Sewing Machines

[roberto11]

Andrei_ca: Let us know how it work!!

Señormecánico: are the bernina 830 and 930 "comparable" to a sailrite or are just good home machine??
Thank you for explain.

[andrei_ca]

Great. Thanks for the feedback. Looking forward to try one.

Andrei

[andrei_ca]

Originally Posted by roberto11

Andrei_ca: Let us know how it work!!
Thank you for explain.

Sure roberto11. Speaking of Omega the seller said they are identical and any sailrite part works on them 100%.

[senormechanico]

Originally Posted by roberto11

Andrei_ca: Let us know how it work!!

Señormecánico: are the bernina 830 and 930 "comparable" to a sailrite or are just good home machine??
Thank you for explain.

Both are home machines, Swiss made.
No built in walking foot but one can be easily attached.
The 930 is a tank and very desirable. Hard to find used.
Later models of 930 have a heel tap foot pedal which gives you needle up/down stop. Very handy for making corners etc.

[toddster8]

From what I have been able to piece together (nobody says this explicitly) SailRite machines are the same design as several other made-in-China machines, but are not necessarily "the exact same machine." Originally, (their "version 1") it seems that SailRite used to import these generic cheap machines, "fine tune" them, reinforce a couple of key parts, add some accessories, then re-sell them at a higher price.

Fair enough - we've bought a few pieces of inexpensive Chinese farm equipment, and they all seem to require that kind of tweaking to get them to work more than a few days. If you're capable of doing this sort of mechanical work yourself, you can often get a pretty decent tool, cheaply - with some effort on your part, and maybe a couple of trips to the local machine shop.

SailRite claims that they have taken that basic design and had all new molds made so that their cast parts are more robust, have closer tolerances, and are made of better materials (Their "version 2"). Their

comparison video

shows some fairly convincing quality differences in the parts. Of course, they could have cherry-picked those parts. And the video was from 2010, so it seems possible that the "other" guys could have caught up by now. And we don't know if SailRite's Chinese connection is really so "exclusive" as they claim. One would have to take apart one of the cheap machines for comparison to find out. Some of the on-line reviews suggest that they still have the older hit-or-miss quality though.

I haven't found any info comparing the motors, other than one guy recommends replacing the motors on the cheap machines with a specific model that he found on Ebay.

In the end, I'm still kind of on the fence about this. The cheaper machines might be a bargain, but it's a bit of a gamble. One might end up having to buy so many parts from SailRite that you should have started there in the first place.

[andrei_ca]

Yes, I noticed that by the look the alloys seemed different. The shop here seems to be a sewing machine store/shop that's quite large so they're not going anywhere. I'll see what warranty he offers. On the phone he said something like "you'll give this to your grandchildren".

Andrei

[Cu Mor Glas]

Originally Posted by toddster8

From what I have been able to piece together (nobody says this explicitly) SailRite machines are the same design as several other made-in-China machines, but are not necessarily "the exact same machine." Originally, (their "version 1") it seems that SailRite used to import these generic cheap machines, "fine tune" them, reinforce a couple of key parts, add some accessories, then re-sell them at a higher price.

Fair enough - we've bought a few pieces of inexpensive Chinese farm equipment, and they all seem to require that kind of tweaking to get them to work more than a few days. If you're capable of doing this sort of mechanical work yourself, you can often get a pretty decent tool, cheaply - with some effort on your part, and maybe a couple of trips to the local machine shop.

SailRite claims that they have taken that basic design and had all new molds made so that their cast parts are more robust, have closer tolerances, and are made of better materials (Their "version 2"). Their

shows some fairly convincing quality differences in the parts. Of course, they could have cherry-picked those parts. And the video was from 2010, so it seems possible that the "other" guys could have caught up by now. And we don't know if SailRite's Chinese connection is really so "exclusive" as they claim. One would have to take apart one of the cheap machines for comparison to find out. Some of the on-line reviews suggest that they still have the older hit-or-miss quality though.

I haven't found any info comparing the motors, other than one guy recommends replacing the motors on the cheap machines with a specific model that he found on Ebay.

In the end, I'm still kind of on the fence about this. The cheaper machines might be a bargain, but it's a bit of a gamble. One might end up having to buy so many parts from SailRite that you should have started there in the first place.

They are all knockoffs of Morse machines. Morse were really nice Japanese manufactured sewing machines from the 50s and 60s that didn't exactly fly their made in Japan flag. Sailrite used to get these knockoffs and tune and hotrod them. Now they have their own molds and have upgraded the design on a few internals. Their molds and finish quality are WAY better the the chinesium knockoffs. And their support is pretty fantastic. If you can afford it I recommend you get a sailrite.

That said, I have one of the knockoffs. It's not bad. It did require some fussing with timing when I first got it. Also a thorough cleaning and lubrication. And once all that was done I over lubricated it and left it with a brick on the pedal for about two hours. Cleaned it again and gently lubricated it. It runs great and quiet now. Its casting quality is remarkably poor and it will never be as pretty as a sailrite. But it does what it should and is reliable.

I do VERY much recommend that you buy the flywheel and belt from sailrite though. It gives you much better control. It also gives you a little more power at the cost of top end speed, but it didn't need more power and the top speed was faster than I could feed anyway. Control is the real advantage.

I paid around 300 bucks amazon prime. And spent around 50 bucks for the flywheel and belt with shipping. You have to ask yourself do I want something pretty that will work out of the box and have great support or am I a cheapskate who wants to fuss with it till it works to save a few dollars. I think this picture accurately explains which I am.

[Cu Mor Glas]

Originally Posted by Cu Mor Glas

They are all knockoffs of Morse machines. Morse were really nice Japanese manufactured sewing machines from the 50s and 60s that didn't exactly fly their made in Japan flag. Sailrite used to get these knockoffs and tune and hotrod them. Now they have their own molds and have upgraded the design on a few internals. Their molds and finish quality are WAY better the the chinesium knockoffs. And their support is pretty fantastic. If you can afford it I recommend you get a sailrite.

That said, I have one of the knockoffs. It's not bad. It did require some fussing with timing when I first got it. Also a thorough cleaning and lubrication. And once all that was done I over lubricated it and left it with a brick on the pedal for about two hours. Cleaned it again and gently lubricated it. It runs great and quiet now. Its casting quality is remarkably poor and it will never be as pretty as a sailrite. But it does what it should and is reliable.

I do VERY much recommend that you buy the flywheel and belt from sailrite though. It gives you much better control. It also gives you a little more power at the cost of top end speed, but it didn't need more power and the top speed was faster than I could feed anyway. Control is the real advantage.

I paid around 300 bucks amazon prime. And spent around 50 bucks for the flywheel and belt with shipping. You have to ask yourself do I want something pretty that will work out of the box and have great support or am I a cheapskate who wants to fuss with it till it works to save a few dollars. I think this picture accurately explains which I am.
Attachment 144881

And to your question pretty much all of what Grant says in the video is still true now. The finish on these is terrible, and the casting are not nice anywhere but where they need surfaces to mate. And not really there if it isn't critical to function. Look how crooked the left side guard is on mine. The fork he shows that they used to weld a ubolt to beef it up is still a little sketchy but if it breaks I know I can either weld a ubolt to it the same as he did or shell out 56 ish dollars and buy the much nicer one from him. Which is also true for just about all the parts that could break. Sailrite has them and will sell them to you.

[senormechanico]

That RE machine is one owned by a customer of mine who should have known better.
They own a 58 foot sailboat, have done tons of sailing, she is also a quilter.
They went cheap and bought one of those machines for doing canvas.
After a lot of fussing around with the dealer where purchased, they finally brought it to me.
I spent a bunch of time on it and finally told them to get a clue and ditch the damn thing, and buy a Sailrite.
They eventually did, and afterward they thanked me for slapping them between the eyes.