bikemaniac Report post Posted December 8, 2013 Hi, I got this idea - maybe somebody would like to have a discussion on the topic. Why not use an battery driven electric drill as a sewing machine motor? Specs: Use a standard portable Li-ion 12V, 14,4, or 18V electric drill and manufacture a bracket in such a way that the drill is inline with the main shaft (main shaft with pulley). Thus the drill is NOT installed below the table but as an extension of of the sewing machine. Advantages: 1. Drill is rather cheap - maybe use an old one you already have. 2. Should be a good solution if you don't sew all day long, due to the longevity of the electric drill motor. Maybe it is not an issue because modern drills are built for heavy duty construction work use. 3. I read somewhere online on this forum that 8 Nm of torque is necessary in heavy duty stitching. These modern Li-Ion drills have a torque of more than 50 Nm due to their planetary drive. The +50 Nm are only available at a low speed setting - I think 0-200 rpm or so. Almost all drills have 2 speed settings - slow and fast. 4. Typically, the drills come with 2 batteries. If one battery dies, you can plug in the other battery and start charging the 1st one. Charging nowadays is often less than 1 hour. 5. These drills have the full torque all the way from 0 rpm and up. 6. These drills have accurate speed control. Disadvantage: 1. You need to modify the push button of the drill and turn it into a foot pedal. Lucas Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Constabulary Report post Posted December 8, 2013 (edited) Are you serious? I think there is a reason why no one else did this before but if you like the idea go ahead and try it. I personally would never try this. Too much fuzzy work. My advice: Buy a servo motor mount it to the table, but a V-belt on it and go. With other words plug + play! Edited December 8, 2013 by Constabulary Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Northmount Report post Posted December 8, 2013 For 10 minutes of very slow speed stitching every hour or so! Definitely not for production. If you put a large pulley on to get the machine speed up, you lose all the high torque that came with the low speed. At $100 or a little less for a good 18 V 3 Ah battery, better off financially to get a servo motor. Reminds me of my dad telling me I would go to an awful lot of work or effort to avoid 5 minutes of work. Sounds about the same here! Tom Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
electrathon Report post Posted December 8, 2013 I feel that is you had a lot of money this might be an option. I question the durability of the drill in this application, I have burned up a number of them in use. Batteries are way expensive, you would need to replace them every few years. A servo motor would cost less than a single quality drill. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Greenwood Report post Posted December 8, 2013 I was in a Shoe Repair Shop where the owner had fashioned a regular 3/8 110V variable speed drill on his patcher. Worked like a darn. No battery problems! I don't recall the variable speed setup he had. On a patcher speed is not crucial. On my own patcher I have a DC Dayton gear motor that that is setup to go about 75 spm and with the foot pedal I can control from 1-75 spm very easily. The cost I've always kept from my wife but you'd be looking at peeling approx. $200-$250 for motor alone, when I made the conversion servos were still in the future. At that price a servo is the way to go. Leo Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Northmount Report post Posted December 8, 2013 How about the latest voice controlled system? Put a hand crank on the machine and conscript the closest "volunteer". Then train the system. Stop, needle up. Stop, needle down. Slow. Medium. Fast. Get me a coffee ... Should be able to do it for about $20. Tom Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted December 8, 2013 One of the benefits I see is that it would free up the sewing machine motor to be used as a drill.... It does remind me of the time I took my mom's new electric can opener and made a wood lathe out of it. I was pleased, mom not so much. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cdthayer Report post Posted December 8, 2013 It’s funny you should bring this up, just one day after I found an old boy that had used a 1/2” electric drill to fire up his Singer 111W153. Photo and text credits go to: https://growingbolde...ne--530627.html Begin text. Posted on December 11th, 2009 at 8:02 pm Carried this ' OLD SINGER ' 'round since '89 and finally took time to ' git-it-run'n ', but it took someth'n special, I'll git back to y'all on 'what' '!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Posted 11:24am April 19th, 2010 The factory-furnished drive-motor was 3450 rpm w/ 1to1 belt-pulleys, liked-to-fly-away when first jogged, so checking w/ SINGER SERVICE and they agreed that the BEST operators were using 1500 @ top speed, so looked around shop and found an alternate ( old 1/2 inch SPEEDWAY ) w/ 6 amp foot-rheostat filled-the bill!!!!!!!!!! End text. CD in Oklahoma Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
