Hello last resort of the free internet.
I had to sew some stoff for my basement and realized it is a real (marksmen?-)ship. It is more complicated then cutting wood for some furniture.
Anyhow, I want to enlarge my machine’s sewing step. That is, I want it to be able to sew more than five milimeters with one step. Maybe I should add a motor with more then 90 W (current Motor), but can this archived with gearing?
I do not care for sewing steps beyond <2 mm. Though my clutch allows any step-width fluidly. I am capable of deconstruct the machine and weld anything to it what is required. And make it in weight.
But my issue is figuring out what change would enlarge the step-width.
Even if your suggestion would change my settings, let me know your idea please.
Some pictures of the Internals:
(when issuing my hand down, the gearing enlarges into the direction of the arrow. But there is a ?Bobbing? on the left side. Imo this should be dependend on a rotation so I can enlarge the leverage nonetheless)
I would appreciate any tip!
I try to be in the middle of my own opinion and beeing inclusive. Sorry for stepping ppl on the toes!
Out of curiosity, why are you intent on a longer stitch? It will be quite a weak seam if the stitch length is much more than 3mm, depending on the fabric you are sewing.
Didn’t thought about a weak seam either! I find that my 4 mm stitch length doesn’t look good and I wanted to have 1 or 2 mm more.
A basic sewing machine is orders of magnitudes more complex than just about anything in a woodworking shop. You won’t get more out of on by putting in a bigger motor. I don’t even think you’re using the right terms to describe its parts and operations.
If you’re set on doing this yourself, get some books and watch some videos and learn some basics. Then you might be in a better position to ask for help, or even understand the limitations of the machine you have.
Adding to try to be more helpful: post a photo of the front of the machine. Knowing what model it is can help understand what its capabilities are and what controls it has available. It sounds like you want to sew a straight stitch and you want to increase the stitch length. This should be easy to set up on a machine like the one you’ve shown, but I couldn’t tell you from the photo what the maximum stitch length you could do on it is.
The way the thing works is that the needle goes through the fabric, the bobbin mechanism interlocks a separate thread to the top one, the needle is pulled up, then the feed dogs engage the fabric to move it forward (or backwards even) for one stitch length. This dance is controlled by a careful arrangement of gears, cams and levers. You should be able to adjust it within the design parameters of the machine. To do more than that, you would redesign parts of it. Your time would certainly be better spent looking for a different model that supports your needs.
Edit: you edited before me!! But I don’t adress it yet, since you explain the context more professionally. Thank you in this regards.
The machine is more then 40 years old. I attached the photo. The right handle adjust the zick-zack-width (I had to adjust the chassis to get it zero’d) and the left handle puts the needle ‘left’/‘middle’/‘right’ in the feet.
I had to cut some chassis on the right handle to the left and adjust the internal screws so that the axle of stitch width is exactly above the front-needle of the geering. It wasn’t exact with a straight stitch prior to this.
I may add again: Me or my friends are capable of changing any axle or gearing to nm but I do not know what to request in the first hand. Engineering is very, VERY, hard… :(
I’d also add that re-engineering this is not impossible but these things are pretty much the pinnacle of engineering innovation from before the use of electronic controls. To redesign it you’ll probably end up having to relearn all of the genius that went into its design by trial and error.
My sewing expert tells me the slider on the right side the front of the machine controls the stitch length and should be all the way down to set it to maximum. The knobs on the top control zig zag and should probably be all the way left for a straight stitch. If that doesn’t get what you want this machine probably can’t do it.
As far as what it is: that’s a good mystery. It looks like one of machines to come out of the post-WWII Japanese industry. If so, getting info on it will be a challenge.
Re-engineering it sounds like a fun project but who can say how long that will take you before you’re back on your project. You could probably stitch whatever by hand in less time than it would take to disassemble that machine, fabricate a new part and reassemble it
Thank you very much. You have correctly deduced the sliders, yepp.
Re-engineering would indeed be a fun project and that’s why I was asking for advice.
Stitching by hand didn’t even cross my mind so thank you for thinking out of the box! :)
It took me almost ten minutes the first time just to get that thread through its path into my needle. Holy duck, that’s complicated
I see your point and I just fixed my spelling mistakes for the third time. Please refer to my comment; I wrote this due to an emotion.
It is clear to me that a more powerful motor would not change my step-width. While writing I wanted to offend people.to answer but when issuing the send-button I was questioning my own words - as always.
No worries. I can see your frustration and I didn’t want to imply that you didn’t try to figure it out.
I’ve only restored a couple of old machines of a similar vintage. They’re far better than any modern computerized garbage. I would suggest looking for some Internet forums for help. If it’s a Singer or another popular brand, there should be a few specialized forums where real experts participate that can help you better than I could.
Hitting two times submit on the summit app may raise two comments. Sorry.
If you want to have a longer “step,” you will probably need a larger machine. The limit of that length factors in things like the max thread size and how much tension the machine can maintain. Your machine is for sewing clothes, the longer stitch lengths will be for a more decorative use and would not be durable as a main support stitch.
What thing in my machine is limiting my machine step? The rotation on the inside axle?)
I understand you know how to change the step length that can be changed now, yes? You say <2mm to 5mm. My very similar machine can go to almost 10mm but it cannot keep the thread very tight. This is the limiting thing, the machine, every part, is designed for sewing a length of 2-8mm or whatever. A longer stitch step would need a complete change and probably a stronger motor.
By moving the knob or lever that changes the stitch step length, you will see what is going on.
I understand you know how to change the step length that can be changed now, yes?
Yea
You say <2mm to 5mm. My very similar machine can go to almost 10mm but it cannot keep the thread very tight.
I would die for 10 mm. I would be in to adjust the machine while sewing for any step lenght larger then 5 but 10 mm would be perfect.
This is the limiting thing, the machine, every part, is designed for sewing a length of 2-8mm or whatever. A longer stitch step would need a complete change and probably a stronger motor.
I can change gearings, leverages and axles if I understand what to communicate. I am not bound to the current chassis and motor. I can construct a chassis afterwards rezpecting current alignments within nm.
By moving the knob or lever that changes the stitch step length, you will see what is going on.
I circled the change in blue. Leveraging the handle could be the case but axles wind on their own. It is a mind fuc* which can only be put in perspective by Engineers, imo.
I am not an engineer, either 🤔 I see your front picture, my machine is similar. I would not be able to change anything myself. As @gadfly1999@lemm.ee mentioned, these really are highly engineered. If you change one thing, you must change everything.
I fear this may be the case but since I am not an engineer thought about pulling some opinions here thumbsup
The important thing is tension, for the thread to be tight. If you can do this, happy engineering! My similar machine, tension on the string is hard, more with a longer length/step.
On both pictures I have hands on the clutch. Enlarging the motor doesn’t make sense after reading my own post.
The leverage enable me to fluidly adjust the step-length.
If you explain it correctly, I can do any adjustment but please raise any requirements which raise to you head.
Initial the pictures could not be loaded so I did a comment. I deleted and reused it for this comment.
