Hi all,
Can anyone help I am currently building my wrapper and want to use a sewing machine motor and pedal to power it. Has anyone got plans or directions for the wiring of everything eg where do i wire in the dimmer switch etc. Just wish we had all the great stuff that is available to you guys/gals in the States down in oz.

regards
myles

I don't know if things are the same there as here, what is the color of the wiring...is one black and the other white...I think your wiring standards are different. One wire will be the live, and another the neutral, unless it's a three wire system..live, neutral and ground...I would hook the reostat, or dimmer switch into the live (black) Here live is black or red, neutral is white, ground is green or bare wire...I hope this helps

I asked about this ina previous post, but got no response, so I will try again. The setup I have works as follows: 2 wires run from the motor to a plug that goes into a receptacle that has 2 outlets, 1 marked "light', and 1 marked "motor". From this receptacle run 2 sets of wires, 1 to the foot pedal and another to a plug that goes into the wall outlet. I bought a Lutron dimmer that has 2 black wires and a green which is the ground. I wonder if anyone can tell me how to wire the dimmer into the system so that it slows the engine speed. The foot pedal seems to control the speed from fast to super , even the lowest setting is way too fast for wrapping. Thanks in advance.

You should cut the "hot" wire going INTO the motor and connect the dimmer there. Just like putting in a light switch. I would recommend mounting the dimmer switch in a recepticle box within easy reach for adjustment.

- Do a search here on "sewing". Select Subject and All Dates. I came up with 39 hits which contained advice on pulleys and reduction ratios. There was no reasonable advice on rewiring the motor.
- SAFETY considerations say that you should leave the pedal and motor wired exactly as it was. If you want to change anything get an electrician who knows how to wire speed controllers to motors and what kind of "dimmer" to buy. It is dangerous to give or get wiring advice over the Internet. Jack, I believe that is why you got no replies to your previous post.
- The pedal controls the speed. Why buy a "dimmer"?
- There is no reasonable way to get low enough speeds for rod wrapping without using speed reduction pulleys.

The resistance of the dimmer is just another resistance in series with the resistance in the foot pedal. In effect it does the same thing electrically that the reduction of the pulley will do mechanically. If the dimmer is adjusted for a higher resistance it will lower the range of speeds of the foot pedal.

There is a lot more to slowing down AC electric motors than a simple light dimmer switch. Using one will overheat the wire, motor, or both. They work great on DC motors BUT NOT AC!!! Electric fans have specific variable speed circuits built into them. Do a search out on the internet for AC motors and speed control and you will see what I'm talking about. They do have speed contol switches for AC motors, but they ain't cheap!!!!

Jack, Walter...
I have a Renzetti/Clemmens lathe and have rigged it as such, with the advice of a friend who is an electrician.
First off please let me say: Be careful, ask someone else certified in this stuff and I make no guarantees to the life of your motor and will not be held liabel for any injury.
This said... I took a surface mount metal quad (4 outlet box) box and wired it with a duplex (regular two outlet) receptacle in one position and a Lutron heavy duty toggle dimmer in the other position.
The cover plate has a hole for a switch and one receptacle and is metal. The jumper on the receptacle for the black side (smaller prong slit) (the right side of the device if you look at the front of it with the ground prong at the bottom and the two slots at the top, kind of looks like a funny face) was removed to isolate each plug.
I used 12 guage extension cord wire with 3 wires (black(hot), white(neutral), green(ground)) the ground is screwed into the metal box to ground it (use a three pronged plug to plug all this in even if your motor is not grounded), the white goes to the common (big slot side) of the receptacle and the black is split with two wires "nutted" together. one goes directly to the receptacle and the other goes to one side of the dimmer and the dimmer goes to the other receptacle.
This gives me total motor control and is going strong since 1990.
I hope this is not too confusing and I can always e-mail you a schematic if need be.
Happy rolling and please be safe,
John