Sail Sewing Machines.

[Runner]

I have an old heavy duty home sewing machine that was built in Japan. Can't say who made it because it doesn't say anywhere. Says it is warranteed by the manufacterer, but then doesn't say who that is. Anyway, the name is model 125 zig zag deluxe push button. No one I have met recognizes it and I can't find a matching profile anywhere. Anyway, are these type of heavier duty home machines fit for making sails? Is it worth adding a walking foot to an older machine to see if it will do the job?
By the way, that name is off an emblem and all of the information is there. Zig Zag deluxe model 125 push button is as good as the first I used because there is no real logical order in the way the different words are present in the badge. What I know about sewing machines is one of those very short subjects!
Thanks in advance!

[rtbates]

It's very easy to find out it this machine will work. Take 8 layers of a good heavy fabric like denim and see if it will sew without hanging up or stalling the motor. Do this in the zig-zag mode.

After you ascertain the machine abilities, you'll need to learn the art of sewing. By the way, sewing is the easy part, The hard part is in the laying out marking and cutting the panels to be sewn.

[forsailbyowner]

A site that can answer all sewing machine questions is wefixit theyre located at yahoogroups.com
Its a site for sewing machine repairpersons and there isnt a question about sewing machines that goes unaswered. If its an old model its probably tough enough for handling sail material. Look for an entire steel drivetrain with no plastic gears. They will give the ghost quickly in multiple layers of sail material. Make sure you can find needles in the 19-21 size range to accomodate at least t92 thread. This can be tough in some home model machines.

[GigiDi]

exactly how old is the machine? rbates is spot on with testing the motor to see if the maching will go through 8 or 9 lawyers of denim, canvas.. etc without skipping a beat. if indeed it is capable of handling such material as dacron... and the t92 thread (as my 1958 Singer Slant o Matic can mooore than easily do so i dont doubt that there are other machines out there capable) then you can give it a shot... can't see why it wouldn't work out well with smaller sails. how wide of a zigzag is it capable of? an unfortunate feature with non industrial machines is that the arms are much shorter, and don't enable you to cram as much canvas in there as you would be able to on a global or other sailmaking machine.

[Runner]

I was going to post pictures there, but this is a new computer. I have to dig out my PhotoPaint disks and put my programs back on so I can resize these images from the new camera. 8 mp is great if you need quality, but is pretty hard to email around!

[Ahnlaashock]

Sorry so long away from the topic.
I found a site that shows pictures of lots of machines named the same as this one, or close. I never found a 125, but the pictures show that it is the same brand as those they are showing. I found the same case, bezel around the main control knob, name plate, and the distinctive V with a crown in it.
I have been away from the sewing machine question for some time.
My wife just acquired an almost perfect 201 in the cabinet. I was finding her information and ended up finding the other information.
Still don't know who made them, or what quality machine they were considered.