Leather sewing machine project.

I'm not sure I would discount a sewing machine motor, that big flywheel will give about double the gear reduction a standard sewing machine would have.

But either way, a industrial sewing machine motor should have the punch needed. Like this one. The 220 V would likely be the deal breaker on this one, but there is many different ones, this was just the first I found.

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sewing.jpg
 
Interesting thread. I have a very old singer commercial walking needle feed machine. It has a knee lift foot, which is very handy. Unfortunately the Motor and control is pretty dumb. Something the last owner added. I'll have to give some of you guys motor controls a try. My current motor is 120V with plenty of power, but too fast. The "variable speed system" is by slipping a clutch. Another project for the list.
 
Larry42 said:
Interesting thread. I have a very old singer commercial walking needle feed machine. It has a knee lift foot, which is very handy. Unfortunately the Motor and control is pretty dumb. Something the last owner added. I'll have to give some of you guys motor controls a try. My current motor is 120V with plenty of power, but too fast. The "variable speed system" is by slipping a clutch. Another project for the list.
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Where I grew up in Pa, there was several sewing factories. A friends mother worked in one. I do not know what started the conversation, but she was very sincere in stating that you are not to sew slower then full speed, or you will burn the machine up. It seemed strange to me, but just wrote it off as working piece work. Never thought they had a clutch, but that makes sense now. After all these years, you solved a puzzle from many years ago.
 
Larry42 said:
Interesting thread. I have a very old singer commercial walking needle feed machine. It has a knee lift foot, which is very handy. Unfortunately the Motor and control is pretty dumb. Something the last owner added. I'll have to give some of you guys motor controls a try. My current motor is 120V with plenty of power, but too fast. The "variable speed system" is by slipping a clutch. Another project for the list.
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That is what I've found learning more about sewing machines. Older machines used a clutch and speed was controlled by slipping the clutch. More electricity required, noisier and more wear on the motor as it is always turning when the machine is on . Modern sewing machines are more of a true variable speed motor. I thought it was interesting one video showed the easiest way to tell which type motor you have, simply by turning on the machine. A clutch motor drive makes noise when you turn it on because the motor spins up to speed. A servo motor is silent until you actually press the pedal.

The industrial machine my wife just got does 5500 stitches a minute. Probably a guy thing but hearing it run all I can think of is Jesse Ventura and his mini-gun in Predator. I just might find an interest in sewing after all. :grin: It is insanely fast compared to the cheap home machines I've been around.




We have a very old Singer that came from my Grandmothers house when she died. It was a treadle powered machine built in 1911 that at some point was repowered with an electric motor. I guess the old sewing machines were really built to last.
 
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There are a few factors involved in adding a motor to anything. The first is voltage, the rated voltage of a motor should never be exceeded by more than 10% or so. There are exceptions, as with any field, but I try to avoid a full explanation of the subject. There isn't enough room here for the lessons of why and how to decide the best motor. It doesn't need an engineering degree, just enough knowledge to make a "wise" decision. I was basing my comments on your proposal to use "wheelchair" motors. There are many drive mechanisms available, sewing machines have been powered a long time. At many voltages.

Wheelchair motors are usually 12 or 24 volts. Both my father's and the ones I have for my chair are rated for 12 volts. Based on your statement, I stand by my call for control. If you are considering purchasing a drive motor, be advised that I am by no means an expert. I merely understand enough to make my gizmos work. Usually likely overpowered, but they run. See
http://www.hudsontelcom.com/uploads/ShopElex.pdf
for details of what I am knowledgable of. And that old school~~~~

So, you have decided on 12 (or 24) volt drive. The next concern is horsepower. As in enough power to drive your load. A little over powered is recommended as the expected load is heavy leather. Then there is speed. That is a factor you have to decide for yourself. I like things to run sorta slow, my reaction time is slow, slower as I age. Underpowered motors generate heat, lots of it. The magic smoke usually lets you know there is too little power. Once that magic smoke gets out, it's hard to get back in.

Using a salvaged windshield wiper motor, you could connect 1:1 with the flywheel and use a speed control for regulation. Using a motor without gearing would need to have the speed controled with a reduction drive. Such as a belt~~~ Pulley size controls speed. Your call~~~

One last comment; using pulse width control on a D-C motor does not cause overheating unless the motor is overloaded. Now that I have managed to confuse you this much, I'll bow out and leave you to consider all the comments.
Bill Hudson​

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Bi11Hudson said:
Just wandering around and stumbled into this thread. I don't sew, although I have a sewing machine from waayyy back. Well, for me anyway, 1974. Bought it when I was single. Current wife has her own, several actually, so mine sits in a corner. In any case, this project looks interesting.


Hi Bill,

Your comments indicate you carefully read all of my previous sewing machine posts! That's impressive. As I studied this
situation with somewhat of a learning curve, I too came to the conclusion that a PWM speed control for a DC motor would
likely be the easiest solution. Also being pondered is some sort of a clutch as is commonly found on Singer machines.
There are times when using a hand crank machine that it will significantly bind and a clutch would save a lot of needles likely.
I'm thinking of experimenting with machining up a clutch of some sort. A cone clutch might work out I think.

I built up a variable supply using an LM317 regulator and a large pass transistor and that does provide usable variable DC
for the wiper motor or the wheel chair motor but it makes for a lot of folderol to get the job done. So, like you, I came to
the conclusion that one of the ready made PWM units might be a good choice. E-Bay has a lot of PWM controllers for
many applications and are quite inexpensive. The PWM would be powered with a simple transformer, bridge rectifier,
and some degree of filtering. One might get by with a computer power supply but I am not fond of SMPS supplies even
if they are more efficient.

With your experience, Bill I'm curious to know if there is a negative side to powering a 24 volt DC wheelchair motor
on 12 volts. I am thinking of motorizing the height control on my band saw sawmill using a 24 volt wheelchair motor
since I now have a 12 volt battery and electric start. It seems to have enough torque to me and would be intermittent
use.


Well, that about covers my rant for the morning while I have a cup of coffee and ponder my day. It won't be without
doing a bunch of snow removal and shoveling as we are experiencing more than normal snowfalls for December here
in northern Minnesota.

Happy new year to you Bill and to all hobby machinists.
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No matter what you go with, the main idea is to make the sewing easier. The biggest reason to motorize the machine is to free up both hands to guide the material, not necessarily for speed, as the effort required to turn the crank is not all that tiresome. Trying to guide material with one hand and crank with the other is not so much a problem with small projects, but when working with large amounts of bulky material, (like my hot tub cover) it is helpful to have the other hand. Before I added the motor, I used my wife as a "power supply". We developed a system where she cranked the wheel when I touched her leg with my knee. It worked, but I found her reaction time was slower than I expected. Which brings me to my point: the system has to have some kinda precision as far as starting and stopping where you want it, and control over the speed......with ease.
Although it may seem red neck tech, the drill motor set up is the cheapest and most simplistic approach to power a machine of that caliber. You can get a suitable drill from Harbor Freight for $20.00, and rob a brake cable from a bike. Even if it don't suit ya, you still got a usable drill.
 
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