand about bobbin tension, and can actually get a nice, even, and strong stitch when it does want sew. By the way, you are always going to want to sew on the longest stitch length, the machine does not really go long enough by far. The machine is oiled. Needles have been replaced incase. Bobbins have been respooled. I can handle learning any idiosyncrasies of a new machine, that fine, but at the end of the day, it's got to sew.
Also, don't worry about Zig Zag, lets get it to straight stitch first.
This is in no way a reflection on the Australian importer, and at this stage, these comments have not been addressed to them directly. (Why not (?), So far, I think it's just like the 'fake rolex'', it looks like it should but fails when it comes to actually doing the job. I think it's intrinsically related to how the machine has been put together, not anything at the importer level) As mentioned above, I totally want this machine to do as it should, as it's not everyday you can afford to make this sort of purchase.
I welcome any advice or suggestions from anyone with any experience with this machine as to what I may be doing wrong.
I plan to continue to try for a little longer and successfully coax the machine into cooperating, and understand it is only new and may indeed improve with a little use. If it's deemed as totally unfit for purpose, then i'd be looking to return the machine
At the moment, if someone asked if i'd recommend one, I'd have to say, ah probably not. Go the real thing if you can justify it, or just purchase a basic machine from Spotlight. It will sew much better than a Strongarm.
Any update or feedback will be posted here if an outcome is achieved.
Rant over, thanks SB.
I know you mentioned bobbin tension but that is really the most critical thing with sewing machines. Check the style of bobbin, it will be a clone of one of the other brands and search on Youtube for a video on how to test the tension properly. V138 is pretty serious thread, is it waxed? The needles will have to be correct too, not just the size. Search on Sailrite for the correct needle for your thread and machine, copy down the numbers and buy them from the needle bloke in Tasmania, I can't find his address at the moment. The style of the needle and size for the thread is critical as is the bobbin tension. If you have other bobbin cages leave them set up for different thread sizes.
Not sure why you have to adjust the timing, its one of those items that I have never done. If the timing is out its probably an error somewhere else, not enough foot tension perhaps.
Hi
I bought a strongarm sewing machine in May 2013
And I have the same trouble as SB has noted in their post
Not happy, I plan to call them, to see what I can do, as the
machine will sew for a little while and sew's good,but it splits the
thread, jam's up, breaks needles (not all at once)and I have to reset the timing ALL
the time.
85% fixing,15% sewing is not a good out come.
I have been sewing for 35 years and have serviced my own machines,
I have never reset the timing so much!!!!
As I do not live near Sydney and will not pay to send it
to be repaired, I will find someone where I live to see if they
repair it and fix the timing.
Not a happy sewer
JEP
Since this thread is alive again, an update for those interested.
The machine is not as much of a dog as I first thought.
Problem was the 'bobbin timing' was out, by as much as about 5 degrees. It was still tight, and actually sewed, but i'm not sure how since it was so far out. As a last resort, it adjusted the position of the bobbin housing, after looking very closely at the pictures in the manual.
After that, it even sounded better. It was a totally different machine, stitching was clean and neat, and finally it had guts.
After that adjustment, I was able to sew for around 10 hours, no jams, forward, reverse,velcro,zips,mutliple layers,zig zag, everything it should have done in the first place.
It will handle 138 thread fine, I purchased DABOND which is coated, and suitable needles along with the machine.
If you buy one, (and now I probably would again), my tips:
- buy the thread and needles from them to start with, so you know which ones suit
- oil the buggery out of the machine, the oil it again
- don't assume just because it sews, the timing is correct from the factory. Check the position of the 'spike'' in relation to the bobbin housing ( you'll know when you see it), then it will most likely, be a different beast altogether.
And for the record, I have not heard anything from seller, despite what I thought was a pretty critical review.
happy sewing
What a relief to hear that the machine is not a lemon. As you will find above, I purchased one just prior to heading north earlier this year and is still in the box waiting for me to find the time to do a sewing course. There's a particular community college course that I have had my eye on and starts with setting up your own machine properly. So I was thinking after the horror stories above that I may have again wasted my hard earned. So a relief to know it is a bobbin set up issue. Thanks for passing that on.
Feedback time. I purchased a Strongarm earlier this year as is obvious from my earlier posts on this thread (pardon the pun). I disclose that I am an absolute novice to machine sewing and I have only now had the time to enrol in a sewing course run by Sydney Commmunity College. Today was the first of the three days in the course. Given some of the comments posted, I wanted to make sure the Strongarm machine was going to work properly out of the box, so I rang Ursula at Strongarm during the week and made an appointment to take it back and see her yesterday and everything worked fine first go. Ursula was happy to show me the basics and get me started. Today at the course the machine again worked precisely as it should. Obviously it is designed for the heavier materials commonly encountered around boats - covers, sails, canvas etc. and not for fine silks or satins. If fine high fashion materials are what you are after then pull out your wife's or girlfriend's Janome. So I am now looking forward over summer to mending and making. Thank You to Ursula at Strongarm and a plug for the sewing courses run by Sydney Community College. The relevant courses are "Essentials" (my present course), "Extension" (includes zippers) and "Soft Furnishings" (for those covers for the foam mattresses etc). Ilona Sciberras, who is teaching the courses just happens to have quite a bit of experience with sewing things nautical as her husband happens to be a marine mechanic and a keen boater.
