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Other users have shown an interest in having one place to gather our thoughts on each persons best ideas on how to DIY crappy homemade gear. So here we go, contribute your successes and as importantly your failures. Mistakes are a great learning tool.

I'll start. Attached are some photos of my little sewing room. Its in a basement and could use some sprucing up but it's a rental and likely poisoning me with Radon gas so I leave it be.

Organization really helps. We all can stand to be better at it but keep up the good fight.

As much as you can afford to, keep a variety of materials on hand. When the creative urge strikes, you are much more likely to go make something if you have some materials on hand.

I find it most helpful to put away my tools and accessories EVERY time I am leaving the shop for more than a few hours. Nothing better than coming in to a tidy workspace to spark creativity.

When purchasing a machine make a budget and then try and double it. You will never wish you bought less machine, in my experience. I have two pretty heavy duty machines and find myself wanting bigger and badder machines. I am ALWAYS on the lookout. Thanks Pine for the hook!!

When you make something and if think you are really gonna like it, try and write down measurements of the pieces used to construct it. At a minimum make sketches. I try and keep large pieces of cardboard around to make patterns. If I really like something I may go as far as drawing it up in Fusion and cutting out patterns on the plasma so that they can be used to cut out material.

If you have industrial machines, make a little thread catch bin on the end of your table. This helps keep the shop so much cleaner.

I will try and continue adding to this thread as time and creativity permits.

 

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Bootboy killing it in here! Nice work and greatly appreciated.

MT4Runner dropping some bombs as well.

Some things I have learned and also to elaborate on BootBoy.

DO NOT waste your time with the mesh that Joanns sells. Source some real deal heavy mesh. In my opinion the heavier the better. I made a lot of stuff early on from that Joanns junk and it died within one season. Seams tore out, it ripped easily, it could not handle having handles sewn to it without a lot of support sewn in. It abraded easily as well.

The heaviest thread you can run, run it. I used to sew everything with a V69 weight thread thinking that it was pretty substantial. My small thread these days is a V92 and my go to thread is a V138. Bonded Polyester is best unless you really wanna lay out the cash for Tenara, you will watch the item that it is sewn with disintegrate around the thread. Stay away from nylon, it has been mentioned a few times about the draw backs.

The same goes for webbing, nylon will stretch when wet, it will rot and it will fade nearly immediately. I have sewn a lot of stuff with NRS webbing because I can get it relatively cheaply and it lasts well. However the solid color non NRS labeled webbing they sell fades quickly and gets a bit stiff as well. Avoid it. If you can find a good source for a densely woven polypropylene that is the best option.

Another great source for highly durable fade resistant webbing is old seat belts cut from junk yard cars. Back seats are better as they generally see less use. The junk yard I cut at allows me to cut as many as I want for $10. Take them home and toss them in the wash and voila...great webbing for cheap.

 

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To follow up on what folks are talking about as far as material goes. The pfifertex is pretty dang good stuff and is an industry standard. It seems to hold up to pretty heavy use. I tend to be an over the topper when I build stuff. I am currently using 18 wheeler/trucker mesh. They use this stuff to cover dump trucks, trash trucks etc. It can handle flapping in the wind at 70mph and definitely handles abrasion really well. I found a supplier for it on the east coast but for some reason cannot access that email account at the moment to get the contact info.

I found it at a shop outside of Las Vegas originally, they cut and sew tarps for truckers. They were kind enough to sell it to me at around $18/yard at the time(2020). I searched and searched and eventually found the manufacturer and they sell it at $6/yard but with a hefty minimum of 100 yards(Group Buy?). I will try and get more info about materials soon.

 

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The local classifieds has the ability to send you an email based on keywords, got a hit on Consew yesterday and picked up this new looking 206RB-2 made by Seiko in the 90's. Manual oiling but that's preferred as I will go for a while between projects. I can mostly control it via the clutch motor but I don't need or want that speed.

Planning on asking my local shop (Daines in SLC) for a recommendation on servo motors tomorrow, does anybody here have a favorite?

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Didn't even break a sweat with 5 layers of polypro as expected, I think if you can fit it under the foot it will sew...
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As others have said, do the motor swap yourself! You can find them on Amazon very easily. I cannot overstate how awesome a needle positioner can be!! You can buy a motor that has one with it. You can program it to stop needle up or needle down. I prefer needle down as I use the feature mostly to turn corners etc. Simple stomp downward on the treadle with your heel and it stops the needle at the top of the stroke. SO handy. A reducer pulley on the motor is also a very nice feature and really does not cost much.

 

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I hate you guys. Contemplating a burlier machine.

Don't contemplate. Do.

 

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We are currently looking for a new machine at the shop and I am in the research phase. I continue to research mysewlf in to burlier more automated machines. Currently looking at Juki 2810 series. Auto-backtacking, thread trimmer, programmable stitch functions and large throat area. Also drooling over the Vetron 5000 . Such Technology Very Stitch!

 

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I ran across a used Consew oilbath machine listed for $10.00 this morning on FB. I don't know anything about it, but it might work for someone?

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Войдите на Facebook, чтобы общаться с друзьями, родственниками и знакомыми.

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This machine is a freeform/quilting machine. It is likely the feed dogs have been removed. While it is incredibly cheap it is not a super useful machine for rafting sewing needs.

 

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Jesus Christ, you bellends can derail any thread. Im going to delete this whole thread if it devolves any further. This was meant to be a place for folks to share tips and tricks they have learned. Honestly this whole place is overrun with toxic armchair QBs that spray shit far more than they spend time on the water.

Get on with it...seriously.