How sewing machine is made

Sewing Machine: Women also formed the majority of the labor force that sewed clothes in factories and wove fabrics in mills. The invention and proliferation of the sewing machine freed women of this chore, liberated workers from poorly paid long hours in factories, and produced a wide variety of less expensive clothing. The home and portable sewing machines also introduced amateur seamstresses to the delights of sewing as a craft.

Raw Materials: Industrial machine:
Industrial sewing machines require cast iron for their frames and a variety of metals for their fittings. Steel, brass, and a number of alloys are needed to make specialized parts that are durable enough for long hours of use in factory conditions. Some manufacturers cast, machine, and tool their own metal parts; but vendors also supply these parts as well as pneumatic, electric, and electronic elements.

Home sewing machine: The home sewing machine is prized for its versatility, flexibility, and portability. Lightweight housings are important, and most home machines have casings made of plastics and polymers that are light, easy to mold, easy to clean, and resistant to chipping and cracking. The frame of the home machine is made of injection-molded aluminum, again for weight considerations. Other metals, such as copper, chrome, and nickel are used to plate specific parts.

The home machine also requires an electric motor, a variety of precision-machined metal parts including feed gears, cam mechanisms, hooks, needles, and the needle bar, presser feet, and the main drive shaft. Bobbins can be made of metal or plastic but must be precisely shaped to feed the second thread properly. Circuit boards are also required specific to the main controls of the machine, the pattern and stitch selections, and a range of other features. Motors, machined metal parts, and circuit boards can be supplied by vendors or made by the manufacturers.

Design:
Industrial machine: After the automobile, the sewing machine is the most precisely made machine in the world. Industrial sewing machines are larger and heavier than home machines and are designed to perform only one function. Manufacturers of clothing, for example, use a series of machines with distinct functions that, in succession, create a finished garment. Industrial machines also tend to apply chain or zigzag stitch rather than lock stitch, but machines may be fitted for up to nine threads for strength.

Makers of industrial machines may supply a single-function machine to several hundred garment plants all over the world. Consequently, field-testing in the customer's factory is an important element in design. To develop a new machine or make changes in a current model, customers are surveyed, the competition is evaluated, and the nature of the desired improvements are identified. Designs are drawn, and a prototype is made and tested in the customer's plant. If the prototype is satisfactory, the manufacturing engineering section takes over the design to coordinate tolerance of parts, identify parts to be manufactured in-house and the raw materials needed, locate parts to be provided by vendors, and purchase those components. Tools for manufacture, holding fixtures for the assembly line, safety devices for both the machine and the assembly line, and other elements of the manufacturing process must also be designed along with the machine itself.

When the design is complete and all parts are available, The first manufactured lot is carefully checked. Often, changes are identified, the design is returned to development, and the process is repeated until the product is satisfactory. A pilot lot of 10 or 20 machines is then released to a customer to use in production for three to six months. Such field tests prove the device under real conditions, after which larger scale manufacture can begin.

Home sewing machine: Design of the home machine begins in the home. Consumer focus groups learn from sewers the types of new features that are most desired. The research and development (R&D) department of a manufacturer works, in conjunction with the marketing department, to develop specifications for a new machine that is then designed as a prototype. Software for manufacturing the machine is developed, and working models are made and tested by users. Meanwhile, R&D engineers test the working models for durability and establish useful life criteria. In the sewing laboratory, stitch quality is precisely evaluated, and other performance tests are conducted under controlled conditions.

The Manufacturing Process: Industrial machine:
The basic part of the industrial machine is called the "bit" or frame and is the housing that characterizes the machine. The bit is made of cast iron on a computer numerical control (CNC) machine that creates the casting with the appropriate holes for inserting components. Manufacture of the bit requires steel castings, forging using bar steel, heat-treating, grinding, and polishing to finish the frame to the specifications needed to house the components.

Motors are usually not supplied by the manufacturer but are added by a supplier. International differences in voltage and other mechanical and electrical standards make this approach more practical. Pneumatic or electronic components may be produced by the manufacturer or supplied by vendors. For industrial machines, these are typically made of metal rather than plastic parts. Electronic components are not necessary in most industrial machines because of their single, specialized functions.

Industrial machine:

Home sewing machine: Parts production in the factory may include a number of precisely made components of the sewing machine.

How a sewing machine works: Gears are made of injection-molded synthetics or may be specially tooled to suit the machine. Drive shafts made of metal are hardened, ground, and tested for accuracy; some parts are plated with metals and alloys for specific uses or to provide suitable surfaces.

The presser feet are made for particular sewing applications and can be interchangeable on the machine. Appropriate grooves, bevels, and holes are machined into the feet for their application. The finished presser foot is hand polished and plated with nickel.

The frame for the home sewing machine / is made of injection-molded aluminum. High-speed cutting tools equipped with ceramic, carbide, or diamond-edged blades are used to drill holes and to mill cuts and recesses to house features of the machine. Covers for the machines are manufactured from high-impact synthetics. They are also precision-molded to fit around and protect the machine's components. Small, single parts are preassembled into modules, whenever possible.

The electronic circuit boards that control the machine's many operations are produced by high-speed robotics; they are then subjected to a burn-in period that is several hours long and are tested individually before being assembled in the machines.

All of the parts that are preassembled I; join a main assembly line. Robots move the frames from operation to operation, and teams of assemblers fit the modules and components into the machine until it is complete. The assembly teams take pride in their product and are responsible for purchasing the components, assembling them, and making quality control checks until the machines are completed. As a final quality check, every machine is tested for safety and various sewing procedures. The home sewing machines are sent to packing where they are separately assembled by power control units that are foot-operated. A variety of accessories and instruction manuals are packed with the individual machines. The packaged products are shipped to local distribution centers.

Quality Control: The quality control department inspects all raw materials and all components furnished by suppliers when they arrive at the factory. These items are matched with plans and specifications. The parts are again checked along every step of manufacture by the makers, receivers, or persons who add the components along the assembly line. Independent quality control inspectors examine the product at various stages of assembly and when it is finished.

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