Your Clutch drive Motors ?

[nylonRigging]

Curious .. What is everyone else doing with there old clutch motors ?  off all there machines .

Are they now just obsolete dinosaur, that is a throw away No Keeper ?  ,also there 50+ LB. each all boxed up. So it really cost more for shipping than there worth .
I spring cleaning now and making ( need room )  . have several of them all boxed up that I been saving under the cutting tables, .. So, there just a Dumpster item now with Servo drive as the industrial standard now  ?
.

[bullmoosepaddles]

Several years ago I accepted an offer for a free motor. I paid shipping from GA to NC, about $25 if I remember correctly. It sits under my bench currently. I intend to use it as a motor for a buffing wheel. With a 1.75 in drive to 6 in driven pulley set, that will slow down the revolutions to roughly 1000 rpm. It is a heavy duty motor with foot control. For $25 bucks I will give it a try. Trying to  work a small leather shop into my the corner of my wood shop. Its coming along slowly.     

[Handstitched]

@nylonRigging I'm still using mine, and ' touch wood' ,  they are still going just fine. Here in Australia, they around $300+ a piece to buy new,   and I guess around the $120- $150 for a used unit,   so theres no way I'd be throwing them out.  But if you really need to get rid of them , sell them really cheap to someone that needs one to at least get some money back from them , or donate them , rather than throw them out. 

HS

[dikman]

I stripped (kept the pulleys and shafts) and junked two, both old Singers that were potentially dangerous due to the age and condition of the wiring. I gave one of the more "modern" style to a mate to experiment with and sold two on gumtree for $20! Turned out the guy who bought them had a couple of machines he was repairing and needed the motors, so at least they were being used. I had visions of using them but it was just too hard to convert them into something usable and they were just taking up room in my shed.

[Constabulary]

Most common clutch motors run at either approx 1400 rpm or 2800 rpm. The 2800 rpm motors are rather useless IMO (with focus on leather worker or hobbyists). No one beside professional seamstress can really comfortably handle this speed. The 1400 can probably slowed down to a acceptable speed level with a speed reducer and you can sell them for maybe 20 - 50 bucks I´d say. But shipping them can be a pain because often  people do not know how to pack up delicate heavy items properly (broken clutch lever or mounting base). But keep in mind if you sell them for 50 bucks and add the shipping thats about 1/2 the price of a modern servo and you (as a buyer) still have an old outdated energy consuming motor. Who really wants this nowadays?

BTW - College Sewing in the UK kicks out their new 1425 rpm clutch motors for 28 GBP + tax.

https://www.college-sewing.co.uk/1-2hp3pls-3ph-three-phase-low-speed-ho-hsing-clutch-motor.html

That probably shows how the demand for clutch motors nowadays is. Of course - it always depends on your local market...

If it was me I would most likely not buy a clutch motor for my personal use (meaning sewing) But maybe you or someone else can re-purpose them for other leather machines.

Sometimes scrap yards buy old motors for the copper

Conclusion:  if it was me and the motors are 1400 rpm I would sell them for 20-30 bucks for pick up only other than that I´d take them to the scrap yard along with other scrap metal you probably have collected over the years (Some male folks have the tendency to collect metal parts for the "you never know" purpose - guess how I know )

Edited June 10, 2020 by Constabulary

[Bert51]

I made a disk sander and belt sander on a shaft for a friend, I used a treadle  and when he uses it he just uses the treadle and it's safe if he's not pushing down on the treadle.

Bert.

[Matt S]

I really am loathed to throw out clutch motors, since they're such high quality, robust units, but struggle to find alternative uses for them and there is virtually no resale value where I live. I think I've junked at least three over the years just so I wasn't stubbing my toes all the time.

I did use one as a starter motor for a rotary phase converter motor for a bit, with the brake removed, before I realised that it the whole contraption was overkill and rebuilt it as a static converter. That motor is still kicking about the workshop waiting a new life. I've thought about using it as a burnisher but am leery about the amount of torque it has. I suppose I could build it into a disc sander, a polisher, a dust extractor or some other machine but that would be building a solution and then looking for a problem for it to solve.

I guess it's going to remain under the workbench for a bit longer!

[CowboyBob]

WE sell them to the Amish,they extend the shaft & use them for clutches on their lineshafts.

[toxo]

I'm guessing it wouldn't be hard to t run some pulleys and pillow blocks to make a burnisher or a sander etc.

[DonInReno]

If someone is on a budget and looking for parts to cobble together a speed reducer there are most of the parts already assembled in the nose of a clutch motor. 
 

Parts 11-16 and 2 are the bearing housing/shaft assembly that spins when the clutch is engaged.   The shaft already has the original small pulley on one end and the flange (11) can be replaced with larger pulley on the other or some pulleys can have the hub removed and simply bolted to that existing flange.   Then the bearing housing (17) has to be held somehow - a couple of u bolts securing it to a wood board or whatnot.

[Bert51]

@toxo I found it easy, I had a shaft with a thread on one end and two bearings, put a pulley between them.

Screwed the disk on one end, my friend already had the the belt sander pulleys, just had to make the mount on the idler pulley adjustable.

Made a frame out of some old steel we had, mounted the motor so it lined up with the pulley on the shaft and used an old treadle I had from industrial table and using the clutch you can vary the speed of the sander as needed.

Bert.

[DonInReno]

This post is a good example of how easy it is to get a commercial sewing machine up and running for very little money.  These clutch motors can barely be given away - I’d bet lunch that in every town someone has one they don’t want in the landfill and would gladly donate if someone needed it.   Same for K legs and generic old tops - you just about have to pay someone to take them. Lol
 

At the most extreme I see about two free walking foot heads given away each year in between Reno and the Bay Area.  The latest was a 111w155 complete with table and motor. 

[Handstitched]

6 hours ago, DonInReno said:

The latest was a 111w155 complete with table and motor. 

Thats a good find. They're good machines . 

I'm still waiting to find a 132K6 in a kerbside rubbish collection, HA  

In a famous Aussie movie quote " Tell him he's dreaming" .

I'd prefer to re-use, recycle, or donate, rather than stuff go to landfill . Too much goes to landfill. 

HS

[Bert51]

@Handstitched I really hope you are not holding your breather waiting.

You have already said it, one of my favourite quotes.

I have one here, but it will not be getting put out to the kerbside, any time.

Bert.

[Handstitched]

@Bert51 no, not holding my breath  

a 132K6 is on my sewing machine bucket list. I already have 4 machines, the others are the  K6  and post bed machine,.....mmmm....?....and maybe a long arm   

HS 

[Bert51]

I was looking at a nice post machine and the wife said, "Okay, how much dust does that collect"

Her way of saying am I going to use it or just collect another one. I must admit I have been a little slack the last 12 months.

Bert.

[Wizcrafts]

Since this topic is about clutch motors, I will chime in. I currently have 3 machines equipped with 1/3 or 1/2 horsepower clutch motors. Two go directly to the machine and one goes through a 2:1 reducer. I have adjusted the action on these motors for a smooth gradual engagement with a fair amount of slack before they engage. There is a trick to keeping the slack and that is to tighten up the spring that pulls the control arm upwards toward the motor. Sometimes that spring is left loose enough that the control arm drops from its own weight (and the attached foot pedal) almost to the point of engaging the clutch on its own. The adjustment is usually done with a wing nut on the right side of the control arm. You may have to secure the left side of the shaft the spring rides on if it rotates with the wing nut.

If the clutch is too grabby it can be sanded down or have a little oil or grease smeared on one side, then wiped off.

There are small pulleys available to slow down clutch motors. I have a 2" pulley on the way for my newest 1/2 HP, 1720 rpm E-Z Clutch motor that powers a Singer 211G156 that I just bought from a boat upholstery shop. With the existing 3.5" pulley I can easily feather it down about 2 stitches per second. With the 2" pulley I should be able to do 1 stitch per second, steady, when needed.

Disclosure: I have been sewing with clutch motors since the early 1960s. My Father had a tailor shop and he taught me to sew on his Singer 31-15 when I was in my very early teens. When I got into leather work, in 1984, and began acquiring sewing machines, they all had clutch motors which I adjusted to suit my preferred foot action. I didn't even see a servo motor until 2010.

 

[RockyAussie]

11 hours ago, Bert51 said:

"Okay, how much dust does that collect"

Easy Fix answer.......none my dear caus I know you'd make a dust cover for it.

WHY do women so ask you a question when they know the answer already? Example......Is that where that belongs?

Sorry I agree with Wizcrafts above. They have been in use for a very long time and will still have a good place on machines for a long time yet.

[Matt S]

40 minutes ago, RockyAussie said:

WHY do women so ask you a question when they know the answer already?

Now Brian surely you remember your Rumpole: never ask a question in court to which you don't know the answer -- get the guilty bugger to admit it himself! She Who Must Be Obeyed has clearly picked up on the technique somewhere...

[DonInReno]

16 hours ago, Handstitched said:

I'm still waiting to find a 132K6 in a kerbside rubbish collection, HA  

Me to! 

[Old Coach Saddlery]

I still use a clutch motor on my 2 heavy stitchers and use servo motors on my 2 lighter machines. and i have a clutch motor sitting under a bench that I had replaced with the servo. Lol I will be hanging on to it no doubt

[Bert51]

@RockyAussie That might work, if I did not have a 29K58 sitting in the lounge room under it pretty cover I made for it as she said it did not look right sitting next to the TV.

Personally I can't see a problem, bad I need to keep he some what happy, she cooks yummy food when she's happy and after 50 plus years I know where and how my bread is buttered..

I don't own a servo motor, I have no problems with the old clutch motors.

Bert

Edited June 12, 2020 by Bert51

[Handstitched]

' Viva la clutch motors !!! ' 

Now thats just silly  

@DonInReno I'll let you know when I find one , could be waiting a while . 

HS

[DonInReno]

On 6/12/2020 at 2:15 AM, Handstitched said:

 

@DonInReno I'll let you know when I find one , could be waiting a while . 

HS

I’ve found four that were quite nice, but the details in how to get them from the seller to me just didnt work out.   On the west coast of the US nothing Below $800 has shown up in the last 12 months....soon....sometime soon....

 

[Handstitched]

" All  good things come to those who wait" ..........apparently !  Perhaps if I visualise  a K6  or a post bed ( or both)  enough  they will suddenly appear at my front gate eh?

 " kapoof "  !!!    

HS