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[Connie]

I am looking at buying a new DNU 1541 Juki or 1541S Juki in the Dallas, TX area. One salesman told me they only sell DNU 1541S because it is a better machine and the other store salesman said they don't sell the DNU 1541S because the timing goes out too much and his customers were upset. It usually costs $100 just to walk through the doors with a repair, at least half a day, and the hassle of lugging it to and from the car so I especially want the least repairs possible as I expect they sew the same. Would you give me a recommendation? Also, if you know which is the most honest shop in the area, I would appreciate that suggestion. I currently have a Pfaff 1245 and love it when there are no problems. It was made in China, need I say more? Thank you for your help!

[John Long]

Wow. I have never heard of a lemon "Phaff" nor have I heard of Phaff out sourcing their manufacturing. I thought they were all made in Germany.

John

[John Long]

Interesting. I did a little research and found Pfaff sold out to Husqvarna in 2014 and then Husqvarna sold the company to SVP who now owns Singer, Viking, and Pfaff and yes they are built in China......Sad. I must have been under a rock somewhere.

I continue to be thankful my old Adler 267 is sitting in my basement.

John

[Revv Up]

I have a 1541 and opted out of the S because it trips off too easy when going over bulky seams, setting timing on the 1541 takes a maximum of 10 minutes, very easy to do at home. So far I’ve owned the machine for about 2 years and have only set the timing 2 or 3 times.

If you wanted to go with the 1541 I can show you a simple tool I made to get the timing spot on every time, the place I bought mine they were good enough to show me how to do it.

[Connie]

Thank you! I may very well be taking you up on your kind offer.

[John]

Hi @Connie Welcome to the forum!

I would go with the 1541s. The "s" stands for safety, because that model has a safety clutch to prevent damage to the machine if you jam the needle or something.

Do you have a new white pfaff 1245 of an older green one? If you have the newer pfaff then you probably wont be much happier with the 1541 because its a compatible machine. I would say the 1245 is actually a little better in my opinion.

Hope this helps.

@John Long I had no idea about all those companies merging. Thanks!

[Connie]

Hi John,

Thank you for the welcome and advice.

I have the new white Pfaff 1245.

I am willing to give it more time as I am hoping the kinks have been worked out. I was surprised to have so many issues from the start as I had considered the Pfaff to be the Mercedes Benz of machines. Having sewn on it years ago (I raised a family in between time of learning the trade, an 18 month AVTI course with 22 pieces of furniture, four of them were sofas and other aspects of the business + four years of full time employment) I loved it and never had any issues so this took me by surprise. I still love the quiet and smooth feel, but jamming, bobbin winding issues, wires breaking, tension issues made me question it as I was spending a lot of time, money, and frustration on repairs. I had no idea that the companies had merged as I bought this in 2016. I was told by the repair person. Since I never had any issues with the old Pfaff I worked on, I bought it on line, which I will never do again.

Thanks for your advice! I thought I would be upgrading to a better machine but if they are so compatible, I am willing to wait. I would love a "money back guarantee" so I could try it for awhile to know it is a good fit. I noticed a lot of machines are good for medium and heavy weight fabrics. I am sewing a lot with Sunbrella which is pretty light fabric compared to velvet and leather. When I google "best upholstery industrial sewing machine", the Pfaff rarely makes the top ten. Do you know why? I expect the list to be bias to whoever is writing it, but it is a rarity to see a Pfaff show up on any list. Just curious.

Thanks again! I look forward to hearing your opinion/advice and anyone who is familiar with these machines.

Connie

[John]

Hi Connie! Glad to hear I was helpful.

So 12 years ago when I was in school learning upholstery every student had a Pfaff 1245. I used this machine every day for months and had no problems at all. I thought is was a great machine and have also heard the same form many other trimmers. That machine is typically regarded as one of the best machines you can buy. So I'm wondering if maybe you got a lemon or possibly something has changed on the Pfaff manufacturing level in the last 12 years. Which is very possible after learning form @John Long's post....

Id love to hear if anyone else is having these problems.

Also just a heads up to everyone google searching "best upholstery industrial sewing machine" Every result I have seen under this topic is only advertising machines that the author can get a commission on if you click and buy. I know this because part of the Lucky Needle business is making money off recommending products that I would stake my reputation on. Not everyone has as high moral standards and will recommend anything to you that they can make a $ on. The upholstery industry is very behind on times when it comes to an online presence. Because of that there are only a few industrial machines that offer affiliate commissions. This is why you will typically see certain machines on the top of the lists and not machines like Adler and Pfaff. Witch I believe are the best machines available.

Because of all the misinformation out there on Industrial sewing machines I have been recently working on a walking foot sewing machine buyers guide to hopefully help navigate people through all the bullshit out there.

[Kuph]

I feel like pfaff’s have their advantages and disadvantages. My father has a old 1245 as well as a 545 H4 that lasted him his entire career without missing a day due to Maintenance. At this time they are showing their age though. The cost of replacement parts (if you can even find them ) are outrageous let alone a timeline to get the parts. I’ll probably refurbish them over time due to sentimental value but in the meantime as I become more invested in the trade I need a new or new to me machine which begs the question.

Are new Chinese pfaffs worth the price. Are they as reliable as the older machines? Sure doesn’t sound like it! Also down the road the price and availability of replacement parts just doesn’t seem ideal? Not a whole lot of literature about these machines online either.

Are used machines like the 563 worth it? Going rate is somewhere between 1000-1300 from what I’ve seen and they Don’t stay on the market long. If I can’t physically pick it up getting used items shipped is expensive and almost too much of a hassle for sellers (the few deals in my “local” area have been sold out from under me).

Is it better to pay a little extra and just get a new NC or juki and be done with it. They seem to have good reviews and the price and availability of parts seem reasonable as well.

I know it a very opinion based question but feedback and suggestions are appreciated.

Decisions decisions.

-sew on-

[John]

I would never pay $1000+ for a juki 563. I have the comparable 562 model and payed $600 for it. I beleave $600 is a good target for a used sewing machine.

If you cant find any reasonable deals on used machines in you area I personally think it would be better to go new and get a Juki 1541s, NC-6, or NC1508NH

Shoot me an email @Kuph and Ill send you the sewing machine buyers guide we just came out with. It should help answer a lot of your questions.

[Kof33]

I have a 1541 and opted out of the S because it trips off too easy when going over bulky seams, setting timing on the 1541 takes a maximum of 10 minutes, very easy to do at home. So far I’ve owned the machine for about 2 years and have only set the timing 2 or 3 times.

If you wanted to go with the 1541 I can show you a simple tool I made to get the timing spot on every time, the place I bought mine they were good enough to show me how to do it.

If you still have it I'd love to see the timing tool.

[Ron Henningsen]

Did miss something. In one of the above posts John said the difference between the 1541 and the 1541S was that the S have a safety clutch. Whey would the two models take a different timing procedure other than checking that the clutch had not been activated by a jam?
Perhaps you could post the information on timing the machine as I know many of us would be interested in the procedure and tool.
Thanks Ron H

[Revv Up]

I don’t think the timing is different between them, I was lead to believe the only difference was the safety kick out (which means on a S the timing doesn’t get as disturbed as a result of a heavy hit

[Ron Henningsen]

I agree. What I don't understand is in one of the previously posts in this discussions it's mentioned that they were taught how to set the timing on a non-S machine and that the S was somehow different.