Machines and More Machines

[Mojo]

I love machines, especially the ones that pertain to upholstery. Most know I bought a Juki 563 from Monterey Boat company yesterday and during my trip up there at the plant I got to see what was left of their inventory. Wow.......amazing.

They had machines there that were dedicated to production upholstery work and it was my first look at some of these oddball things. All the machinery was heavy duty and large versions of some of the stuff we use. They had a big snap set machine that was all hydraulic. They also had a cutting machine that had a motor on it the size of a watermelon. It had to be 1 hp. I asked what it was and it was a fabric cutter. You take a stack of fabric and run it through this cutter and it would cut out multiple pieces at one time. It had a cutting throat on it 4 to 5 inches in depth. I cannot imagine cutting 5 inches of vinyl at once. :) They had another machine designed to punch holes in fabric for grommets. This machine would punch clean holes through numerous inches of fabric.

Sewing machines were everywhere. The majority were Adlers and each one was specialized. One that I thought was cool was used to make hide em. It had a large folder attached to it and a mechanical puller on the other side that pulled the fabric through. The folder had a huge throat on it and the roller looked like it would pull a finger off. :) They were letting that entire setup go for $ 500. They had several other Adlers as well which did certain things and those were going for $ 700 or less. I believe one of their Adler's was $ 300.

What really pissed me off is when they told me that this sale started a year ago. They had a 30 x 30 area of racks of vinyl that they sold for less then a dollar a foot. You had to buy the entire roll of their fabric and each roll was $ 20. They also had racks and racks of marine supplies - SS Snaps, hide em, spools of poly thread, 2 inch sew on velcro, foam, etc. etc. etc. All for pennies on the dollar. I could have stocked my shop for 10 years for less then $ 500. :)

And the machines they had. They sold over 30 Consew 206 RB's. They just sold the last of them last week 5 Consews that were fairly new and in excellent condition for $ 650 each. Juki's, Adlers, and on and on all being sold for less then dealer cost. It makes me sick to have missed out on all of this. Paul, Kody and I could have went shopping for all of you. lol.......... Heck I bet Mike and June would have even made the drive up here for this sale.

Here is one of their ad's from Craigslist which is where they sold everything through.

http://orlando.craigslist.org/tls/2517523665.html

The specialty machines were really neat to see. I really enjoyed seeing how they set these machines up with different attachments to do production work. It was quite an education. :)

Chris

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

Glad to see they have stuff cheap, sorry to see, YET AGAIN another manufacterer going out.

[Mojo]

Actually they are still building boats. They told me they are building 25 a week, some small speedboats but they indicated they are surprisingly busy building big boats.  There was some kind of deal where they co-owned part of an upholstery company and when it went down the tubes they bought it out entirely, sold everything and moved their sewing operations to Alabama where they already had an upholstery factory. I guess this sewing company was doing other contract work as well for other companies which is why they had so many machines.

My question is this. With these big sewing factories or huge shops with specialized equipment, who do they call when something breaks or need fixing ? They cannot call just any sewing machine tech as some of this stuff is so complicated. They had a lot of computerized stuff there as well. Are there technicians out there who specialize in industrial machines but also all the secondary machines and attachments ?

Chris

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

My question is this. With these big sewing factories or huge shops with specialized equipment, who do they call when something breaks or need fixing ? They cannot call just any sewing machine tech as some of this stuff is so complicated. They had a lot of computerized stuff there as well. Are there technicians out there who specialize in industrial machines but also all the secondary machines and attachments ?
Chris

Chris,

Good question.  Most have/had an in house mechanic, full or part time, who would keep the machines running, order parts.  This is why you will see lot of repair people who know some models like the back of their hand; they were responsible for often say 25 of the same machine, some complex, to keep up and running, all day long, for years.  Most of your sewing mechanics worth their salt today came out of factories from way back then and are the ones out doing your service calls, and selling you parts.  My Dad worked for a sewing dealer in Philly, stayed with him for about 15 years.  Then he left to do freelance work for about four years,  working out of the garage before opening a shop in Olde City, a section in Philly, down the street from his old boss.  I remember those days from since I can remember.  Power stand stacked up in the spare room, where I would climb through them stacked side by side with my friend from around the corner.  Kind of funny to type about memories like this.  I'm asking my Mom about some of these details as I type this, and she reminded me that one of my first words was "Juki" of all things.  Can you imagine?  

[Mike8560]

Ifs hard. To find anybody  who  can repair industrials.
Where is this  plant Chris? 
   

[Mojo]

It is just West of Ocala Mike. They had boats stacked everywhere, a few were some pretty big cruisers. They said alot of the big cruisers are going South right now as the orders have been very good for the big boats.

I never thought about calling you to see if you wanted one of those machines. I could have gotten it for you and held on to it till you could get up to get it. If nothing else it would have been a good parts machine for you. Sorry about that MIke. I probably should have contacted Paul as well.

Greg:

Do you work on the heavy industrials that are all outfitted with these gadgets and computers ? I have seen a few of these machines online that are very very involved with computer attachments, etc. I know you can fix the machine itself but do you ever get into all the interface work with the computers ?

This is the same problem the HVAC guys, auto mechanics, etc. are all having - trying to stay on top of all the latest computer interface developments. I have a buddy who works for GM at the plant and he fixes cars before they are shipped. he said the amount of sensors and computer interfaces is astounding.

Chris
Chris

[Gregg @ Keystone Sewing]

It is just West of Ocala Mike. They had boats stacked everywhere, a few were some pretty big cruisers. They said alot of the big cruisers are going South right now as the orders have been very good for the big boats.

I never thought about calling you to see if you wanted one of those machines. I could have gotten it for you and held on to it till you could get up to get it. If nothing else it would have been a good parts machine for you. Sorry about that MIke. I probably should have contacted Paul as well.

Greg:

Do you work on the heavy industrials that are all outfitted with these gadgets and computers ? I have seen a few of these machines online that are very very involved with computer attachments, etc. I know you can fix the machine itself but do you ever get into all the interface work with the computers ?

This is the same problem the HVAC guys, auto mechanics, etc. are all having - trying to stay on top of all the latest computer interface developments. I have a buddy who works for GM at the plant and he fixes cars before they are shipped. he said the amount of sensors and computer interfaces is astounding.

Chris
Chris

Chris,

I specialize in electronic controlled equipment myself.  When we do a new setup, or repair, I'm the guy who does it.  No, I don't do everything, nobody does, but I know who to go for what, and when I need to.  Some guys we know do 1,000 a year of a model, and we'll do a few, if we are lucky, of some specialized machines so we can use our resources to go to.  We do a lot of old style cam operated pattern tackers as well.  Also heavy capacity sewing, such as Consew 733R-5, Singer 7-33, Seiko SLH-2B, etc.  We support a lot of sling companies, as much as we do the canvas and upholstery guys.  For whatever reason, and I can't put my finger on it, nobody seems to show up for garment or light weight capacity sewing equipment.  I guess this what happens when you 'specialize', but don't even realize it it!  Not that I can't sell a blind stitch or button sewer, or single needle, or service it, but they are not our mainstays.

[Mike8560]

Nthanks mojo but between my  singer and my juki  and the spare singer head I've got I just don't have the room.