Vinculus

Okay folks, for anyone who might need advice on how to solve this in the future, I decided not to go the VFD route. Instead I bought a new motor: 1hp single phase 1400RPM 750 watt motor 70 and 100mm. pulleys with the correct bore and key size Simple ON/OFF switch Hopefully this solves my problems. The Rapid machine has an external clutch, so I didn't need to worry about getting a clutch motor. Continuous drive is where it's at.

Okay, then I’ll probably just buy the one you linked to on the German eBay page. The new Omron 0.75KW is €175 locally, so I might as well save a few bucks. Thanks a lot for all the help! Wish the VFDs were a bit more bare bones with not as many settings and the digital menus though. Plug and play is my kinda deal, haha.

Thanks for lending me some grace, haha. And yeah I particularly would like to avoid the ever-so-trusty servo motors because of the torque issue. I think I changed my link after you clicked it. I actually found an Omron (well actually Yaskawa) locally. If you could take a look at the updated link, think that would work?

I see. How about the this? I can get that locally. I feel like an idiot since I don't know anything about these things.

Got it. Could you link me to an affordable VFD on ebay (from China I guess) that would work? Something like this maybe? I have no idea how to hook the motor up to it though, but that can be solved.

Yeah he was asking 150 initially. I didn’t take a picture of the new wiring. He changed it from star to delta if I remember correctly. We did a test where he just wired the new mains with a single phase plug right to the motor to see how it ran, plus the capacitor. It ran continually like it’s supposed to do, but got hardly any more torque or speed when stepping on the “gas”. Edit: he wired it back to original and I tested it with the 380V connection. Ran like a dream with tons of power. Seems like this motor just wasn’t a good candidate for rewiring.

Disregard the above. I had an electrician rewire it to 220V and the motor ended up not having enough power to even drive the stitcher with no material to stitch. That was $100 wasted. Guess I’ll just have to get a new 220V motor.

Alright, so I bought a 25 uf capacitor and a new single phase power cord. Here are some pictures: That's the internals of the motor. The two loose wires come from the capacitor. Which wires should be moved and attached where? This seems simple enough. This is the rotation direction I need. The motor wires lead to this. The cable on the right comes from the motor. It then goes into the power switch: The cable on the right is for the motor. This is where I get confused and am not sure where to connect the new single phase power cable, since there's this second cable there and it seems like they share several prongs. I assume I must adjust this to about 1.7A? Thanks!

I’ve pretty much decided to just keep the machine in a storage unit until we move to a bigger place on the first floor. It’s mounted to a so-called Euro pallet (120x80cm) already which gives it a bigger footprint. There also seems to just be two huge bolts attaching the machine head to the stand, so it shouldn’t be too hard to split it into two parts for easier transportation.

Thanks a million! I don’t know if I dare to do this myself but at least now I can show this to someone competent who can rewire it for me. You put a normal 1-phase plug on this at the end right? Like the black plug in my picture up here.

Hi guys. I took a second look at the plaque on the motor of the stitcher today. Notice how it says 220/380V on the label below the HP: This leads me to believe the motor can be run at 220V as well, the standard domestic voltage in my country. But the power plug is three-phase, the black one is for the bobbin/wax heater and the red three-phase is for the motor: Notice also how the on/off switch has been replaced. The ugly gray brick is the new switch. Any ideas how I can get this up and running on 220V? It seems a bit counterintuitive that the motor itself is three-phased but is marked to still be able to run on regular single phase 220V current? I really have no idea about all of this, which is why I need your help. Oh, and I stitched some soles by handcranking it. Some tension issues still to figure out, but I'm getting there!

Yup! I actually went back and rethreaded the stitcher differently; not going through the "tube" with the clamp all the way at the back of the machine stand that holds the thread back before going into the tension wheel. That seems to have solved the thread breakage issue. It says you're supposed to go through the wax pot if you're using waxed top thread, but since my wax pot is clogged and there is a rotten thread in there, I just skipped it and went straight up from the thread spool through two guide holes and into the tension wheel. Seems to be working much better with this specific thread. Also set the bobbin thread tension to an absolute minimum, and now the stitches are both longer and nicer looking.

Hey I have the manual for the 309, but it's in Danish. I can scan it for you if you want.

I tried test stitching the inner stitchdown row on a trial shoe yesterday. It went to hell Thread just kept breaking on me, which hasn't happened on any of the dry runs on my sample piece. Back to the drawing board, a.k.a waiting for the new thread to arrive. The Ritza 25 just seems too heavily waxed and the machine doesn't want to pull it through smoothly, so it just breaks instead.

Ah, good to know. Will definitely see if I can't get hold of some of that then. Yeah me neither. Maybe Canadians and Northern Europeans are spoiled with outsole stitchers

Haha, nah. I just love using idioms and local terms. I have a lot of American internet acquaintances and also study folklore (vocational group culture), so I suck it up like a sponge and use it in my everyday conversations. I'll look into that. One of the guys at the Viberg boot factory is also going to let me know what they use. It looks like a semi-beefy twisted thread of some kind with a matte finish, so it can't be nylon, I think. As far as the stitch length goes, I'm not too upset. In general I prefer slightly higher SPI for a clean and nice sole stitch. The length is similar to what you'd find on a pair of Tricker's or other English makers' sole stitching. It's about $380. Fully aware that it's a complete steal and thrilled knowing that fact, haha. You couldn't give one of these away for free just a few years back here in Finland because no one made or bought stitched construction footwear for a loooong time, but now it's getting popular again. Normally you can find them for $2200 and up here now, so the deal I got is still amazing even on the basis of a national pricing trend. I've looked at the Rapid A (gray paint) and C (green paint) and Model 309 (red paint), but settled on the Rapid E. The A and C are way too big and crude, the 309 too small. As mentioned earlier, there is a rare Pedersen Rapid II (grayish blue paint) that is right in the middle between Model 309 and Rapid E. Would've loved to get my hands on that one, but there's just one cobbler in the whole country who owns one. And I think he's taking it with him to the grave, haha.

These are great - and scary - points. I will take this into consideration when it's time to move the machine the next time around. Fortunately the whole thing is mounted to a pallet, so the footprint of the machine is spread over a slightly bigger surface area. In other news, I have cleaned, oiled and threaded the machine, mounted a suicide knob on one of the flywheels and done some test stitches on the number of layers and rough material thickness of what I usually stitch: and it stitches like a champ! Stitches are a little short at the maximum length, but I think I can solve this by setting the bobbin thread tension to an absolute minimum and also lovering the top thread tension. It's the same on my Frobana: if I put too much tension on the threads the stitches will be shorter. I will also have to find a better looking thread. Ritza 25 1mm. thickness just doesn't cut it, I want a round twisted thread instead of a flat braided one - at least for the top thread.

I would be jealous for the price I got it for as well alone, haha. TBH I would've loved the Rapid II, which is a little smaller but still able to stitch cleanly through really thick materials. But alas, they are rarer than hen's teeth. Note taken in regards to motors. Clutch motors are often quite big though, and the one that is mounted in the machine is small. Will have to find something small and suitable to make it easier to match up the pulley position and such.

Stitchdown boots based on traditional Scandinavian military, work and ski boot patterns but on a more contemporary set of lasts. You can see more examples on my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ostmoboots/ I've been hand stitching the soles for two years now. Takes forever.

Finally got the machine out of the cold and into the heat. Here are a couple of pictures, apologies for the size: The heating coils have been repaired and rewired to a new separate 220V circuit, so at least I can still hand crank it to test how it stitches without the motor.

Well, I live in Europe and 220-230V is the domestic standard here. I will have to figure out everything once I’ve moved the machine and can tinker with it in my storage unit. I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures, no question about that. Mostly because I have no idea what some parts do and require help from a fella abroad that restores these for a living.

I will have to get back to you on this. I haven't transported the machine to my storage unit yet. Oh, cool. Maybe I'll just go for a 3/4hp servo then, like I have on my Adler 68 post bed. I'll have to do some more research. Pulleys and whatever are cheap, so as long as the motor works one would think getting the right size and width pulley shouldn't be hard.

Since I already have the thread here, I guess I can ask a question regarding the motor. Right now it's fitted with a 380V motor. I'd like to change this to a normal 230V motor, as that's just way more convenient. Can I just get a 1000W/1HP servo motor for regular industrial sewing machines, or does a curved needle sole stitcher require a particular type of motor?

How this ended up going: Gave up on the idea of getting it home. Rented a self storage space and arranged for having it transported there while I wait until we move to a bigger place. Gonna be a real nightmare to move it from Finland to Norway when the time comes to move though. But it got it for €350, so I can't complain. Thanks for the advice, everyone!

These are all great points. To address your first issue, the floor of our apartment is made out of a couple of feet of steel reinforced concrete. This is the student village, so the buildings are very bare-bones with the "innards" made to last and they just replace the floor coverings and such as needed. As for the stairs, they are similarly built. I think this will be the least of my issues. I already have an old Adler 68 on a huge cast iron table as well as a skiving machine in the opposite end of the room and combined they probably weigh around the same - although the footprint is definitely a larger surface area. However, you have got me thinking. After some further investigation, we do have cheap storage units here in the student village on the ground floor of a heated building. After having a look at the machine later today, I might just book one of those store units and keep it there. Thank you for your input, it was most valuable!