Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Oops! I Pforgot

It's embarrassing when you have so many sewing machines that you can completely forget a number of them.  After I pulled out the four Pfaffs in my previous post, I remembered that I have a 138 on the bottom shelf, out of sight.

  The 138 is basically a 130 on steroids - same running gear but a longer bed and it uses a 1/4 hp to 3/4 hp industrial motor. This makes essentially three 130s in my stable and makes it a bit easier to decide what to get rid of.
  After remembering the 138, it reminded me that I have two more Pfaff industrials out in the garage.  The 144 is a double-needle industrial machine that I bought knowing it had a broken feed dog.

 
  I wasn't too concerned until my parts dealer told me a new feed dog would cost $695!  I wasn't about to spend that kind of money on a feed dog, especially when I also have a Singer 112 double needle industrial machine that is complete.  I did buy the closest Singer feed dog with the intent of grinding it down to try to fit it in the Pfaff but it's been so long I don't even remember where that feed dog is hiding.

Then there is the 463.


  This machine sews like a scalded dog but, after all, it is just a straight stitch tailoring machine and I already have a Singer 31-15 and two 96-10s, how many straight stitch tailoring machines does one need?  I am not an advanced sewist and speed means nothing to me except that I can make mistakes faster.

I think this has decided me to part out the 463, the 144, and 130#1 and keep 130#2, the 362, and the 138.  The jury's still out on the 330, It doesn't look like I can cannibalize a 130 hook to use in it, maybe I will make enough parting out the other machines to buy a hook for the 330.

Ed
Ed's Vintage Sewing Machine Shop


2 comments:

Jonathan said...

Couldn't you sell these industrial machines locally on craigslist just to get what you paid for them?

Unknown said...

I once listed an industrial machine on CL and only got one response - from Nigeria. The "buyer" wanted to send me a check and have me ship to Nigeria. One of the oldest scams in the book.

I also listed a beautiful Featherweight on Etsy and got nothing but questions. About half of them wanted to know my return policy. I'm not going to get in the loop of shipping, receiving, and re-shipping or refunding on a piece of 60-year-old machinery. A Featherweight is not too bad but an industrial machine is a BEAR to ship. Besides, I can make more by selling individual parts, just like an auto salvage yard, and small parts are easier to ship. -Ed