Treadles

[gord]

Purchased a hand-drive leather sewing machine because I don't have strength in hands to hand-sew leather. I want to look into making a treadle drive for it when it comes and don't see a lot of information on web on theory, construction. I do have a treadle operating Singer machine for fabric but looking at the design of drive I will need something stronger to pierce the leather; a weighted flywheel to provide the power to pierce leather; a drive that would enable single stitch advancement; a means to 'hand-advance' stitch on edges/ends/back-stitch.

Just rolling some ideas around in my mind. One is the use of a 90 Volt DC motor and speed control but the kind of power it delivers I am concerned that would brake something rather then just jam it thread should bunch up.

Thought that there is nothing like kicking an idea around to help develop a solution.


Gord

[Frank S]

One possibility would be to add a bevel gear to the side of the flywheel and another to the side of the hand wheel. next you would use 2 idling bevel gears and 1 fixed one. on a shaft that would extend from the flywheel and past the top of the bevel gear on the hand wheel.
the fixed gear on the vertical shaft would turn the shaft all of the time the flywheel is spinning.
Now both of the idling bevel gears would remain in contact with the bevel gear on the hand wheel one above the center and one below they would need to be stop collared in place for them to remain in mesh contact .
Next a drive spool or clutch spool will need to be keyed to the shaft this needs to be between the 2 bevel gears
friction disc will need to be attached to the spool on both ends to contact disks mounted on the 2 idling bevel gears. a linkage system to raise or lower the spool to make the friction disk contact either gear this will give you the ability to make a single stitch or a run of stitches in either forward or reverse. figuring out the gear ratio will be the final piece to this drive system
In effect I have described how the forward and reverse works in small outboard motors some however use dog style clutches instead of friction discs
Just one suggestion now lets hear others.
This type of drive is both simple and easy to construct.

I used the term bevel gear as generic when the term miter gear would have been more accurate in this case I suppose

[Frank S]

the drive could look like this

[TennesseeZ]

Several years ago I got interested in vintage Singer machines, and bought some off Ebay. There was one seller who demonstrated the strength of these machines by sewing several layers of leather belt, I mean at least an inch in thickness, so the stock Singer machines might be something to look at. There were models with a hand crank also, if you need that kind of precision, and if leverage is an issue you could attach a length of CR steel flat bar across the handwheel, and attach the original handle to that, something like 1/8 or 3/16X1" should be plenty stout enough for that.

[gallojof]

Dear: I think it is also possible to use a belt and pulley similar to that of the original machine and in the worst case a reduction gear placed at the end near the lathe also available decoupling torque.-
Best regards
J.Gallo

[Darla]

We just got one of the Chinese "new" treadle machines commissioned by Singer (number 15 reproduction), so I will be interested in seeing the answer. Why don't you try your treadle machine with thin leather and work up to thicker leather to see what it can and can't do? Some regular machines can do a lot more than you would expect.
You can disable the feed on those machines just by flipping a lever if you want to just push the material through by hand or move it sideways. I've seen videos of people using them to machine embroider by doing that. The lever also has positions for forward and reverse, like for reinforcing the end of a seam. I use the hand wheel for single-stitch advancement.