Look Ma..I made a Mashine!!!

geigerpipes · Post by **geigerpipes** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 3:39 pm

I have had an idea for a year or so of converting an old industrial sowing machine into a belt sander and now I finally took the time to put it together..

The motor is variable in speed and is controlled by the foot pedal and had been standing at my dads place since the early 80ties...the top arm by the sealing is an adjusted part from labelling machine...It works real well... still need some minor adjustments to make it stable...one of the last things I did was to check if the motor was working, as it had an old 3 phase plug.

Once I got help with exchanging the plug the motor ran real bad.. speed was all over the scale!!! Damn...
After taking it apart and removing 30 years of dust and re greasing, it now purrs like... grandmas old sewing mashine!!!

A few pics

Love
www.geigerpipes.com

obie · Post by **obie** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 4:30 pm

Amazing! Be sure to wear protective equipment...

:thumb:

custom300 · Post by **custom300** » Wed Aug 23, 2006 5:03 pm

That is an awesome idea, and well executed.

achduliebe · Post by **achduliebe** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 8:18 am

That is very cool Love! Nice job, looks good.

bluesmk · Post by **bluesmk** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:09 am

Bravo Love, well done!
Dan
Gabrieli Pipes

Nick · Post by **Nick** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:52 am

Way cool buddy!!

I love the idea. The foot pedal must be an excelent feature. I may have to try making one myself!

ckr · Post by **ckr** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 11:56 am

Originally, those foot pedals were used to drive a large wheel with a round leather strap to spindle of the sewing machine. Later after electricity and motors became more common the electric motor accessory became available for the existing models.

Just thought I would mention it for those engery consious folks out there that may want to also make one.

BTW - Love, excellent example of resourcefulness, but my grandmother would roll over in her grave if I did that to her sewing machine.

JBW · Post by **JBW** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 12:26 pm

I'm not sure about the rest of the world, but here in the US, textile manufacturing has taken such a hit that I have recently seen commercial sewing machines go for $10 - $25 at auctions (when they got a bid at all). :dunno:

Very creative re-use of quality components. :thumb:

LexKY_Pipe · Post by **LexKY_Pipe** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 8:21 pm

Wow, now I need to go buy a sewing machine :thumb:

JSPipes · Post by **JSPipes** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:35 pm

That's just neat! Hope it works out as you are expecting.

Joel

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Thu Aug 24, 2006 10:25 pm

Love, I 've been looking at the pics, and I can't see an upright to support the top wheel. Is the wheel and bracket and everything else attached to the ceiling?

geigerpipes · Post by **geigerpipes** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 2:40 am

Crk: I actually though of using the foot powered version could make a heathy exersice ...FOOTMADE pipes!!

Kurt: Actually its only attached to the wall but theres a spring to give it some flex....heres a pic

after playing with it I must say it works fine, takes a while to master the speed with the foot pedal..A fequency modulator would of cource be better (and a lot more expensive) but i love the fact that i can use whatever grit of sandpaper i like with it and for smoothing out after the disk it works great

Best

Love

Post by **KurtHuhn** » Fri Aug 25, 2006 12:53 pm

That's great, Love! There's something extremely satisfying about hacking together your own tools and machines.

mahaffy · Post by **mahaffy** » Sun Aug 27, 2006 6:56 am

Love, at first I was astonished by the length of the belt, stretching on up into the clouds as it does. Then I thought a bit and realized how desirable it would be to be able to slip fingers behind the belt from time to time -- at slow speeds -- for more precise sanding. Very well done!