dikman

I would give this guy a wide berth!! He has no idea what he's talking about.

I didn't realise that you had one of these beasties too, Keith. You really like your 3D printer don't you! The small table is a great idea for one of these machines and yours looks very neat. Smartshop, those legs it comes with are probably great for a street-side repairman in Shanghai, but in general are pretty useless. Most users make up a wooden base to attach it to.

What Hockeymender said.

You have been a busy boy. You've got bobbin holders everywhere! That little table looks neat, is that 3D printed too?

As you discovered with the Techsew, a speed reducer is the answer. Either make your own or buy one. There are two main types for sale, the one on a "pedestal" mounting that screws underneath the table or the box type. The box type is the easiest to fit, just remove the motor, mount the reducer where the motor was and bolt the motor to the bottom of the reducer. Then it's just a matter of finding the correct length belts. You won't have to worry about what the numbers mean on the motor then.

I used a bracket screwed to the table, I had to loosen a screw to tilt back but it was no big deal.

Can anyone tell me anything about this? I was given some bottles of this stuff and I know it's old (probably between 30-50 years?) and I'm wondering what sort of dye it is - oil, spirit-based, what?

Anyone else notice they all look the same?

Balancing the two feet can be a bit fiddly as they are inter-dependent, which is obvious by looking at the linkages. I have an old casting 335 and normally can only get about 6mm under the feet, some models can give more, depending on the sub-class. I can get up to 10mm by mal-adjusting the feet and needle bar but then the feet won't touch the feed dog.

Handstitched, that is a brilliant idea!

Yep, they are a tinkerer's delight.

Many have used treadmill motors to drive small lathes and they appear to work well but Don makes a good point about why it might be problematical on a sewing machine. Given that servos are relatively inexpensive and are a simple plug-and-play it seems like the logical way to go.

Joe, most of these inexpensive/basic wood lathes have a threaded headstock, not morse taper. The simplest way will be to get a piece of suitable wood to make your burnisher from, drill a hole that is slightly undersize for the headstock thread and force screw it on. Then you can spin it up and turn it down to suit your needs. I just made a burnisher on the lathe and force screwed it onto my grinder. Runs at 2800 rpm but works fine, I haven't had any need for a variable speed burnisher.

I know exactly what you mean, it's nice slowly driving that big needle and heavy thread through thick leather. It feels like a real man's machine.

Same here. I spent a lot of time experimenting with extending the clutch arm, made a small speed reducer, fitted a larger pulley to the handwheel and in the end fitted a servo and reducer.

Chris, why not just post the file in the 3D section? Then it's there for anyone who wants it.

Congratulations! There's something satisfying knowing that you have a machine that can punch through almost anything!! All you need now is an ubiquitous 3/8" upholstery-class machine for lighter duties and you'll be set.

My thought too.

Another advantage of a home-made reducer is you can tinker with the ratios by changing pulley sizes.

That's neat, Don. I would imagine the only reason it hasn't been offered is cost? Plus, of course the bog standard servo is a straight swap for either a clutch or another servo motor, no messing around.

IF it uses an optical sensor. It appears that most, if not all, of the generic servos use Hall-effect sensors, not optical now.

You may find this site useful here in Oz if you don't have any sources close to you. https://www.vardhman.com.au/

Should be more than enough, I use a 550w (well, so they say, who knows what it actually is ) Lishui Skyrit on my Seiko and it goes through whatever I put under it with #138 thread. Of course, I do have a speed reducer fitted too.

"spinny thing"......

My Skyrit's are from Lishui and I've been happy with them.