dikman

For what it's designed for it's not a bad little machine, but as Joe said, be prepared to spend a bit of time getting it to run nicely. They aren't intended to do long stitch runs as the bobbin is very small. If you don't have a patcher then it could be a useful, and cheap, addition but it is not intended to replace a "normal" machine, e.g. a flat bed or cylinder arm machine. It will get into places that they can't.

What type of needle are you using? It's generally recommended that for nylon etc a "standard" round point garment needle is best.

True, but the same thing can happen with a reducer, it's simply a different way to achieve the same result, i.e. slow down the machine.

There's nothing particularly revolutionary in that video, he makes it sound like some sort of industry conspiracy. Basically, sellers sell reducers, usually one of two types, which do the job so I doubt if they want to bother trying to explain to customers about fitting a large replacement pulley. This way they can leave the machine intact, so it is one less area that a customer can have problems with. Matt makes a couple of good points, but only two are really of any concern, imo. If the machine is under warranty you should probably take that into account, but there's no way that I can see that swapping to a larger pulley is going to damage the machine or the motor as long as the machine is used within its limitations. The most important one, though, is the question of safety, if you fit a large pulley and intend to do handwheeling make sure your foot is off the pedal before touching the wheel!!!! At the slow speeds most of us are looking for any "flywheel effect" is going to be irrelevant, besides which the weight of your pulley isn't likely to be that much more than the one you took off. I have fitted a quite heavy pulley on one of my machines and it works fine, I also have had no problems getting a 4:1 reduction using this method, and while it is fine with one servo with a different brand it wasn't good enough, so I fitted a reducer too and am getting 11:1 reduction. As for the timing, as Tom said as long as nothing is changed inside the machine doing this cannot affect the timing! Industrial machines are built to take lot of abuse and to keep working day in, day out under conditions that we are unlikely to subject them to. Slowing them down, whether with a reducer or a large pulley, is going to significantly reduce the wear on a machine. In short, you are worrying unnecessarily.

Umm, the printer needs a Gcode file to print. You need a slicer programme to convert the .STL to Gcode, it also sets the print parameters. I use Slic3r but many use Cura.

Don probably has the right idea, adding and removing bits to make it fit properly, but that still requires some woodworking tools and basic skills. Another way might be to make a thin top piece that is cut correctly and glue it on top. I think you'll be struggling to make it usable.

Have a look at Thingiverse, there are all sorts of things to print that people post the .STL files for. There are even a few things for sewing (just search for sewing). Pretty good way to get started.

Well, it was a slightly strange looking machine and the label, as Wiz said, definitely isn't a Consew one. The ad said "for parts", although what they might fit is anybody's guess. I certainly wouldn't want to pay much for something like that, could be a good thing that you missed out.

Did it stitch before and now won't? If so what changes have been made to it since. If it's a new machine then contact the seller. Other wise more info will be needed - does it do it without a needle?

The knee lifter arm looks like it has a bit of adjustment left where it can slide further into it's clamp, will there be enough to clear the bolt? I agree, however that it's a very poorly made item, particularly if it's supposed to be made for that machine.

In a word - yes! It requires a bit of skill, and lots of practice, to learn to control one to get consistent low speed sewing. It didn't take me long to change to a servo!

Version 4! The guide wheels are some plastic things that I had and I used the lathe to cut a V groove in them. Not the prettiest of things, but as long as it works (which it appears to do) it doesn't matter. The wheels took a bit of fiddling to get them adjusted right but now the blade doesn't lift as I pull it across. If the wheels prove too soft I'll make some new ones from nylon.

I just found this post, and yes, a very nice job indeed. Only thing I wonder is does it really need the keeper strap? I think it would look better without it and doubt if it's really necessary. Brian, I've been to every one of the Adelaide shows but one and have met some really great people there, Morrie being one of them. A few have passed on since the shows started but they've always been great people to talk to and free with their advice and ideas (all but one guy and I think it was an ego problem!).

So I made a jig to (theoretically) get consistent sharpening angles. My first idea was to just fit a bar across the wheels but I soon realised that wouldn't work because of the knife handle, dragging the knife across the inside of the wheels would raise the blade and change the angles. So, version 2 with blocks the width of the wheels, version 3 with added spacers under the blocks for more clearance. Looked good, but unfortunately there is a slight problem with such a design, because the wheel is rotating away from me it tends to grab the blade and try and drag it forward along with the wheel. This results in an uneven bevel. Pressing down harder on the blade didn't work as that also put more pressure on the wheel and yes, it's quite easy to burn a blade doing this!! The only way this can work would require a fairly elaborate means of clamping the blade to the guide, such that it can slide but not lift, or perhaps some sort of arm coming from the rear of the guide, over the top and finishing just above the front of the guide by the wheel to stop the blade lifting. This may be the easiest to do but would need to be adjustable for different thickness blades. Could be getting a bit complicated.

It's probably too slow to be practical, but it was done to compensate for the servo as I found the pedal transition from stop to max was too sudden for my liking.

That's the one that myjtp used in the link that R8R posted. Should work fine.

Don't run yourself down, you did pretty good on your purchase, they're a very good machine to start with and should be more than adequate for your current needs. Fit the smaller motor pulley (hopefully there should be enough adjustment to use the existing belt) and then experiment with the settings on the servo, who knows, it may be fine as it is.

And if you want to take it to the next level - large wheel + speed reducer, gives me 1 stitch every 2.5 secs! Yes, I know, it's a bit extreme, but........ Seriously, a 2" on the motor and a 6 - 8" on the head unit (as in R8R's link) should give you the control you want.

Thanks for the reminder JKH, the chap selling them mentioned this but I forgot. I removed the base and rotated it 180* so the switch is still at the front. Now I just have to rig up a guide system to get consistent angles.

Simplest way is to find a large pulley to replace the handwheel, an 8" will give a significant speed reduction (I've done this on three of my machines). There have been a few posts about this method as well as lots about speed reducers.

I have all sorts of gear for sharpening blades - oilstones, Arkansas stones, wet-wheel grinder, belt grinder etc, but while at the annual Adelaide Knife Show a chap was demonstrating the Razor Sharp system. I was quite impressed so bought it. Basically it's two paper wheels with one being coated on the outside with 180 grit and the other (slotted) wheel given a coating of fine rouge.Using them he brought an ordinary kitchen knife to a hair-shaving edge in very little time. I bought the set for a 6" grinder, but because both of my 8" grinders are in use I had to buy a 6" grinder too! I decided to buy the cheapest I could find as I didn't need something with a lot of power for this job - the Ozito is only 150w but has a 3-year warranty so it seemed like the most practical option for $35. It came with two grinding wheels but I reckon it would have been underpowered for anything other than sharpening drill bits! I stripped the wheels and guards off and raised the base to clear the 8" Razor Sharp wheels. It takes a few seconds to come up to speed but is plenty powerful enough for this job as sharpening knives doesn't load down the motor. A quick try and it works well, although like everything there will be a bit of a learning curve. Should be good for my leatherworking tools (and woodworking stuff too).

I thought #3 looked like some sort of 211, but with all that rust on the bases I'd want to check underneath pretty carefully.

You're quite right Brtz, that's what comes of my reading the post too quickly. However, to simply say "it's not working" is fairly meaningless, for anyone to help we need a description what it's not doing (not pivoting, not contacting the lifter etc). A couple of photos will go a long way to providing help.

I don't see why a Singer lift couldn't be adapted as the basic principle is the same.

Yet another way of doing it, nice one Brtz.