New Motor for my Singer 20u

[Bothwell Voyageur]

So I have had my 20u for a few months. The combination of industrial clutch motor and high gearing were terrifying to put it mildly

I located a smaller pulley for the motor which dropped the top speed by half but the kick when I dropped the clutch was still too much for my clumsy feet. Once I got it going I was fine in a straight line but any thought of sewing curves or putting an extra few stitches in here or there were just fantasy.

So, at the risk of being called a wuss I have bought a DC servo motor. What a revelation! I can program in a start and max speed with a touch of a keypad so it starts slowly and just ticks along while I look after the fabric.

Definitely money well spent. If anyone is thinking of this conversion I would highly recommend this option.

BV

[MagicPaddler]

What and where did you get your motor? I have a singer 29K with a motor that is too fast also.

[Beckyinma]

What and where did you get your motor? I have a singer 29K with a motor that is too fast also.

I have an electric spinning wheel with a standard consumer size Singer motor and it was way too fast when the project was finished. The fix was to put an inline adjustable lamp dimmer on the setup to further reduce the speed. It has worked well. I wonder if that would work in this situation?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...+dimmer+switch

[MagicPaddler]

I have found that lamp dimmers make poor motor speed controls. The motor speed seams to surge. Beckyinma does your motor run at a constant slow speed?

[Beckyinma]

I have found that lamp dimmers make poor motor speed controls. The motor speed seams to surge. Beckyinma does your motor run at a constant slow speed?

In my own home it is 95% constant. We were in a cabin over the summer with some 'interesting' wiring and it was so bad I couldn't spin. It would surge and break my strand....I don't spin much outside the house.

[MagicPaddler]

The most common types of motors are squirrel cage and brush types of motors. I think the brush type will run better on a dimmer. My motor is a squirrel cage.

[Bothwell Voyageur]

I bought my new motor from Cutex
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Consew-CON-SE...item6b3081484a

I don't know how well a dimmer would have worked with my old motor. Does using the dimmer reduce the power of the motor? I use the machine for sewing some heavy stuff- 4 or 6 layers of 1000d cordura so need all the power I can get! Plus, by only running when I'm sewing it should cut my electricity bill a little.

BV

[MagicPaddler]

BV
Thank you for the web address. That looks nice.

[TZBrown]

The standard dimmers might not work very well on a 1/2 horse motor but on the small 1 amp motors they probably would.

I also finally went to a servo motor on my Consew 226 but the step from slow to sewing speed was hard to manage also.

There is a modification to the servo motor control that makes the motor fully linear in speed from slow to fast HERE It is not as complicated as the tutorial makes it out to be, just a small notch it the blade and a colored bread bag tie taped over the notch

I also added a Speed Reducer and now have full range speed and high torque.
The only issue is I now have more into the new motor and speed reducer than I have into the rest of the machine

[Drbike]

Its odd that you folks are having issues with the 20 U I have had mine for nearly 35 years. Yes it goes fast when you put the pedal down all the way but I am able to run one stitch on demand nearly any time are you sure your set up right? Those straight runs go fast when your foot is down .