A Bigger Handwheel for Singer 111w?

[AlZilla]

I'm working to slow down my 111w153 and wanting to add a larger hand wheel.

Is there a go-to replacement? I can find all sorts of pulleys with a 1/2" center bore but I'm thinking I want some weight to it, like the original has.

I think I can go to 8" at least and still clear the belt.

Thanks!

[kgg]

A couple of things:

1. If you measure your existing diameters of the motor pulley and the handwheel pulley you could go to the Pulley Calculator ( www.blocklayer.com/pulley-belteng ) and pug those values in with a rpm of 100 to determine your existing handwheel speed and then plug in the new handwheel pulley diameter.

Example:

Existing handwheel pulley size at 3.5 inches and a motor pulley size of 3 inches. The handwheel would be spinning at 85.7 rpm's with a motor speed of 100 rpm's.

Changing the handwheel pulley size to 8 inches and keeping the existing 3 inch motor pulley. The handwheel would be spinning at 37.5 rpm's with a motor speed of 100 rpm's.

2. Other considerations as discussed in the topic by @chrisash i) shaft diameter my be 0.545 and the only way to be sure measure yours with a caliper. ii) be careful you don't throw off the balance the existing handwheel provides

the topic

3. You may want to use a reducer pulley setup rather then changing the existing handwheel. If you installed a reducer pulley that has a 6" and a 2" pulley combo the speed would be reduced to 29 rpm's with a motor speed of 100 rpm's. In my opinion a lot less work to accomplish your speed reduction and the machine remains orginial.

kgg

[AlZilla]

I've thought about a speed reducer and/or a servo. I'm practicing and getting control of it with the full blast clutch motor. I stitched a practice strap, .120" thick x 1/2", one line down both sides, today. I had one spot where I wandered.

This is strictly recreational for me, so I'd like to avoid throwing another couple/few hundred dollars at it.

I did caliper the shaft and pulley bore. Right at a 1/2".

The motor has a 2" pulley already. I've used that pulley calculator site many times. My 3" hand wheel pulley against my 2" motor pulley gives me a max of 1167 RPMs (1750 rpm motor), which I seem able to run at about 1/2 speed by feathering the clutch.  With thinner leather or thick denim, I can feather a stitch or two at a time as-is.  If I can get an 8" pulley on there instead of the roughly 3" one, I think it'll slow down enough to serve my current needs.

[AlZilla]

Examples below (ignore the tracks in the middle, that was a different machine and test), sewn with the stock clutch motor (1750 RPM) and very little speed reduction (2"motor pulley and stock hand wheel). For the most part, it's fine. One pic shows where I veered off and recovered. I don't think its going to take a giant reduction and I'll be able to control this thing. It's kind of a white-knuckle thrill ride at the moment ...

So, I was hoping someone would chime in with "Yep, the hand wheel off XYZ machine is twice as big and fits fine".

Edited May 4, 2023 by AlZilla

[toxo]

On 5/4/2023 at 12:20 AM, AlZilla said:

I'm working to slow down my 111w153 and wanting to add a larger hand wheel.

Is there a go-to replacement? I can find all sorts of pulleys with a 1/2" center bore but I'm thinking I want some weight to it, like the original has.

I think I can go to 8" at least and still clear the belt.

Thanks!

My Durkopp 239 is similar to the 111 and by putting a large handwheel and a servo motor on it I can do a stitch at a time. If you do a search on here I did a thing a while back, maybe a video as well for the cost of around £40 all in.

[AlZilla]

1 hour ago, toxo said:

My Durkopp 239 is similar to the 111 and by putting a large handwheel and a servo motor on it I can do a stitch at a time. If you do a search on here I did a thing a while back, maybe a video as well for the cost of around £40 all in.

I found the post. Very helpful!