Chinese patcher - again.

[dikman]

I suddenly had the urge to motorize my Chinese patcher (it just seemed like a good idea). I didn't want to buy a servo due to the cost and it would be a waste as the patcher is designed to operate at hand cranking speed only so no point in having variable speed. First effort was with a domestic sewing machine motor that I had - nope, not enough starting torque, tried a motor from a bread maker, same problem, next was a motor from a fan that had a gearbox on it but still not enough torque. I thought about a motor from a treadmill but then I would have the issue of a suitable power supply. Looked like it was going to have to be a servo after all.

And then I remembered I had a motor from a garage roller door - somewhere! Eventually found it, along with the transformer and rectifier bridge, it's a 24v DC motor with a gearbox, after lots of messing around with various pulleys I've got it so it runs at hand-crank speed. I spent all day working on the wiring and have made a simple on-off foot switch, which is all that's needed due to the slow speed. I also had to make a new longer main shaft so I could fit a pulley. The shaft has a bearing at the hand-crank end but the other end of the shaft only runs in a hole in a piece of metal so I think I'll have to machine a mounting for another bearing as the force exerted by the pulley/belt will cause excessive wear. The photo is my proof-of-concept "creation", I'll post more when it's been rebuilt. 

[kgg]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

I suddenly had the urge

Don't you just hate that,HaHa. That will keep you occupied for awhile. 

Look forward to see the progress.

kgg

[chuck123wapati]

Sweet indeed!!! I'm watchin you!  I have an old Singer treadle I was wanting to mount mine on, but haven't come up with a way yet.

[kgg]

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

I have an old Singer treadle I was wanting to mount mine on

Is that Sacrilegious or Adaptive Reuse??

kgg

[dikman]

You guys are so funny! Chuck, I thought of using a treadle too, I reckon it would work well, but 1) I haven't got a spare treadle and 2) I haven't got anywhere to put a treadle table anyway! This thingy will at least be "portable" and can be shoved under a table (or something).

[dikman]

Today's effort, probably the trickiest part of the whole thing - making a bearing mounting to replace the cheap thing that they use. I had an aluminium bar that I'd cast from scrap and it was just the right width. Lots of lathe and mill work and it works. The biggest surprise was that it lined up perfectly first shot, given that nothing is square or flat on these things I felt pretty chuffed. Tomorrow I have to machine off the excess ally (to make it look pretty) and then work on a suitable base.

Edited August 1 by dikman

[chuck123wapati]

5 hours ago, dikman said:

Today's effort, probably the trickiest part of the whole thing - making a bearing mounting to replace the cheap thing that they use. I had an aluminium bar that I'd cast from scrap and it was just the right width. Lots of lathe and mill work and it works. The biggest surprise was that it lined up perfectly first shot, given that nothing is square or flat on these things I felt pretty chuffed. Tomorrow I have to machine off the excess ally (to make it look pretty) and then work on a suitable base.

I like that bobbin winder too!! Man, you're lucky to have a mill and lathe.

[chuck123wapati]

On 7/31/2026 at 7:20 AM, kgg said:

Is that Sacrilegious or Adaptive Reuse??

kgg

I originally got it to mount a scroll saw that I made. but havent done that either lol.

[dikman]

I love my lathes! Lathe time is always satisfying. The mill is just one of those smallish "hobby" types so limited in what I can do with it but still very useful.

Some nice woodwork on that scroll saw, very neat. I would love to have a decent table saw, planer etc - but I've got nowhere to put them.

[dikman]

I reckon it's pretty well finished, other than maybe tacking some edging around the baseboard. The only potential issue I can see is that the gearbox on the motor prevents me from hand-cranking it, which could be useful for setting the needle position before sewing. One last job is to modify the needle bar as mine is made to use flat-sided domestic needles and I'd like to use "standard" industrial ones instead.