Not leather

[GPaudler]

I know this really belongs over at aluminumworker.net, but here it is anyway. This is .015" (about 0.3mm) aluminum sewn with 346 thread to 1/2" thick (about 12mm) polyester felt with the Adler 120-2. Why? Who knows? I got the machine with sculpture in mind and was curious about sewing unusual materials.

If I sew aluminum without something soft but stiff behind it, the burrs on the backsides of the needle holes shred the thread.

Edited November 12, 2017 by GPaudler
Not enough zeroes

[CowboyBob]

Nice,a person could get real artistic with aluminum & leather.

 

[Uwe]

If the metal sheet is thin and soft enough, I doubt the mechanics suffer. Thin copper sheets may work, too. Might be useful for attaching laser-marked or etched name plates or decorative elements. The needle may not be happy for long. 

Now, what I REALLY want to know is more details on your motor mount and speed reducer pulley. That is probably the cleanest and most compact installation I have ever seen. Can you please make a separate topic on that? I have a few machines with the same form factor I need to motorize. 

Edited November 12, 2017 by Uwe

[Wizcrafts]

The big needle and awl machines can sew through coins and up to 1/2 inch of wood. Campbell Randall has a video of their Campbell Lockstitch machine sewing a penny to a business card, on top of about  a 3/8" stack of leather. The awls are solid steel. The machine goes ta-pocketa-pocketa-pocketa at the breakneck speed of about 3 stitches per second. I can imagine it being used to perforate metal sheeting for artistic purposes.

[alpha2]

Metal does tend to cause burrs on the backside. This will affect thread, big time.

[GPaudler]

Hi Uwe,

Thanks, the motor and reduction are packed-in pretty tight, I was inspired by the new 120 in this photo, though I used an inexpensive Consew servo motor without a needle positioner.

It's my philosophy to not modify a machine in any way that won't allow the machine to be returned to its original condition, so the design was driven, to some extent, by existing holes to use for mounting the motor/controller bracket and reduction pulley swing arm. I'm mostly happy with the result but it's a little hard to adjust the belt tension.

I'll disassemble it enough to take some clear pictures to post tomorrow.

Gary

[dikman]

I was also intrigued by the motor setup when I saw it and am interested to see the reducer fitting. I learned the hard way to keep belts as short as possible. I made a reducer setup with the motor under the table for my Seiko, which had quite a long belt going to the head pulley. I made a fancy spring-loaded tensioner (using bearings from a Honda Accord!) but I could not get it to run smooth as the belt always had a bit of slap in it. I finally re-hashed it using shorter belts and it works fine now.

The only downside I can see to your fitting is not being able to tilt the head back?

[trash treasure]

1 hour ago, dikman said:

The only downside I can see to your fitting is not being able to tilt the head back?

With a machine that heavy, I don't know how much head tilting you'd do anyway - I have an Adler 20, and the normal set up has the machine submerged in the table to the bed top level, and hung by steel straps, about 2½" - 3" down under the table top.

At 200+ lbs, you'd need to lift it out, or crawl underneath, like servicing a car

[dikman]

Thanks tt,, now that I look more carefully it's obviously not designed to be tilted back. Silly me.