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New guy here for upholstery

3K views 9 replies 3 participants last post by  slow96z 
#1 ·
Hey all, I'm Justin from Houston. I am a tried and true car guy with a mechanical and electrical background. I got into upholstery last year when I bought a boat that needed the seats redone, got a machine and went to work. I have been looking all over for forums that relate to what I want to do, this seems like the closest thing out there.

My machine is a Singer 111w101 and I'm about to put a servo motor on it because I cannot get it to run at a consistant speed and the way the pulley is set up there is no good way to swap it. I had a guy from another forum recommend a Family FESM550N, which I found online for $115 shipped, but I see Dan recommending the Quietsew on here a lot. Would somebody please let me know if the (almost double) price difference is worth it?

Here are some before and after pics of my boat interior, I would love to get your comments. I did these last summer but marked my vinyl on the back with sharpie (hindsight, I know) and it bled through all over once they were exposed to water so I'm going to redo them again, this time with a servo motor in my machine.

Before:








After:






My beast:


Opinions?

Anyway, that's me, I hope I can give as much as I take here.

Justin
 
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#2 ·
All I can tell you is that I have three Reliable SewQuiet servo motors on three different sewing machines, and I have not had the tiniest bit of trouble with any of them. I have two SewQuiet 3000s and one SewQuiet 4000.

The new SewQuiet 5000 is better than either of the others. The 5000 is available for $199 with shipping included. CLICK HERE For me, I'd rather have a servo motor I know is going to work than the extra $80. I can't even find any info about the Family FES 550N.
 
#4 ·
Just realized I missed a letter when searching for the Family servo motor.

The main difference between the 5000 and the Family motor is that the SewQuiet is brushless and also digital. They are both 3/4 HP.

Boy, the sun down in Texas really takes its toll on the thread and vinyl. I'd hate to see what it does to dark colors.
 
#5 ·
To tag off what dan has said, i have a sewquiet 5000 on my singer and absolutely love it. Incredibly easy to install and use. The variable speed settings really help when you need to take it one sticth at a time while keeping enough torque that it will still punch through a couple layers of leather. Just my 2 cents

Oh and im doing this from my phone so i cant see real close, but your boat seats look like they turned out real good man
 
#6 ·
Thanks. They turned out good, but now they have this crazy pink mildew stuff all over them (it's not my sharpie!!!) that I cannot kill. I'm going to have to redo them, this time with a better vinyl that has anti-fungal treatment so it won't happen again.
 
#7 ·
I use marine grade vinyl, or transportation grade vinyl for almost everything. I never buy "specials" from my suppliers. It's not worth it to me to save a few bucks and lose a customer over poor quality fabric of any kind.
 
#9 ·
Can you take a picture of the pink stuff, I'm curious. BTW, all mildew can be killed with a 5% - 10% bleach /water solution. I usually just use Tilex.
 
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