PhilGrmPa

Which Brother is that? I can't quite decipher the script lettering.

Cari-in-Oly

It's Brothers' first Pacesetter, the FZ2. Sold from late '56 through '58. This was my Holy Grail machine. I say was because I'll have a new one to show off tomorrow.

Cari

J Miller

Cari,

That 'lil thing is cute .

Joe

Cari-in-Oly

Joe,
It is a compact machine but it's not little. I don't know how to describe it. It's a full size machine but it's not. Kinda like a Singer 301 is a full size machine but doesn't feel like it is. I guess you could say it has the height of a full size machine but not the width, (unless the extension table is on it). It only weighs about 20lbs but there's no plastic inside it.

Cari

Margie07

Sweet! Haha, now I'm beginning to wonder if I'd be more interested in an all metal, belt-driven (since people seem to like them), cam machine, that's light weight, and had a free arm, if there is duck a machine. What I really need to do though is get a Singer Zigzagger and see if I like the results of using it.

Margie07

Now I really interested in the Elna Automatic 1950's machines, as I think they fit what I'm looking for. They are lightweight, do zig zags, and have a free arm, and heavy duty. What are your thoughts on theses machines?

miriam

They are very nice machines.

Margie07

Are the Supermatics all metal, and do they sew through many layers without a problem?

miriam

If you are wanting to hem jeans buy a Singer 15 or a Japanese 15 clone. The Elna's do ok sewing through layers but the external motor of the clones are easier to replace, they are cheap and they do go through layers.

Mickey2

The all metal zigzag free arms have already been mentioned. The Supermatics are not all metal, they have two plastic gears, a rubber pulley and a drive belt running the mechanism. That said, the plastic gears last a long time and there's usually nothing wrong with either the belt or gears on the machines I've seen. I haven't seen that many Supermatics, they turn up regularly though, but the issue is the rubber pulley that most often needs attention. They develop a flat if you store them with out releasing the stop motion screw. This part often needs replacement to get it to run smoothly. There are two or three ways about it; replacing it with a new rubber pulley or having someone make you an aluminum pulley with O-rings (thats' what I did). Third option is to sand down the old pulley to even out the bump, works well in some cases.

They seem to be trouble free machines; sew through layers of tough fabrics; and have a more advanced cam mechanism than most if not any machine in the 50s. They come off as quite tough and resilient machines, hemming jeans is easy work for them. As long as you are aware of the rubber pulley issue I can recommend them. They are more noisy than the old straight stitchers, but much faster too. Berninas from the 50s and 60s sound different, they are driven by two belts and there's less noise since the cam mechanism is simpler.