Sewing Through Plywood

[Gymnast]

21 minutes ago, Tejas said:

Gymnast, if I understand correctly, at the end of your video you mention a youtube video you made about your machine. Would you please post a link to that video.

You can look at some details on my channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtdxanz878434pFr2dMhwXw 

An overview of the quite many changes are given in this video: https://youtu.be/_7ML5U_I6DU

Many skilled people have warned against using a machine like this to heavy work. But up to now I have done it for about 5 years and about 100 hours of work in all. It is still working. And this kind of machines are quite cheap second hand in my country. I got one reserve machine on stock.

[RockyAussie]

On 10/6/2019 at 3:38 AM, 29EssexRat said:

This is a one time use, maybe 80 feet of stitching

I have to ask why then you do not just take it to an upholstery place and pay them a few bucks to stitch it up for you. Way way cheaper and probably a better outcome.

Plywood is not that hard to stitch through as some might think but a decent sized machine would be best.

[Wizcrafts]

8 hours ago, Gymnast said:

I notice that even Wiz back then wrote a comment, that he once sew plywood with a singer 15-91 with a 110/18 needle and V69 thread.

That was a soft wood 12" ruler I sewed. It was 1/8 inch thick. It wasn't much denser than saddle skirting.

[Gymnast]

8 minutes ago, Wizcrafts said:

That was a soft wood 12" ruler I sewed. It was 1/8 inch thick. It wasn't much denser than saddle skirting.

Thank you for correcting me Wiz - I am sorry that I got that wrong.

I was a bit suppriced in my test, that I got almost no splinter at the bottom. I suppose, that the small hole in my needle plate helps to limit that problem.

An important question for this work is what size of thread is needed.

I agree with RockyAussie, that you will save a lot of time by asking for help in an upholstery shop.

[Wizcrafts]

55 minutes ago, Gymnast said:

I was a bit suppriced in my test, that I got almost no splinter at the bottom. I suppose, that the small hole in my needle plate helps to limit that problem.

Soft wood yields the best results when a nail or needle punctures all the way through.

[29EssexRat]

3 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

I have to ask why then you do not just take it to an upholstery place and pay them a few bucks to stitch it up for you. Way way cheaper and probably a better outcome.

Plywood is not that hard to stitch through as some might think but a decent sized machine would be best.

No upholstery places around me, otherwise i most certainly would. Still looking around, but probably going to end up hand sewing it.

[Gymnast]

48 minutes ago, Wizcrafts said:

Soft wood yields the best results when a nail or needle punctures all the way through.

I tried to figure out the category of the Finnish Plywood, that I used. It is made of Baltic Birch in all layers, and it is considered a Hardwood. Source of information:

https://www.andersonplywood.com/hardwood-plywood/

https://www.wood-database.com/baltic-birch/

[chrisash]

Is that the standard motor on the 201? I guess the 4to 1 increases the torque significantly with your setup

Must say a very neat installation, it looks like you also use the original hole fittings on the machine

Nice to see innovation is still alive

[Gymnast]

21 minutes ago, chrisash said:

Is that the standard motor on the 201?

No. It is a stronger motor, but not the strongest motor you can get as replacement for this kind of vintage machines. Please be aware, that nominal input electrical power and input nominal current to the motor is one part of the issue. What matters is output mechanical shaft power and output torque of the motor. The effectiveness of these kind of motors vary a lot. My original Singer 201k motor was quite weak and my replacement motor got about the double max shaft torque and double the speed.

The sewing machine was build for quite high human power using threadle and hand crank and a bigger fly wheel to make the torque even higher at the hard spots.

[chrisash]

Yes when I started it was my only machine and would sew maybe 2mm veg tan  using 69 bonded thread, at most using a upgraded 90 watt motor I think the original was 60 watt, since then brought a 29k and only use that with the 201 in the back somewhere, do you have any plans for the reducer as there is a guy in India who posts about using a 201 that might find it of use