Ed Nisley's Blog: Shop notes, electronics, firmware, machinery, 3D printing, laser cuttery, and curiosities. Contents: 100% human thinking, 0% AI slop.
No snagging on a bulky quilt shoved through the machine
Not completely butt-ugly
Reasonably durable
I picked up reels of cool-white and warm-white waterproof LED strips (12 V, 3528-size chips, 5 m, 600 LED, 25 mm segments) from the usual eBay supplier, who promptly charged for both and shipped only the warm-white reel. Cool-white LEDs will be a better color match to daylight from the window and the little Ottlite she uses for detail work, but I ran some prototypes while we wait for the replacement.
The Chinese New Year really comes in handy as an excuse for screwing things up and not responding for a week or two. ‘Nuff said.
They’re similar to the RGB LEDs from a while ago, with even gummier “waterproof” encapsulation. I got double-density 600 LED strips to put more light emitters across the arm:
Various LED strip lights
The smaller 3528 SMD LEDs (vs. 5050 chips in the others) allow a narrower strip and the double-density layout means each three-LED segment is half as long long. The as-measured dimensions work out to:
25.0 mm segment length
8.2 mm strip width
2.5 mm thickness
The sealant thickness varies considerably, so I’d allow 3.0 mm for that in case it mattered. It slobbers over the edge of the strip here and there; allowing at least 9.0 mm would be wise.
The SMD resistor in each segment is 150 Ω. A 5 segment length drew 85 mA @ 12 V = 17 mA/segment. Boosting the voltage to 12.8 V got the current to the expected 100 mA = 20 mA/segment.
The LEDs are noticeably less bright than the 5050 LEDs, even at 20 mA/segment, but I think they’ll suffice for the task.
The speed control pedal on Mary’s sewing machine once again started racing away from a dead stop, which we now know means more disks inside the carbon pile rheostat have disintegrated. It looked pretty much the same as when I took it apart in 2009:
Rheostat graphite wafers and contacts
This time, it had one cracked wafer and several thin ones, reducing the length of the stacks so much that the pedal exerted very little force (thus, not starting the motor) before the shorting contacts caused a runaway.
Back then, I’d machined two brass disks to fill the empty space:
Rheostat with brass spacer button
A rough measurement showed I’d have to double their thickness to about 7 mm each, but it seemed like replacing high-resistance carbon with low-resistance brass wasn’t a Good Idea, at least when taken to an extreme. Not knowing what would count as an extreme in this situation, I decided to replace the brass disks with graphite cylinders sized to fill up the empty space.
The Little Box o’ Machinable Graphite produced a small bar, from which I sliced a square with jeweler’s pull saw:
Machineable Graphic – rough-sawn slab
Cutting that in half, then one of the bars in half, produced a pair of cubes:
Machineable Graphic – cubes
I tried sanding off the corners:
Machineable Graphic – sanded cube
After it became painfully obvious that process would take just slightly less than forever, I deployed the Dremel sanding drum:
Machineable Graphic – cylinders
Much to my surprise, the shop vacuum didn’t quite inhale the cloth, I didn’t drop either of the cylinders into its gaping maw or sand away my fingertips, and the cylinders emerged more-or-less good looking. I sanded the faces reasonably smooth and parallel, removed a few high spots left by the Dremel, and the cylinders slid neatly into the holes in the ceramic rheostat.
I felt a definite kinship with those guys in the rackets (not squash, as I once knew) court under the stadium seats…
I put the cylinders at the end of the stacks, against the graphite buttons (shown in the top picture), and left the disks to settle themselves against the brass contacts. In retrospect, I should have put the cylinders against the brass, so that the inevitable erosion will chew on the (relatively) easily replaced bulk cylinders.
Each graphite cylinder displaced six disks, so now I have some spares for next time. I’m certain that the graphite has lower resistance than the equivalent length of disks, but it’s probably higher than the same length of brass. I was not going to slice those cylinders into disks.
After vigorous and repeated handwashing with gritty cleaner after leaving the Basement Laboratory Workshop, the pedal assembly went back together smoothly and, once again, operates the way it should: controllable smooth low speeds, crazy-fast high speeds, and a steady transition between the two. Mary has resumed quilting up a storm.
That shop vacuum may never forgive me, but it totally eliminated all the carbon dust from the work area. The filter started out coated with a generous layer of dust and crud, so I’m pretty sure it collected most of the very fine dust, too.
I briefly considered using the lathe, but came to my senses.
The cheap way to do AC motor speed control involves a triac chopping the sine wave, so as to produce all manner of hash above and beyond the usual motor commutation noise. It occurs to me that the sewing machine has a universal motor that would run just as happily on 120 V DC as it does on AC, so a cheap 120 V DC supply (around 2 A should suffice) from the usual eBay supplier and a high voltage MOSFET on a generous heatsink would work even better. One might even get by with just a full-wave rectifier bridge and pulsating DC.
The rheostat doesn’t dissipate more than a few watts, I think, so thermal management should not pose a serious problem.
The motor rating says it’s good for 1 A, which means the power should be less than a few tens of watts. Some resistance and current measurements are in order.
You can actually buy replacement pedals, but what’s the fun in that?
Mary wants more light directly around the needle of her Kenmore Model 158 sewing machine, as the existing light (a 120 V 15 W incandescent bulb tucked inside the end housing) casts more of a diffuse glow than a directed beam:
Kenmore Model 158 Sewing Machine – lamp
The end cap fits snugly around the bulb, but I thought a pair of 10 mm white LEDs, mounted side-by-side and aimed downward at the cover plate, would work. Of course, plugging a pair of white LEDs into a 120 VAC socket won’t work, but some judicious rewiring and a new 12 V DC wall wart will take care of that.
The bulb has a dual-contact bayonet base, with both pins isolated from the shell and connected to the non-polarized (!) line cord through the power switch. I didn’t know it was called a BA15d base, but now I do.
A 12 V automotive brake/taillight bulb (type 1157, I think) pulled from the Big Box o’ Bulbs has a slightly different pin arrangement that keys the filaments (which are not isolated from the shell) to the surrounding reflector:
BA15d Bayonet Bulb Bases – 120V vs. 12V pins
So I conjured a mockup to see if it would fit, using 2-56 screws to mimic whatever hardware might be practical:
BA15d Bulb – LED Adapter
The solid model shows how it all fits together:
Sears Lamp LED Adapter – Show view
The two tiny ruby-red pins represent filament snippets in alignment holes, barely visible in real life:
It actually fit pretty well, ignoring the fact that the LEDs point 90° from the intended direction (so I could see how the holes came out inside the pivot, honest), and lit up the area quite well, but it’s such a delicate affair that removing the entire socket and replacing it with a dedicated metal bracket / heatsink for two high-power SMD LEDs will be better.
The OpenSCAD source code:
// Adapter for LEDs in Sears sewing machine lamp socket
// Ed Nisley - KE4ZNU - January 2014
Layout = "Show"; // Build Show LEDTab LEDPlate ShellMount
//- Extrusion parameters must match reality!
// Print with 2 shells and 3 solid layers
ThreadThick = 0.20;
ThreadWidth = 0.40;
HoleWindage = 0.2; // extra clearance
Protrusion = 0.1; // make holes end cleanly
Gap = 2.0; // spacing between Show parts
AlignPinOD = 1.70; // assembly alignment pins: filament dia
inch = 25.4;
//----------------------
// Dimensions
//-- LED mounting plate
LEDDia = 10.0; // LED case OD
LEDFlangeOD = 10.7;
LEDPlateThick = 2.0; // mounting plate thickness
LEDMargin = 2.0;
LEDSpaceOC = LEDDia + LEDMargin; // LED center-to-center distance (single margin between!)
LEDTabLength = 15.0; // base to screw hole center
LEDTabThick = 4.0; // tab with hole for mounting screw
LEDTabScrewOD = 2.0;
LEDTabWidth = (3.0*2) + LEDTabScrewOD;
LEDMountHeight = 25.0; // estimated mounting screw centerline to bottom of LEDs
//-- Lamp base adapter
// hard inch dimensions!
ShellOD = 0.600 * inch; // dia of metallic shell
ShellOAL = 0.66 * inch; // ... total length
ShellInsert = 7/16 * inch; // ... length engaging socket
ShellSides = 4*4;
BulbOD = 0.75 * inch; // glass bulb
BulbLength = 1.14 * inch;
InsulOD = 0.485 * inch; // insulating stub around contact pins
InsulThick = 0.070 * inch; // ... beyond end of shell
ContactOD = 2.0; // contact holes through base (not heads)
ContactOC = 0.300 * inch; // ... center-to-center spacing
BayonetOD = 0.080 * inch; // bayonet pin diameter
BayonetOffset = 0.125 * inch; // from end of metal base
LampOAL = InsulThick + ShellOAL + BulbLength;
echo(str("Overall Length: ",LampOAL));
//-- Miscellany
//----------------------
// Useful routines
module PolyCyl(Dia,Height,ForceSides=0) { // based on nophead's polyholes
Sides = (ForceSides != 0) ? ForceSides : (ceil(Dia) + 2);
FixDia = Dia / cos(180/Sides);
cylinder(r=(FixDia + HoleWindage)/2,
h=Height,
$fn=Sides);
}
module ShowPegGrid(Space = 10.0,Size = 1.0) {
Range = floor(50 / Space);
for (x=[-Range:Range])
for (y=[-Range:Range])
translate([x*Space,y*Space,Size/2])
%cube(Size,center=true);
}
//-- Tab for screw mounting LED holder
// AddLength remains below Z=0 for good union
module LEDTab() {
difference() {
linear_extrude(height=LEDTabThick)
hull() {
circle(d=LEDTabWidth);
translate([LEDTabLength/2,0,0])
square([LEDTabLength,LEDTabWidth],center=true);
}
translate([0,0,-Protrusion])
rotate(180/6)
PolyCyl(LEDTabScrewOD,(LEDTabThick + 2*Protrusion),6);
for (i=[-1,1])
translate([LEDTabLength/2,i*LEDTabWidth/4,LEDTabThick/2])
rotate([0,90,0]) rotate(180/4)
PolyCyl(AlignPinOD,(LEDTabLength/2 + Protrusion),4);
}
}
//-- Plate holding LEDs
module LEDPlate() {
difference() {
union() {
linear_extrude(height=LEDPlateThick)
hull() {
for (i=[-1,1])
translate([i*LEDSpaceOC/2,0,0])
circle(d=(LEDDia + 2*LEDMargin));
translate([0,(LEDFlangeOD/2 + LEDTabWidth/2),0])
square([LEDTabThick,LEDTabWidth],center=true);
}
}
for (i=[-1,1])
translate([i*LEDSpaceOC/2,0,-Protrusion])
rotate(180/12)
PolyCyl(LEDDia,(LEDPlateThick + 2*Protrusion),12);
for (i=[-1,1])
translate([0,(i*LEDTabWidth/4 + LEDFlangeOD/2 + LEDTabWidth/2),3*ThreadThick]) rotate(180/4)
PolyCyl(AlignPinOD,(LEDTabLength/2 + Protrusion),4);
}
}
//-- Bulb shell mounting adapter
module ShellMount() {
difference() {
union() {
cylinder(r1=InsulOD/2,r2=ShellOD/2,h=(InsulThick + Protrusion),$fn=ShellSides);
translate([0,0,InsulThick])
cylinder(r=ShellOD/2,h=(LampOAL - LEDMountHeight + LEDTabWidth/2),$fn=ShellSides);
}
translate([0,ShellOD,(InsulThick + BayonetOffset)]) // bayonet pin hole
rotate([90,0,0]) rotate(180/4)
PolyCyl(BayonetOD,2*ShellOD,4);
translate([0,ShellOD,(InsulThick + LampOAL - LEDMountHeight)]) // LED mount screw hole
rotate([90,0,0])
PolyCyl(LEDTabScrewOD,2*BulbOD,6);
translate([0,0,(InsulThick + ShellOAL + LampOAL/2)]) // slot for LEDTab mount
cube([2*ShellOD,(LEDTabThick + 2*Protrusion),LampOAL],center=true);
for (i=[-1,1]) // contact pin holes
translate([i*ContactOC/2,0,-Protrusion])
rotate(180/6)
PolyCyl(ContactOD,2*LampOAL,6);
}
}
//- Build it
ShowPegGrid();
if (Layout == "LEDTab")
LEDTab();
if (Layout == "LEDPlate")
LEDPlate();
if (Layout == "ShellMount")
ShellMount();
if (Layout == "Show") {
LEDPlate();
translate([-LEDTabThick/2,(LEDFlangeOD/2 + LEDTabWidth/2),(LEDTabLength + LEDPlateThick + Gap)])
rotate([0,90,0])
LEDTab();
for (i=[-1,1])
# translate([0,(i*LEDTabWidth/4 + LEDFlangeOD/2 + LEDTabWidth/2),(LEDPlateThick + Gap/4)])
rotate(180/4)
cylinder(r=AlignPinOD/2,h=Gap/1,$fn=4); // fake the pins
translate([0,(LEDFlangeOD/2 + LEDTabWidth/2),(LampOAL - LEDTabWidth/2)])
rotate([0,180,0]) rotate(90)
ShellMount();
}
if (Layout == "Build") {
translate([0,LEDDia,0])
LEDPlate();
translate([-10,-(LEDMargin + LEDTabWidth),0])
rotate(-90)
LEDTab();
translate([10,-(LEDMargin + LEDTabWidth),0])
ShellMount();
}
The original doodles for the bulb dimensions and adapter layout:
These quilting pin caps are slightly longer than the previous version and, due to the M2’s smaller nozzle, have slightly thinner single-thread walls. Because Slic3r does a better (although not ideal) job of path planning than Skeinforge, it’s easier to create an array of the caps in the solid model than to manually add duplicates in Slic3r:
Fill with silicone caulk on waxed paper and they look even more like that:
Quilting pin caps – silicone fill
Fast-forward a few days, rub off the excess caulk, trim off a few blobs, and they’re ready for presentation:
Quilting pin caps – finished
In use, they look about like you’d expect:
Quilting pin caps – in use
The pin caps I made from a 5 gallon bucket’s O-ring gasket didn’t work out well, as the plastic didn’t like being poked with pins and put up a stiff resistance. Silicone caulk has exactly the right consistency.
When Mary ramps up a full-scale quilt, we’ll need a few hundred of the things. The commercial version has dropped to 40 cents each, which makes all this worthwhile.
The OpenSCAD source code:
// Quilting pin caps
// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU April 2012
// January 2013 - modify for Slic3r and M2
//- Extrusion parameters must match reality!
// Print with +1 shells and 3 solid layers
ThreadThick = 0.20;
ThreadWidth = 0.40;
HoleWindage = 0.2;
function IntegerMultiple(Size,Unit) = Unit * ceil(Size / Unit);
Protrusion = 0.1; // make holes end cleanly
//----------------------
// Dimensions
ID = 5.0;
OD = ID + 2*ThreadWidth;
Length = 8.0;
Sides = 8;
CapArray = [6,6]; // XY layout of caps
CapsOC = OD + 2.0; // OC spacing
//----------------------
// Useful routines
module PolyCyl(Dia,Height,ForceSides=0) { // based on nophead's polyholes
Sides = (ForceSides != 0) ? ForceSides : (ceil(Dia) + 2);
FixDia = Dia / cos(180/Sides);
cylinder(r=(FixDia + HoleWindage)/2,
h=Height,
$fn=Sides);
}
module ShowPegGrid(Space = 10.0,Size = 1.0) {
RangeX = floor(100 / Space);
RangeY = floor(125 / Space);
for (x=[-RangeX:RangeX])
for (y=[-RangeY:RangeY])
translate([x*Space,y*Space,Size/2])
%cube(Size,center=true);
}
module PinCap() {
rotate(180/Sides) {
difference() {
PolyCyl(OD,Length,8);
translate([0,0,-Protrusion])
PolyCyl(ID,(Length + 2*Protrusion),8);
}
}
}
//----------------------
// Build them!
ShowPegGrid();
translate([(-CapsOC*(CapArray[0] - 1)/2),(-CapsOC*(CapArray[1] - 1)/2),0])
for (i=[0:(CapArray[0] - 1)],j=[0:(CapArray[1] - 1)])
translate([i*CapsOC,j*CapsOC,0])
PinCap();
Mary has been learning free motion quilting, which uses a special sewing-machine foot that holds the fabric in place. Leah Day describes modifying a standard darning foot, but I suggested deploying a bit more shop-fu to do it right. The notion of “adjusting” something with a twisted rubber band just made my skin crawl…
The starting point is a Brewer BP1814 “FOOT Darning/Quilting low shank with clear base”, two of which appear next to an older version that she’s had for quite some time. The rightmost one has my modifications:
Brewer BP1814 Quilting Foot – assortment
The older (mostly metal) foot works much better for its intended purpose, but the newer white plastic version seems easier to modify for free-motion quilting. The older spring is much softer than the new ones, for whatever that’s worth. After the modification, the spring pressure becomes largely irrelevant, as it only acts when something pushes up on the base.
The first modification improves visibility by cutting out part of the transparent plastic base. Leah suggests chopping it with a diagonal cutter (“jewelry clippers”), but I deployed a slitting saw in the Dremel tool at low speed to avoid melting. Mary wanted angled cuts, so that’s what she got:
Modified Darning Foot – opened base
A bit of touchup with a fine file smoothed out the edges so the base slides easily over the fabric. There’s no way to remove the red guide lines; the un-modified foot on the left emerged from its bag with that smeared line.
Then drive out the top metal pin with a small drift punch, hold the base and shaft, remove the C-clip, capture the spring, and extract the base and shaft. The 4.0 mm diameter metal shaft cries out to be threaded, so that’s what I did; this picture shows the reassembled shaft and spring:
Modified Darning Foot – threaded shaft
That’s significantly harder to accomplish than it looks, because there’s no practical way to remove the plastic base (it’s pinned in place, but one side of the cross-hole is blocked). I filed the end of the shaft to a taper that started the M4.0x0.7 die a bit more easily, clamped the shaft in the bench vise, applied nasty sulfur-based tapping fluid, crossed my fingers and eyes, held my nose, and managed to make it happen without cracking the plastic.
I reamed out the Nyloc nut with a hand-twisted series of drills, through about #24 = 3.861 mm, to reduce the locking torque. It’s now just slightly more than finger-tight, which should suffice.
In use, the foot fits under the sewing machine’s arm and puts the nut where fingers can’t reach. I filed a 6.0 mm “precision wrench” to fit the 6.8 mm nut flats and it’s All Good:
Modified Darning Foot – assembled with wrench
A staged photo op atop some trial quilting:
Modified Darning Foot – in action
With a Nyloc nut instead of a rubber band, it will stay exactly where she wants it…
Then generate the sphere (well, two spheres, one for each dent) and offset it to scoop out the dent:
for (i=[-1,1]) {
translate([i*(DentSphereRadius + HandleThick/2 - DentDepth),0,StringHeight])
sphere(r=DentSphereRadius);
HandleThick controls exactly what you’d expect. StringHeight sets the location of the hole punched through the handle for a string, which is also the center of the dents.
The spheres have many facets, but only a few show up in the dent. I like the way the model looks, even if the facets don’t come through clearly in the plastic:
Quilting circle template – handle dent closeup – solid model
It Just Works and the exact math produces a better result than by-guess-and-by-gosh positioning.
The sphere radius will come out crazy large for very shallow dents. Here’s the helmet plate for my Bicycle Helmet Mirror Mount, which has an indentation (roughly) matching the curve on the side of my bike helmet:
Helmet mirror mount – plate
Here’s the sphere that makes the dent, at a somewhat different zoom scale:
Helmet mirror mount – plate with sphere
Don’t worry: trust the math, because It Just Works.
You find equations like that in Thomas Glover’s invaluable Pocket Ref. If you don’t have a copy, fix that problem right now; I don’t get a cut from the purchase, but you’ll decide you owe me anyway. Small, unmarked bills. Lots and lots of small unmarked bills…
The Smell of Molten Projects in the Morning 