Sailright Ultrafeed vs home sewing machine for Bilgy Tent

Don't know the Sailrite.
But a domestic machine WITH a roller foot should do fine.

Cheers

in my experience, sewing lightweight fabrics is more trouble than it's worth with the sailrite. I too had trouble getting the tension right for silNylon.

I looked the Sailrite ultrafeed up on their web site.
From all I could read, I don't think this is the right machine for silnylon. 12 oz Duck, sure. 4 layers of solid nylon webbing, equally.

Cheers

I own a Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1 and a couple home sewing machines. Without a doubt go with a home machine for sil. I'm becoming less and less of a fan of my Sailrite and it certainly isn't the best tool for sil, ripstop, or even 500d/1000d cordura.

I'm also looking for a nice home machine that will do Silnylon, I've been looking at the Janome HD 1000 and the Juki TL98Q. Does anybody have any thoughts on these machines? I like the Janome a little more because of the zigzag feature, but the Juki also has some great features, but it's only a straight stitch.

Jack

I have a Janome that isn't made any more. I have used it a lot without any problems. I have never serviced it, except I vacuumed it a couple times.

Update: So far she has had no problems with the normal home machine with the roller foot. she started a new job last week and then got the Flu this weekend so progress has slowed a bit. Not going to use it for a while anyway so that isn't a big deal

<p style=”text-align: left;”>Does anyone have good luck sewing light fabric with the sailrite?</p>

It can be done, but is definitely not the ideal tool.  Dial the thread tension way back, lengthen the stitch length, and pay very close attention to smooth feeding.  I’ve made a few quilts out of .6 oz/yard fabrics with my LSZ-1 and it got the job done.   If I worked with sub-100 denier fabrics often I would set up another machine for that purpose.

A couple features that are a big help:  1) A machine that will sew slowly and at variable speeds, using pressure on the foot pedal; and 2) A hand wheel on the right hand side to help penetrate tapes and webbing.  Note that when the fabric is tailored, the pins are placed parallel to where the seam will be; but before sewing, the pins are reset to be perpendicular to where the seam will be, so that the pins go under the presser foot easily.  More often, the pins are removed just  before they go under the presser foot.

Once the final shape and location of the seam is tailored and held in place with fine pins, I hold the seam with each hand, one in front of the presser foot, and one behind it as the seam is stitched.  Having variable speeds makes it easier to get the seam stitched just right (two stitch lines for a lap felled seam).  So once the seam lines have been marked, there is a lot of work done on the big ping pong table for the resetting of the pins.

Not a skilled or educated approach, but it works.

I hold the seam with each hand, one in front of the presser foot, and one behind it as the seam is stitched.
Just so.

(Elna machine maybe 40 yrs old.)

Cheers