Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

stereolithography t1_j64txlf wrote

For me, BIFL doesn't mean that it'll last forever, because nothing will, it means that the likelihood of things breaking are low and that finding parts to fix it and it's serviceability are easy. That usually means doing a bit of research, sometimes through here and sometimes through sources like YouTube, where people will torture test and break down items.

An example of this would be the sewing machine I just bought, a 1960's Singer ZigZag 457. Reviews on here are mostly good, except a few people who swear them off because of a plastic gear that can break. Looked it up and yeah, the gear can break but the replacement and general serviceability are easy. So at $30, including the table, I felt like it was a great price and fit within how I define BIFL

29

lynxss1 t1_j65r42f wrote

If you are looking for usability the Japanese Swinger clones are a great buy and hard to beat because they are generally all metal. Post war, Swinger gave Japan their old blue prints to help reconstruction and the Japanese took that and ran with it. Japan was not big on branding in the 50's so it's next to impossible to figure out who made what and they'd stamp a lot of different labels on machines. Because of the lack of branding they are not collectable at all today. This makes them dirt cheap tanks if you want to actually use it :)

Mine is also a ZigZag model to compete with Swinger but unlike swinger's more elegant design my Japanese machine moves all of the internals back and forth instead of just the needle LOL.

5

CMYKoi t1_j65kpjp wrote

Hell, and at that point, you could probably have a simple metal version milled instead.

2

AtlEngr t1_j65u0sy wrote

I don’t know sewing machines but plenty of mechanical gear trains have one component designed to fail in order to save the rest. Like a shear key on a lawnmower. Might not be a bad idea to keep a spare around though

7

stylefaux t1_j65z7aa wrote

Be careful with that — the machine is already going to be mostly metal, but they made that part plastic for a reason. Most presumably, because it would be difficult to oil it as needed as time goes on.

I have a vintage Bernina with a plastic cam gear that also can break over time — still going strong! People have figured out how to mill new ones from plastic, and are experimenting with strength of resin-cast and 3D-printed versions.

6

CMYKoi t1_j66my8k wrote

Interesting, I'll keep this in mind!

1

stereolithography t1_j65n4xz wrote

I've thought about that or looking for aftermarket steel ones, but at like $10/pop and the fact that they last over a decade it's probably not worth it

3