hello breezey people,im looking for a capabale sewing machine, hand or elec powered,basically ive got a guy on fleabay who's got loads but he is unsure about how tough the going can be with w/surf sail modification,and has asked me to find out what in comparrison a machine in the singer range would most reccomend? just so he has an idea how strong a machine im after. (if you get my drift lol,) cheers,greenE.

sorry forgot to thank you both for advice n help ;-)

i spoke to the seller and they said yes it will handle the job but on some of the very heavy eyelet areas may have to give it a helping hand by turning the wheel,but for me its great because i get my electric from a generator and its only on few hrs a day,i can sit n sew all night and get blisters on my right hand! lol, (not what ur thinking there! breezy peeps ;-)

greenE

me thinks so to ;-)

haha lol,no theres no mrs greenE thank fook ;-) ,im fairly competent with sewing machine anyway,just never sewn anything heavy duty only couple bits of webbing. landyacht if i posted couple pics of my sails i have would you please help me on deciding where to cut,i have a tushingham 5.8 series 5sri, luff 4.68,max boom 1.83, mast range 24-28, i have a 2 piece mast by fiberspar sportcarbon 460/25/25, and also 2 art wave flash sails,one being a 4.5 and the other a 6.5m (the 6.5 is a bit 'holey' and bodged with tape on a couple of pannels at top and bottom but can replace monofilm with sailcloth.) i have unpicked the tushi 5.8 pocket but im scared to chop the sail! i think it need a lot off it because its sooo wide,lol. regards greenE

sorry greenE a sail is a sail to me , im gonna need pics

found a pic online,same sail as the 4.5 i have..

being a surf sail ,its rather flat already , so I would trim only a small amount off the centre of the luff,say 50mm.. in an old thread I had a sketch and measurements to make a luff template that is a good allround curve. join the 2 pocket pieces to make 1 pocket. on the foot I would trim the front of the foot(tack) off and sew it to the back(clew to get just the right profile
www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Land-Yacht-Sailing/Sail-making/How-I-recut-sailboard-sails-to-suit-landyachts/
have a look at the foot of both sails in this thread. Also the thread has those measurements. both of the sails were similoar sized surf sail. I you can collect some trashed sacrificial sails you can pillage them for bits as required

well,an update on my Reads sewing machine,i got it and did a bit of googling to find its not the 'sail maker' as advertised,i knew it only had a 50w motor too,but intended to make a hand crank for it,well i did a few experimental runs with bits of off cuts of sails,it performed well even up to 8 layers dacron/mono mix,but did have to help it now and then,it was fine as long as you had some speed comming into thicker stuff (max 9 layers). and then the inevitable............... the motor gave up working.

an ebay search and ?42 later, i recieve my new motor 150w! rated same rpm (nearly same,think mine was 5-6000rpm).

WOW! its got some punch now! yesterday it did 17 layers mixed dacron/mono/webbing, 17 layers! mighty impressed with it i bought 10 needles of size 16 (100) and ten in size 18 (110), the 18's work well in real heavy stuff but do have to be carefull not to push/pull sail through the machine as ive broken a few! lol, its hard to control the sail being so large and not so manoverable without pulling/pushing,all part of the learning curve i suppose. the thread im using is v69 bonded,i tried lots of other real strong threads but nothing else would work,i think its the mono film slices the thread on the sharp edges when it goes through. 1st sail nearly done,pics to come....... chassis later this week/next week when my steel arrives

yes,i double side tape all joints,its fine with the v69 thread,but for other people's reference dont bother trying a non bonded thread regardless of how strong u think it is,mono will 70% the time cut the thread when the needle withdraws from it.

you banged the nail right on the head landyacht,my dogplate is damaged,and has a crack in it,hmmmmmm, ill get a couple of spare dogplates made at the water jet cutter. thanks for pointer there landyacht

landyacht said..

a good clean out down below before packing away or starting a new sail

Very important to remove the "beach" that accumulates underneath as it escapes from the other seams, it generates corrosion easily.

I always oil the machine before packing it away and leaving a couple of layers of cotton cloth under the foot, to absorb the excess oil that seeps down from the top. Remove the bobbin if there is any thread on it too as it wicks the oil really well.

I have had to gently sand (with wet and dry) some rough spots off my hook and foot plate where a needle has impacted and left a burr.

Don't be afraid to adjust the top tension for different thicknesses and types on materials. Makes a huge difference.

Fantastic to see you up and running. Looking forward to seeing it rigged ready to sail.

if you cant tension the top enough,release a bit of tension underneath to find a balance of the 2...

Windcrazy said..

I've been doing some test sewing on my machine ane I noticed no matter where I set the thread tension it seems to not pull the top thread tight enough. Any ideas on the problem? the manual says to set the upper thread tension for
5/6 for heavy canvas. I have had it all the way up on 9. That's as far as it will go.

perhaps its not getting in between the plates on the tensioning dial properly, I give mine a tug to make sure. could be due to the heavier thread ?

on your bottom bobbin,there should be a small slot blade screw,lefty loosey,righty tighty

The bottom thread feels fairly loose and smooth. The top thread feels about the same tension between the 2 on the middle setting. I can feel the top thread get tighter when I change the tension setting but when I sew it looks like the bottom tesion is to tight no matter where I set the top tension. I will send pics as of my test peices after the 4th of july holiday.