Industrial Vs. Home Sewing Machines. What’s the difference?
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- čas přidán 22. 07. 2024
- You often hear descriptions of vintage home sewing machines as:
Industrial, Industrial Strength etc. If a machine was designed and sold for use in the home and not used in a factory, then it is simply NOT an industrial machine. That's ok though. Our vintage home/domestic grade sewing machines are truly remarkable in how durable they are and how strong they are (compared with modern plastic sewing machines). This video is an attempt to explain the difference and why some people might confuse old home sewing machines as industrial quality. As long as we use our machines for their intended purpose, they can truly last generations. - Krátké a kreslené filmy
I just spent a few hours cleaning up and oiling my mothers 1960's Sears Kenmore sewing machine and was amazed at the internal workings. As someone who restores antique appliances, firearms, etc... i was expecting nice metal construction but not at the level that this thing was built at. The only other experience i had working on a sewing machine was a pre-WW2 Singer 15k Treadle that i restored along with the table for a friend. I just really enjoy restoring old appliances because their build quality is fascinating. A while back i restored a 1932 General Electric Monitor Top refrigerator (paint, rewire, dent repair, new chrome) and that fridge was nearly 90 years old and still worked great, aside from the cracking insulation on the electrical. No fridge purchased new today will come even remotely close to running that long. It currently resides in my garage.
Yes, when you see how some of our ancestor's machines were made, it's pretty revealing how modern consumer grade products are designed to fail and not long after they are purchased. I had the same experience that you mentioned with sewing machines the first time I took off the lid of one and was simply in awe of the quality. That explains why these items were often purchased on credit terms. They were not cheap, but were investments that lasted lifetimes; often multiple lifetimes!
Thank you very much.
Best machine my aunt sued dresses at home factory 5pm to 8pm took home n made a lot of dresses it look the same as the factory ones they had the same thing in the factories where my aunt was working as she was the best that she got paid more money than all of them and she was doing only Hispanic there but a bunch of Chinese ❤❤
Then you have grey-area machines like the Pfaff 130 that were technically "domestic" machines, but were available mounted in industrial tables with 1/3 horsepower motors for commercial use.
Great point Sam. I've also seen Berninas and some Necchis used that way.
@@VintageSewingMachineGarage Even the domestic motor on my Pfaff 130 is in a league of its own compared to most other vintage machines, coming in at a whopping 1.3A output. Almost every other domestic machine I've seen ranged from .4A to .9A. I think the potted motor Singers are around .75A (if memory serves - I have a 201-2 and a 15-91, but I haven't used either in a while). It's just a brute of a machine. About the only limit I've found to what it will punch through is the available space under the presser foot and the strength of the needle...and it's FAST. I'm going to try retrofitting it with a solid state foot pedal now that I've found one that should be able to cope with the motor. The original rheostat pedal has a habit of taking off at high speed and then throttling back, but it's also almost 70 years old.
On the other hand, I have a Necchi 534 Supernova Julia in storage awaiting an overhaul. It's an amazingly elegant piece of engineering, just like an Italian sports car, but it feels somewhat more delicate than the Pfaff.
This is an interesting argument but I think this predilection of basing wether a machine is industrial or domestic on its ability to sew thickness of vegetable tanned leather is the problem. Not all industrial machines can sew thick leather but no machine designed to sew thick leather is domestic. I think that the line between industrial and domestic gets blurred when you compare a heavy duty domestic ( singer 404) and a light duty industrial. I think that leather sewing is maybe not the best line to differentiate between the two. I would say that the motor size might be a better line to draw the difference.
Hello Karl. I actually do agree that leather sewing itself is not the best or only factor when weighing the classification of a sewing machine. The reason I showed the leather belts was not to suggest that all Industrials are judged by this capability (I think I did mention that many industrial machines cannot sew Veg tanned leather), but I wanted to illustrate how some sellers oversell a vintage domestic machine's abilities and this can lead to damage to an otherwise durable machine. If you have seen some of the websites or videos that show this, you can see how it could shorten the life of a vintage domestic machine; particularly the motors. Thank you for commenting.
Hi what's your opinion on the best antique singer industrial sewing machine? I have no idea on sewing machines looking to buy the best do it all singer industrial sewing machine for all types of uses? Any help you can provide me with would be greatly appreciated In terms of model numbers
There is no one perfect model. Industrial machines are highly specialized in what they will do and won't do. You might visit leatherworker.net. They have discussions on many industrial machines including Singers. Even if you are not going to sew leather, you may find good info on which models might be a good fit for you. Before exploring, you might want to decide what types of projects you are planning since this will dictate what model would be best. There are LOTS of different models!
Thanks 👍
No problem 👍
As far as Ebay goes, I'd suggest you are being overly charitable with regard to a sellers motivation to use the term 'Industrial' or as is commonly seen also, 'Semi Industrial' ? There's a tremendous interest these days in hobbycraft leather working ? and anything that will easily sew meaty leather takes a steep jump in price from the literally millions of Singer style home machines that still exist. Consequently I'd suggest the misuse of the term 'Industrial' is merely an attempt to gull those who may have neglected to do their research, and get a few shekels more than market value :)
I agree with your assessment in part. I have found that some sellers who are selling machines for non-leather sewing will often use the term "Industrial" out of context because it has been so long since consumer items were made with heavy gauge/high quality materials. But yes, there are others who heavily embellish the power of what they are selling which is a shame since domestic vintage sewing machines can be damaged or ruined due to demanding more performance than what the engineers originally intended. Thank you for your comment.
You’re the sewing machine guru. How’d you get started with sewing machine rehab? You seem to have very in-depth knowledge
Hey there. And thank you. If you click on the "About" tab on my channel, I mention how discovering this hobby was purely by chance. My grandparents never forgot the Great Depression and instilled in us values that suggested you don't waste things or toss out something than can be repaired.
Interesting, my parents were of the same generation and my father was an engineer. We refurbished and repaired/ repurposed as a matter of daily life. I currently work as a millwright, so all things mechanical interest me. Vintage sewing machines are the only home appliance with the level of engineering and mechanical design and manufacture that even comes close to what I am used to working on in an industrial setting. Fascinating machines, now I just need to learn how to sew. Cheers!