Skipsailing reporting aboard

Your Singer sewing machine being driven by a servomotor sort of intrigues me. The normal way to drive a sewing machine is just with an ac motor, series resistor for speed control and V belt so could you go into a bit of detail about why you would use a servomotor.  Is there some advantage to it?  I've looked at my wife's machine and thought that there might be some advantage in using a speed regulated drive but have never gone into it. 

Perhaps there's a mixup in nomenclature here. A servo motor goes to a commanded position and sits there waiting for a new position command; a speed regulated drive maintains a commanded speed independently of load.

I also sailed around in Lake Ontario and Georgian Bay but age has simply caught up with me.

Hi Skipsailing. Welcome. If I may, I'll focus on the sewing for a minute. My wife and I have owned a heap of sewing machines over the years. Currently we have a vintage Bernina industrial, but we added an off-the-shelf modern servo kit. It works great!!! My experience is more on the motor control and electronics side, my wife the better seamstress. Having said that, I did 3D model a fur-trade era tent, create flat patterns for rectangles, and triangles for the bell-back, added seam allowance, and sewed up the canvas with full-flat-felled seams. (My wife was impressed). That was on a medium duty Husqvarna before we got the 'Nina. I've always drooled over the Sailrite, long arm models for heavy canvas etc. If you can afford one of those, with servo, might be a one-stop-shop.

Having said all that, what is your goal on the sewing side? Maybe I can help. Quickest piece of advice, is get a modern servo upgrade, no matter what machine you have. But sounds like you already have servo? Servo can make any industrial machine into a very precise work horse.  BTW, I still have the old slip clutch/pully motor set-up from the Bernina Industrial. Couldn't bear to recycle it. But once you go servo, you will never look back. All other machines in our past, were sold to pay for the next one... Embroidery units are fun, too, but probably not your cup of tea on the sail boat.

If you already have a servo motor, what is it you want to do with sensors etc? What is scope of project?

Scott

@whitneydesignlabs 

Obviously something has been done re sewing machines which I don't know about so could you please bring me up to date.  Just what is a "servo" as applied to a sewing machine?  I suspect someone has dreamed up a very special meaning for the word.  I made a living for many years designing control systems and I don't see how a servo, in the general meaning of the word would apply to a sewing machine.

Here is some info from the Sailrite website:

https://www.sailrite.com/How-to-Upgrade-Your-Clutch-Motor-to-a-Workhorse-Servo-Motor

The one we bought for our Bernina was on eBay and had universal mounting brackets.

Basically, in the sewing world, a "Servo" is a finely speed controlled motor, with lots of low-rpm torque even when running the needle at a crawl speed. I was going to make one for my wife, but in the end decided a Chinese turn-key system was the best route for us to go. The upgrade was phenomenal in terms of control and accuracy, without losing brute force power to punch through eight layers of canvas. (full fell seam in corners etc)

EDIT: I realize I sort of skipped over an explanation. Small residential sewing machines use a different speed control than industrial. The industrial machines have a big motor that spins constant RPM non stop. The foot pedal engages a belt slip clutch. That is why they are harder to control at low speeds. It is like riding the clutch in your car, non-stop, up a hill.