Shopping for my first industrial machine, recommendations?
 

I’m shopping for my first industrial machine. I work mostly with heavy upholstery fabrics and leather. Any recommendations?

Welcome aboard,

You may not find a lot of help here. Not many are into industrials. There is a FB group for industrials ( vintage?) that may be able to help you more. Having a good definition of what you sew is very important to choosing a machine. Some industrials are made for tailoring at very high speed, and not so good at leather. And the weight and layers of your leather will make a ton of difference.
older industrial have motors that continually run at high speed and your foot engages a clutch when you want it to stitch. Newer ones use servo motors that are controlled more like home machines. I took an Singer 31-20 to my GF. She had been sewing for 6 decades. When I fired up the motor and the lights dimmed she got nervous. One very quick seam and she was done with it.

Had to put the toy 20 by it just for fun and scale.

Learn a lot, and then choose wisely.

The dealer where I bought my longarm carries Juki industrial machines and claims they are excellent for sewing things like leather. You might want to check the Juki website.

Industrial machine
 

Depending on your location I would check with an industrial dealer. I used to have a Singer 31-15 and it would sew the heavy stuff. My "old" Viking 6440 can sew those things, I put in motorcycle jacket zippers with that machine for years. They are hard to find. Wish I could find one that some one has used lightly over the years, I would scoop it up. Unfortunately they leave them site and they get all locked up. When you do find one be aware they do go fast and they sew after you take your foot off the pedal. You might look for a Brother Walking Foot machine. That would suit your purpose too.

Sewing machine for upholstery
 

I think Leatherworker.net is a good website to get information about heavier sewing machines. Perhaps you like this information:

https://leatherworker.net/forum/topi...o-sew-leather/

If you want the machine to sew leather, then you will like the machine to be able to sew slow in a very controlled way and it should not jumpstart to some higher speed.

Some of the vintage domestic sewing machines can with some modifications do some heavier work for some time, but it is my guess that you should not expect above 500 hours of work. Such machines are often cheep to get, and you will need to cope with trouble for some time. This is a modified Singer 201k sewing 2x10oz leather:

https://youtu.be/HIDuHjMRFWg

My university department, purchased Juki for the sewing lab. These have proven to be tremendous workhorses that must put up with students who have never sewn a stitch to fashion design graduate students designing garments for the runway.

Thank you for your help!!!

I have a Juki CP-180 industrial. I just love it. My dealer told me all you have to do to sew heavy fabric or leathers is to put in a larger needle. I use it for the speed of sewing long seams like putting on borders and seaming backings. i recently tried it for piecing and decided I love it for that too. .The main thing is to look for one that has the oil bath system for lubricating.

This is all helpful! Thanks again! You guys are awesome!

Just to add to my post... my dealer used to work in a facility using Juki machines. He told me that my machine is the same machine they used all those years ago. Mine has a foot control that lifts the presser foot and also cuts the thread when pressed with the heel. And a funny thing, back in the 80s I wanted one for my home dec sewing, but since DH was the boss he said no. My machine 2 years ago was cheaper than the same machine back then.