Ho Hsing G60 servo or what?

[Matt S]

I've got a few different servo motors from the cheaper end of what's commonly available. However, as impressive as most of them may be, and as perfectly fine for garment machines as I'm sure they are, they all seem to be lacking something or several things, for my purposes. Mostly these are a limited pedal speed range and/or an excessive starting speed. I understand that these are pretty much par for the course with cheap servo motors.

I've gone down the speed reducing pulley route before and the results are impressive. However I want to be able to use a needle positioner/synchroniser and would prefer to not have the bulk under the table. It doesn't help that I am in the UK so a lot of options are simply not options (we use 230ish volts @ 50Hz mains).

The Ho Hsing G60 servo has been recommended by several posters on here as having good low-speed performance. At £200ish including tax and shipping it's nearly double what the cheapest servos cost and the synchoniser is extra so I'm a little hesitant about pressing the trigger until I'm fairly convinced it's the right option. Specifically I'm looking to power my Seiko LCW-8 (very similar to the Consew 226) and want to be able to run it from under 100SPM to over 1000SPM without adjusting any settings (a wide pedal range with lots of discrete steps along the slope).

(Another thing other than price I'm not too keen on with the G60 is that it's a 2-button interface. I find them tricky to navigate, and would it really kill the manufacturers to put on a speed knob and a few toggle switches for commonly changed settings? I'd love a nice robust 3-way toggle for the synchroniser, and maybe a "safety" that disables the motor for making adjustments around the needle without fear of putting a Schmetz #160 through my finger without having to turn the power off? But I digress...)

Am I asking too much for a bottom-end servo motor? Is there a better option, hopefully for fewer beer tokens? I really don't think I could stretch to an Efka... Should I just give in and build my own PLC-controlled direct-drive stepper setup?

[dikman]

Replace the handwheel with a (much) larger pulley. I'm assuming you have the smallest pulley you can on the motor? This will give you a considerable speed reduction and allow the use of the needle synchroniser,

This is my Seiko. I did the same on my Pfaff 335.

 

 

Edited September 27, 2018 by dikman

[R8R]

8 hours ago, Matt S said:

 

Am I asking too much for a bottom-end servo motor? Is there a better option, hopefully for fewer beer tokens? I really don't think I could stretch to an Efka... Should I just give in and build my own PLC-controlled direct-drive stepper setup?

I just received today a motor from Keystone sewing that fits the bill. At least so far I think so.

https://store.keysew.com/sp-1100-npfl

A nice amount of torque, 100 rpm start, dual position synchronizer (you can adjust both the high and low needle stops), a fairly simple menu and bonus points for a simple +/- speed control buttons on the front. (100-2500 rpm) Also has one outlet for LED light and one for 24v foot lift solenoid. The menu has dozens of adjustable parameters - even braking strength.

I did a preliminary mounting on my Juki 2810 and with the included 50mm pulley it buried the needle in anything I could fit under the foot and it has a nice modulation in speed. Slow ramp up and no sudden drastic steps in velocity.

Very impressive so far!

I might throw the reducer back on but I'm not even sure it needs it now, at least not for torque. It's slow but maybe not slow enough. I might just need to get used to it.

Haven't installed the synchro yet but it's a nice unit, much better than the one I've been running.

Chinese import, so maybe it's avail in your neck of the woods?

[R8R]

[Matt S]

9 hours ago, dikman said:

Replace the handwheel with a (much) larger pulley. I'm assuming you have the smallest pulley you can on the motor? This will give you a considerable speed reduction and allow the use of the needle synchroniser,

This is my Seiko. I did the same on my Pfaff 335.

Unfortunately I can't do that as it confuses the synchro. I've already got a 40mm wheel on the motor which gives me a 2:1 reduction to the machine.

3 hours ago, R8R said:

I just received today a motor from Keystone sewing that fits the bill. At least so far I think so.

https://store.keysew.com/sp-1100-npfl

Chinese import, so maybe it's avail in your neck of the woods?

That looks just the sort of thing I'm after but it's 110volt only! Solenoid output would be very handy.

[Kohlrausch]

14 hours ago, Matt S said:

I've got a few different servo motors

The Ho Hsing G60 servo has been recommended by several posters on here as having good low-speed performance. At £200ish including tax and shipping it's nearly double what the cheapest servos cost and the synchoniser is extra so I'm a little hesitant about pressing the trigger until I'm fairly convinced it's the right option.

How bout this?

https://www.kornetshop.com/deutsch/elektromotoren/servo-motor-jm822-650w/#cc-m-product-7750616786

[Matt S]

4 hours ago, Kohlrausch said:

How bout this?

https://www.kornetshop.com/deutsch/elektromotoren/servo-motor-jm822-650w/#cc-m-product-7750616786

Oooo we have a contender! Have you used this motor? Do you know what size shaft it has -- perhaps I could swap a 40mm pulley onto it? That'd give me a lowest speed of 50SPM, which is less than one per second -- ideal!

[R8R]

Your other option, and I end up doing this all the time with electronics (cameras etc) is buy the Ho Hsing and if it doesn't work out for you, ebay it. If you end up losing a little money consider it a rental. Right now I have 2 motors that I'm probably going to sell after finding this new one, its that good. Sometimes you have to eat a bit of cash to find exactly the right equipment.

4 minutes ago, Matt S said:

Oooo we have a contender! Have you used this motor? Do you know what size shaft it has -- perhaps I could swap a 40mm pulley onto it? That'd give me a lowest speed of 50SPM, which is less than one per second -- ideal!

That one is 650 watts. You might be disappointed in the torque unless you're using a reducer.

[DrmCa]

650 watts is plenty.

[R8R]

3 hours ago, DrmCa said:

650 watts is plenty.

Depends on who makes the motor. Often the claimed watts on a servo motor is almost meaningless in my experience. I've used a 550w motor that had cranking amounts of torque and great low speed control, whereas I recently installed a claimed 1400 watt motor that had lousy control and struggled with needle penetration on slow stuff.

I'm trusting trial and error more than listed specs these days. The 1100 watt motor I posted, while maybe not even a true 1100 watts, definitely has "umph". Much more so than a motor with even higher wattage stamped on it.

Maybe contact Keystone and see if they have a lead on a 220v version?