There is something so impressive about industrial machines. I got to use an industrial serger once, almost 20 years ago, and I've never forgotten how it ran through four to eight layers of burlap and corduroy with perfect ease and how much fun it was to use. To be fair, I was in the throws of my first sinus infection and had had a headache for a week while working with casting resin and other fun but toxic things for 14 hours a day in hundred degree heat, so I may not have been entirely sane at the time. Theatre!

I'd be properly tentative now. A thousand stitches a minute is plenty for my needs.

I've already set that from the manual I have - unfortunately mine needs serious modification to get past 10 stitches an inch.

I have one machine setting around that I haven’t ever used, that the literature says should run consistently at 4000 SPM....and it’s not the model that has the automatic oiler on it....

W&G Type 11 High Speed Lockstitch Machine:

CD in Oklahoma

woah! I have never seen a red one! Those were VERY common in sweatshops... usually you find the black and WAY worn... I am looking for one that survived a bit better than most to add to the show... I had no idea they were available in red. Too Cool!

My walking foot machine called “Old Dirty” because he does my dirty jobs for me, is a Singer 111W153 that is rated at a maximum speed of 2900 SPM, but with the 3470 RPM clutch motor that runs it, you had better be ready to sew if you put the pedal to the metal!

I re-stitched every thread line in a large swimming pool cover with it, including 3 rows of stitching on everything, and the speed was an asset to me. Although, folding, re-folding, tugging, and lifting all of that mesh fabric to get the stitch line under the needle all but voided the sewing speed. I did it all by myself, and would work and work to get a section ready for sewing, then one little zzziiippp.......and it was time to refold, tug, and lift again.....

CD in Oklahoma

CD I had one of those - thought I needed reverse - worst idea I ever had - that machine is a good one.

Some that have seen the photos of it have said that it’s a re-paint, but it doesn’t show it when looking for tell-tale signs of over-spray, thin coverage, underside coverage, and the like. I don’t know the history of the machine. I bought it with a large group of machines in 2009. I think that it’s original paint.

CD in Oklahoma

The color's cool and no mistake but it's the small and hideaway but still powerful motor setup that makes me stare! Too big for the home is the number one reason to stick with a home machine and this one just destroyed that argument.

We have a Consew 225 down at the shop that is similar to a Singer 111W155 (no reverse) that we’ve used for several years. I put an 8:2 speed reducer on it last year and we just love it now for our kind of work (repairs and embroidered patches). I have a Singer 111G156 that I haven’t gotten to use much yet, and it has a reverse on it. I have a step pulley to put on it that will give me a 10:1 speed reduction, so it should give me really nice slow speed control. Maybe I can set it to sew, go get a cup of coffee, and get back before I need to change the direction of the sewing on it (hehe). My Consew and this machine both have 1725 RPM clutch motors on them.

CD in Oklahoma

I had the opportunity to buy a 111W155 last year for $100 obo. I didn't.

Hey, we all do dumb things, right? I had no idea what it is.