Putting it all Together

The primary problem to making the sewing machine work was getting a motor control connected and the barrier was a lack of the specialty plug that connects the speed control to the machine. That power source also powers the light.

The trick is that the power to the motor is modulated to vary the speed from zero to max, whereas the power to the light is constant at max.

So I whipped the plug receiver off and took a look.

Definitely not rocket science.

I made a simple plywood cover for the hole to re-use the existing screws that threaded into the machine case. Next I used two different colored wires to identify the motor from the light power, and wired the junction box appropriately using a specialty plug receptacle and plug with one lug at ninety degrees to normal. After color coding the plug end to wire color, and assuring the wrong plug cannot be inserted in to the wrong socket by putting a bit of glue in the slot, the junction box can only be connected one way without the willful assistance of a hammer.

If you do manage to plug it in backwards you get a foot control on the light and a full speed ahead motor. But no electrocution.

Making it go the old fashioned way.

I found this old (about 50 years old) Mercury Electric motor speed control. Not that it contains any mercury, the name of the company is Mercury Electric, and they made pretty good resistor based step style motor speed controls, and this one is the much coveted combo foot and knee control.

It was cheap because all the external wires were rotted off.

But when I took it apart the rest of it was fresh new looking and un-corroded. So I re-wired it my way, using recycled computer connection cables suited to the current.

It connects to the junction box which also has the line (recycled from a computer monitor) power cord.

The junction box is a new grey plastic affair from Home Depot with new cable connectors for a dust free connection. The stainless steel top is new as well.

Total cost about twenty bucks for all the hardware.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Being old, retired, handy if not handsome, and curious, I go to my apartment building’s garbage area the day before pickup. Pickup is conveniently every Monday.The end of the month produces a better selection of discarded objects.

Last month I spotted an electric portable sewing machine. Thinking of the cornucopia of gears, levers, springs and an electric motor, I snagged it and brought it in outta the rain.
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Probably not zinc or aluminum sez me to me as I listed to port slightly while carrying it. More like cast iron, but therefore a higher quality machine probably.

Believing that sewing machines normally last about forty thousand dresses or about one lifetime past the original purchaser’s, I had high hopes for salvage.

When cleaned it up and I hooked it up to some power all it would do was hum.

“Hmmmm,” sez me right back.

I whipped off the top and sprayed some WD40 on the gears.

It commenced to run like a top, and smell purdy too.

I tried giving it away but it came back practically the very next day. It seems the recipient's hubby did not think he could do the repairs.

It is quite modern looking, has a flip out carry handle, does a selection of fancy stitches, and is configured to sew sleeves easily because the sewing head is on a sort of narrow overhanging platform the dimension of a sleeve.

Fine Italian machinery, thought I, reading the maker’s mark - Vigorelli; like Ferrari or Lamborghini - but slower and quieter. A nice name implying a certain vigor to the activity of sewing haute couture - Milan comes to mind.

But it was missing the controller foot pedal. Yes I looked but - was not gonna open a buncha garbage bags in the bins. Ugh.

Generic controller replacements are listed on the web at about 25 bucks and up.

No needle, no thread, no bobbin, no big deal.

So I looked them up on the web, thinking - refurb, and use it.

Better karma for me.

Watch this space for the completed project. I am still gathering parts.