8 hours ago, wheee! said:

.... as I stalk the streets of Bowral with the Google street camera car image bank looking for signs of a blue 240, yellow bug and tangerine Porsche...!  ?

Lucky my Beetle is no longer yellow and my 911 is Signal Orange ? 

This week my challenge was to make new door trims for the 680g and I decided to give diamond stitched inserts a go.

 

What did you buy for a sewing machine?

What are you using as a pencil on the fabric?

I bought this machine from a friend who is a trimmer, and it is a HUGE step up from what I am using. Apparently it is better than what  lot of pro trimmers use, as this one auto starts the thread (forward back forward) and auto finishes and cuts the thread off, so it is much much quicker and easier to use than my old machine.

As for the pencil, I bought it from a sewing shop which is a fabric pencil.

1 hour ago, Home Built by Jeff said:

I bought this machine from a friend who is a trimmer, and it is a HUGE step up from what I am using. Apparently it is better than what  lot of pro trimmers use, as this one auto starts the thread (forward back forward) and auto finishes and cuts the thread off, so it is much much quicker and easier to use than my old machine.

As for the pencil, I bought it from a sewing shop which is a fabric pencil.

Cool. Do you care to share the brand if it's an internationally available machine? I am interested in doing some shopping for a heavier machine.

33 minutes ago, Patcon said:

Cool. Do you care to share the brand if it's an internationally available machine? I am interested in doing some shopping for a heavier machine.

It is a Highland which I believe is made in China like everything else these days. I believe it was about AU$3k new. I paid half that second hand, which is still a crazy amount for the time I will use it, but it is sooo nice to use.

Jeff, if I may offer a bit of constructive criticism: the part of the video I was most interested in seeing --  the actual stitching -- just blew by in a time lapse! I went and just bought my skins from Interior Innovations, so I was curious to see some of the production work you put in.

Now that you have the fancy sewing machine, here's a link I found a long time ago that I've had my eye on doing one day: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/showpost.php?p=342586&postcount=182 This guy upholstered all of his interior panels. He (unfortunately) doesn't include many pictures, but it looks quite nice where you can see it.

Looks like a Juki...

 

2 hours ago, charliekwin said:

Jeff, if I may offer a bit of constructive criticism: the part of the video I was most interested in seeing --  the actual stitching -- just blew by in a time lapse! I went and just bought my skins from Interior Innovations, so I was curious to see some of the production work you put in.

Now that you have the fancy sewing machine, here's a link I found a long time ago that I've had my eye on doing one day: https://www.zdriver.com/forums/showpost.php?p=342586&postcount=182 This guy upholstered all of his interior panels. He (unfortunately) doesn't include many pictures, but it looks quite nice where you can see it.

Sorry, my camera was playing up so I lost some of the footage I took. I will try to cover the sewing in more detail for the other stuff.

1 hour ago, wheee! said:

Looks like a Juki...

 

My old machine is a Juki ?

Great build on the 620G Jeff, enjoying your trials and tribulations all the way from Oregon where I'm doing the same to a 1973 240Z with my son. Love the missus Jeff segment, even if she is a Kiwi!  Keep up the good work, from a fellow Aussie on the other side of the world.

 

3 hours ago, Home Built by Jeff said:

It is a Highland which I believe is made in China like everything else these days. I believe it was about AU$3k new. I paid half that second hand, which is still a crazy amount for the time I will use it, but it is sooo nice to use.

Seems like that is about mid point for Highland machines. I saw one that was $14k USD. You need to add some of the machine details in the next sewing video. I don't really understand what the computer would do on a machine like that. Is it single needle of double needle, etc. Half of retail isn't really that crazy when you look at how good it works. I spent more than that on my welder. It's downright cheap looking if you're shopping for real estate in Sydney!

37 minutes ago, Patcon said:

Seems like that is about mid point for Highland machines. I saw one that was $14k USD. You need to add some of the machine details in the next sewing video. I don't really understand what the computer would do on a machine like that. Is it single needle of double needle, etc. Half of retail isn't really that crazy when you look at how good it works. I spent more than that on my welder. It's downright cheap looking if you're shopping for real estate in Sydney!

Basically the computer controls the start stitch and the stop stitch. So you can program it when you first touch the pedal it will do 2 stitches forward then 2 stiches backward and another 2 forward all by itself. Then you continue with the run. At the end of the run, you push the back edge of the pedal and it does the same thing to the amount of stitches you choose back and fowrad and then cuts off the thread. Also if you stop mid run it always stops with the needle down. That means you can turn your work around and do a 90 degree corner and it stays in the exact spot. I thought the same thing, why do you need a computer, but this auto start auto finish just makes it sooooo much quicker and easier. The Juki one I have is all manual so to start you have the wind the thing forward and back 2 stitches manually at the start and the end and you need to cut the thread with scissors at the end of each run. Not a big problem really, the Highland just makes it much quicker and easier.

 

Edited November 28, 20186 yr by Home Built by Jeff