Courtney
Courtney tells what he has been up to this month including some quilts finished (no pictures, yet) and a way to power some of his machines.
I am pleased to report that I have worked on a couple of projects during April. First. I did complete the three quilts I planned on entering in the men’s show sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. All three quilts are not only completed but also entered! They range from a rather small wall hanging titled After Picasso (23”x37”) to a larger full-sized Cowboy Sugan (50”x73”). In between was another of my mathematical quilts titled the Fibonacci Series (33”x49”). I think the Picasso quilt is rather cute so if it is not chosen it will be hanging on a wall in the bedroom, The Cowboy Sugan is a bit smaller than usual because I plan on wrapping up in it in the winter while watching TV. At the men’s show in 2024 I displayed a quilt which was the geometric proof of the Pythagorean theorem. During the show, an old friend happened to come by and ask in jest “What’s next, the Fibonacci Series? The third quilt is my answer. I hope at least one of this year’s quilts is accepted because I do enjoy participating at the RMQM.
My other project has been an exciting hardware project. I have several sewing machines that often just sit around because I don’t have an easy way to power them. I thought a hand crank might be appropriate. I found a couple of 6-inch circles at Dollar Tree that I could glue together to form the crank wheel. Things were starting to move along and then I made a wonderful find on the internet. I ran across a site which has a number of free, noncommercial, programs for 3D printing titled Thingiverse. Thingiverse has a number of sewing and sewing machine related 3D printing projects. The one I found to be particularly interesting was a handcrank wheel for a Willcox and Gibbs machine by smwombat . Actually, I think he must have created the handwheel crank just for me. I had also found a knob on Thingverse that I liked so I asked an undergraduate up at school to run off both handcrank wheel and knob. They came out wonderfully. So off with the wooden wheel and on with the 3D printed wheel and knob. Since I had already started playing around with the wooden wheel, I simply used the base I had already constructed of wood. My base was simply two pieces of wood which I had screwed together with pocket holes and is held in place by a screw that goes in the slot of the treadle top and is held in place by a wingnut on the bottom. (see picture 1) This allows me to easily adjust the crank at various distances in front or behind the sewing machine. I had also drilled holes about 1 inch apart up and down the support so I could experiment with the wheel at various heights. I used plastic tubing as the belt to connect the handwheel crank to the machine because it was cheap and easy. (see pictures 2&3)
When I accidentally ran across an old drawer-front in the garage, I decided I now had a good use for it. I have a very old W&G machine from about 1859 but no way to power it, so I set to making a hand crank for it. I tried the crank in front and behind the machine and decided behind would look best. I then dug up a piece of oak about 0.75 inches by 1.25 inches and cut it to about 7 inches long. I attached it to the drawer with pocket hole screws. I got my student to run off another handcrank wheel and knob in black this time. For this combination I decided a leather belt might be more appropriate. WOW! When I got it all put together it resembles an English hand crank machine. (see pictures4&5) This machine now looks (and works) much like it could have 166 years ago when James Buchanan was president! (For those of you who don’t remember your American History, Buchanan was the president before Lincoln.)
Next Month I hope to have tried the handcrank on some other machines. Will let you know in my next report how things have progressed.
Special thanks go to:
Thinkverse for the web site at https://www.thingiverse.com/
smwombat for the handcrank wheel at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5248970
dcrozier for the knob at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3732172
I had a lot to go over so I hope this report actually makes some sense. I was quite excited with what I accomplished this month!
Courtney
to be continued...