Text, photos, and video by Tom Hintz
Posted - 7-30-2021
When I began making wing bags, I started buying highly rated, home use sewing machines. While I never needed most of their features, I felt they would stand up to the long hours I put in every day. I am a big fan of Janome machines and continue to use them in my shop. However, it became clear that the thick sandwiches of fabric common to all my wing bags meant I needed to go industrial.
After a little web searching the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine quickly went to the top of my list. A friend of mine Googled the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine I had just ordered and told me, “The Army called, they want their tank back!” Hyperbole to be sure, but closer to reality than you might imagine. This sewing machine is made from lots of steel and iron and precious little plastic.
The Deluxe package I ordered included a solid, 1 ½”-thick maple butcher block table that is great looking, but more importantly, strong, and stable. The stand is all heavy steel with the components sized to ensure stability and enough strength to support a Buick. The working surface height is easily adjusted as is the position of the foot treadle, which is bolted to the stand, eliminating the frustrating “scoot” across the floor as you sew. I noticed that the treadle linkage to the motor uses a sort of captured Heim joint that would be at home on airplanes and race cars. This was just one of the quality points that helped influence my decision to buy.
The Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine has a rugged looking knee lift that operates through the oil pan using a smartly designed linkage. The adjustable mechanism makes it easy to position the padded knee pad where it is most comfortable which also improves your work flow. There is a manual upper presser foot lock for things like threading and positioning bigger jobs. For winding bobbins while sewing.
This Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine package includes a tall, two position thread holder. The second position is meant to hold an extra spool of thread for winding bobbins alone or while sewing.
The package also includes a bright, LED work light that clamps to the table wherever it best suits your position while working. It has along flexible neck that makes it easy to put the light where you need to see.
Speaking of the Motor
The folks at Sailrite appear to be completely unaware of the principle of mediocrity in design or manufacturing. My package came with their “Workhorse®”, servo-style motor. This motor boasts 550 watts and a ridiculous ¾ horsepower, on a sewing machine. I had to let that sink in a little. To be sure there is no slippage of the belt between the motor and sewing machine they used a cogged belt. There is so much pure power available that they developed a patented Posi-Pin® that has a machined-in shear point to protect all the metal downstream from the flywheel should something jam this mechanism up. Like I said, mediocrity was not considered when Sailrite designed the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine.
My only reservation regarding this powerhouse motor was how difficult controlling it might be. That turned out to be a non-issue. You can adjust the maximum RPM and the motor remains at that setting until you change it, including after being shut off and started again.
The amount of throw in the treadle makes it easy to control the motor. Raising or lowering the needle with the treadle is easy once you get the feel of it. I run my Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine at a medium speed and find that it is simple to control, and my jobs get done faster than when trying to sew faster just to be fast.
It took me a little while to get used to how much power is available at barely moving RPM. That means even with a wad of fabric piled up under the needle we need not hammer the treadle to push the needle through it. The extraordinary power is completely controllable which makes it easy to be accurate in its application.
True Walking Foot
The oil pan with a real shaft-driven
oil pump promises a lifespan mortal
machines cannot duplicate.
The Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine does not have zig zag or decorative stitches. It does straight stitching, in lengths from near zero to 8mm. It does have reverse, enacted by pressing a huge bar on the front of the machine.
I have grown accustomed to using after-market walking foot attachments on my previous, home level machines when working with three-layer fabric sandwich and have worn out many of them. One of the key features I needed was that walking foot capability. It quickly became evident that I did not fully understand the impact a true, well-made walking foot mechanism would have on my work.
This walking foot mechanism has upper and lower presser feet that lock down on the fabric as they move together to pull the fabric for the next stitch. There is no variation in stitch lengths with this system and the visual difference of the stitch over that produced by my attachment walking feet is dramatic. That tight grip on the fabric and precise, repeating motion means you almost must be trying to make a crooked stitch line. That precision instantly upped the quality of my work.
The Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine lets me use much heavier thread. I am using V92, bonded polyester thread that is several times larger in diameter over the more common sewing thread. Its size and composition make this thread nearly bulletproof in normal outdoors use. It is probably overkill for wing bags but it makes an extraordinarily strong seam so I will continue to error on the side of extra durability.
Bobbin and Winding
The Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine uses a traditional, upright bobbin that gave me one of those little wary twists in my gut. All my older machines had this style bobbin and frequently had issues within that mechanism. The bobbin in the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine uses the larger type M bobbins that fit into a precisely made bobbin system. Once again, quality design and manufacturing make this “old” style bobbin easy to use and very dependable. Here again, when it messes up, I usually caused it to do so.
The Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine package came with an industrial-looking bobbin winding mechanism that is mounted to the table and is driven off the main motor belt. It looks totally old school but works great. The frame of the winder assembly has its own tensioning disks and an adjustable arm that allows setting the amount of thread wound onto the large, type M bobbins. This system also allows you to wind bobbins as you sew if you use a second thread spool on the included, two-position stand. This dual duty only needs the Posi-Pin® to remain in place to drive the sewing mechanism as well as the hand-wheel that powers the bobbin winder.
Lubrication
Granted I am new to the world of industrial sewing machines but discovering that the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine has an oil pan caught me off guard. It has a mechanically driven oil pump that distributes oil to a bunch of internal bearings, bushings, and other wear points. They even provide a small magnet you toss into the oil pan to collect metal debris should some be generated by moving parts.
Manuals and Videos
Something else the folks at Sailrite are adept at is producing high-end instruction manuals that feature great writing, and high-end color photography, all presented through magazine quality printing. The Sailrite web site is loaded with high-quality videos that show you everything from how to assemble the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine package to many other informational videos to help get you sewing and learning no matter what you want to do.
I think this instructional presentation is an important part of the Sailrite way of doing business. Where too many companies get by with terribly written, often comically translated, instruction sheets that look like fifth generation copy machine rejects, Sailrite makes the investment to do it right, to help you get the most from their products.
They also have an ever-growing list of videos about their machines and how-to projects. More importantly to me is the wealth of machine-related videos that show how to deal with common problems, nearly all of which are the user’s fault, but Sailrite produces videos to help get you back on track. This is just another investment in making their customers happy.
In the Shop
The bobbin winder is old school but effective and
bullet-proof like the rest of this machine.
Having grown accustomed to modern day threading simplicity, I was suspect of what appeared to be a complicated threading of the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine. That turned out to be unfounded and by the third time I changed thread, I had that procedure down pat.
Another surprise came when I tried adjusting the upper thread tension and got the results I wanted. Even more surprising was that adjustment remaining consistent until I changed it again. I have suspected that the thread tension dial on some of my home level sewing machines was not actually connected to anything. The thread tension system on the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine furthers that bit of sewing paranoia.
Once you accept that the controls on the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine do what you think they will do, using this machine is totally simple. Its consistency made getting used to sewing with it a short-term endeavor for me.
Most surprising about using the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine was the dramatic speed with which I am finishing jobs despite running it at around 240 stitches per minute, far less than its speed range allows. I believe that comes from both the simplicity of being a straight-stitch, true walking foot machine with an extraordinary level of accuracy both of those enable. The only times I have had to re-do anything were caused by my brain fade, not anything the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine did.
One of the selling points on the Sailrite web site is that these machines are assembled and adjusted when you order it. Since getting my Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine the only adjustment I have made was to the upper thread tension and that was just to see if it worked. I was also surprised to see that those settings remained effective when sewing two layers or six layers of the fabrics I use.
Conclusions
To say I am happy with my Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine is hyperbole in reverse. This machine has exceeded every expectation I had. When I pay $1895.00 (4-26-2021) for a sewing machine I can have lofty expectations. The Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine blew right by those and continues to show me why that price is a bargain.
The most difficult part of getting the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine ready to use was assembling it and the super-sturdy table included in this package. It is hard to describe how stable and smooth running this machine/table combination is. It was a chore to put together by myself (not smart), but everything fit as intended. Here again, the mediocrity term does not apply.
If you are looking for a strong, consistent sewing machine for heavier fabrics (and many leather projects) the Sailrite® Fabricator® Sewing Machine should be at the top of your must-see list. Sure, this machine does not do zig zag or any of the other hundreds of stitches I do not use on my home-level machines. What zig zag work I have is on light fabrics, so my “normal” machine handles those tasks with ease.
All yesmensew.com written, photographic and drawn materials are property of and copyright by Tom Hintz and NewWoodworker.com LLC 2012-2021. Materials cannot be used in any way without the prior written permission of the owner.
