Tarp construction

Hello all
I would like to ask any members if they make their own Tarps or covers.
I have been making tent side walls out of painters cotton canvas drop sheets and well they turned out pretty good. A trailer cover from plastic sheet, things like that.
Having said that I struggle with seam thickness at crossover joins when using the canvas.
If anyone is dabbling in sewing things as above It would be good to hear from you if you have the time.
I am very happy with the wet weather performance of this cotton canvas wich was a supprise and they are lasting very well.

Thanks
Brett

Great topic Brett :Y: welcome to PA I would end up like a pin cushion if I tried to sew :lol: can't help you but I'll be interested to hear from others.

If you are going to do that sort of thing you really need the right sort of sewing machine.

A "walkingfoot, needle feed" is the best, but costs a bit

And a strong needle.

Cheers

Doug

Correct.
I used to make Tarps for a local Trucking Mob.

I had a Singer old style duel needle machine and it could punch through about 1/2 an inch of material consisting
of leather and canvas without slowing down..
Could also quit easily go through your finger with ease as I found out.

Both feet were walking style about 3 inch,s wide and was able to pull a 45 x 16 tarp along the table.

When sewing leather cleats as above, I had a lubricating setup that you would put linseed oil in to stop
the thread from over heating. It would smoke the needles when running at a fair pace.

I used to really enjoy having 4 threads running through doing a 45 foot run up the side or middle of a tarp.
You could hear the machine running through the whole depot when I cranked her up a bit.

The tarp was folded twice in the middle seams, 4 times on the outer with leather cleats about a 1/4 of an inch thick.
Duck W 14 Canvas.

The machine would not slow down at all.

I never got to run it at full speed as I could not control it enough hence the needle through the finger.
My bloody thumb at that. Had to go up to hospital to get one broken piece out. Could not reach it with pliers. LOL

I see now in America one is worth upwards of $25,000.00

Old style Arm over.

I make a few things out of shade cloth. We get very little rain but even when we do it sheds water surprisingly well and dries out without going moldy. You need UV resistant thread to have it last. I only use the Elna sowing machine so I'm a bit restricted on heavy going. For the type of camping we do the shade cloth holds up better than some of the lousy cloth we see these times and the open weave makes it very easy to sew.

Hi
Thanks all for the advice. Iwas given an old Singer 591d300. It has nearly a lt of oil in the sump and is built into the table.
It is very heavy both table and machine. It proberly should be considered industrial light duty evan with the heavy duty kit fitted.
I know what you mean about going fast, well faster than me means, so I fited brushlessl motor and drive pully.
This has reduced the speed by 100 kph and if I get faster its adjustable. Have not broken any needles yet and I can do about 9 thickness of the cotton canvas.As you would now the seams need to be rolled to stop fraying and three thickensses for a gromett to be fitted. When a seam crosses a join it gets rather thick. If a gromett is needed at this point I struggle to keep a low profile and fit the gromett.
As mentioned thanks for any advice or tips that you can come up with.

Regards
Brett