Open Source Embroidery Machine

Description

This project is to design an open source embroidery machine. Current embroidery machines are very expensive and the average consumer can only afford a cheap version that really a modified home sewing machine.

3d printers have show that a community of people can develop a low cost and easy to build version of very expensive commercial machines. An embroidery machine is very similar to these commercial 3d printers. They have a moving XY bed, and needle assembly. This is not very different from 3d printers with an XY bed and extruder.

My goal is to develop an open source mechanical design, electronics and software so that people can build an embroidery machine in the same manner that people are building 3d printers.

Files

Parts List TMFXII-C.pdf

Parts list of a fully functional Tajima Embroidery Machine

Adobe Portable Document Format - 2.94 MB - 03/11/2017 at 21:12

Preview

Components

2 × Stepper Motors Maybe Nema 17 Motors

1 × Servo Motor Motor for the needle assembly

1 × Controller Could be an arduino, Soomthie Board, or maybe BBB with linux cnc

Project Logs

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Slow Progress
jupdyke • 04/01/2017 at 00:05 • 1 comment

Well we are starting to make some slow progress. We are currently working on sourcing parts for an off the shelf embroidery machine which we will combine with 3d printed parts to try and for a modular embroidery head. If you are only interested in a single needle design you can get the parts needed to build that. Or you can get several sets of parts and build a multi-needle design. It is slow going, but moving forward.
More to come soon.
Still looking for some people to actively help
jupdyke • 08/30/2016 at 20:15 • 2 comments

Hello all, I am still looking for some people who would like to actively help with this project. I have since purchased a cheap brother embroidery machine and every time I use it I think about an open source option. I have the tool to fabricate parts and test, but I dont have the time to do the design work. Josh
Looking for Collaborators
jupdyke • 08/04/2015 at 15:57 • 3 comments

Anyone interested in collaboration on this project. I dont have enough time to do it all myself. I have access to a lot of the equipment to make prototypes but not the time to test and work on the design.
I would like to assemble a team of people and start making steady progress on the design.
Let me know if your interested.
Josh
Research
jupdyke • 06/06/2015 at 16:55 • 1 comment

I have been doing some research to try and figure out the necessary parts. Their is a really good description on the SmoothieWare website with a lot of details.
smoothieware embroidery
The part that I am struggling with right now is to figure out the needle assembly and how to either build my own or finding a suitable replacement part that I can hack. Below is link that show the mechanism while the needle plunges.
How a Bobbin Works
I have been told that they call the needle assembly an Embroidery Foot. It seems like it should be reasonable to find a replacement foot for an embroidery machine. There are quite a few industrial companies out there so the trick would be to find one that will work for this project. So I am currently looking into finding a suitable source for these parts.
Also it seems like there are really two styles of embroidery machines. The home user one style and the commercial style. The main difference as far as I can tell is that the home user one is basically an upgraded sewing machine and can only ever do 1 color of thread at a time. I think if you were to try to build this style you could just get a cheap sewing machine and hack it together.
The commercial versions look a little different. I think this is the design that makes more sense to try and build as an open source design. It can support many more needles at the same time and if you could develop an open source design you could make it modular and scalable. You can start with a single needle and over time add more. So this is the design I am gonna work toward building.
Software:
I also learned a little bit about the software. Almost all embroidery machines accept the DST file format. So the software should be able to accept this format.
I also did some reading and the design should allow for a cap attachment, so you can embroider on round objects. Shouldnt be too hard If we keep that in mind from the beginning.
Random Links to Useful bits of information
Sewing Machine Arm
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Embroidery-Machine-head-parts_1411840432.html
http://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/Chinese-Embroidery-Machine-Parts_51047854.html
List of Machine Field Sizes
These two links have a lot of good details.
Brother PR-650 Operation Manual
Janome MB-4 Operational Manual
In the beginning...
jupdyke • 05/28/2015 at 20:08 • 0 comments
This is the beginning of the project. I am currently investigating the details and develop the specs of what this machine will need to do. I am not exactly sure how embroidery machines work beyond having seen one or two running. But I see this project as being split into 3 main areas.
- Mechanical Design
  - The mechanical design will consist of a frame, xy table, and needle assembly. I believe the needle assembly will be the most complicated mechanical assembly. While building one from scratch would be ideal, it might be possible to find replacement parts for an off the shelf machine to start with.
- Electrical
  - The electrical should be fairly similar to a cnc mill or 3d printer. A microcontroller to run everything, some stepper motor drivers, possibly a dc motor for the needle, some encoders on the needle, and perhaps a few other bits. Options include using an arduino mega with RAMPs board, Smoothie board, Beagle Bone Black, or some other board. It is probably quite easy to use any of these and make it work.
- Software

View all 5 project logs

Discussions

zmozami wrote 10/19/2021 at 17:56

Can you share the program file? I want to test it for my sewing blog, you can see here https://sewinglogs.com/best-computerized-sewing-machines/

Are you sure? yes | no

waseem wrote 03/29/2017 at 04:38

Inventing a Wheel is not a good idea.For me first one needle and than we can go for industrial look.We done nothing from last 2 years.Very simple no body is serious about this.So if some body want to do this we can plan and stick to it.How can do the software job and mainly how will build Hardware.Trouble shooting when it comes.???

Are you sure? yes | no

Gurmohit Singh wrote 12/10/2016 at 17:33

Hi,

This is complete industrial embroidery machine DIY project that someone did in Bolivia.

This could be helpful.

Are you sure? yes | no

waseem wrote 06/17/2016 at 02:09

A person rennas done this in april 2015 on he is working with Khalid Khattak on http://www.cnczone.com/forums/cnc-wood-router-project-log/57404-software.html

Khalid made open source software the took *.dst tajima file and convert into G Code.software is available on cnczone.

Are you sure? yes | no

Khalid Khattak wrote 05/24/2018 at 08:35

Thanks for mentioning...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IKwKiq_b7w

Are you sure? yes | no

nhat son wrote 01/01/2016 at 11:59

tajima dst file, i think it good choice, this is decription for dst file

http://www.achatina.de/sewing/main/TECHNICL.HTM

Are you sure? yes | no

3dsman wrote 12/16/2015 at 21:18

you should look here:
http://wiki.electrolab.fr/Projets:Lab:OpenEmbroiderer (en not fully translated)
http://wiki.electrolab.fr/Projets:Lab:brodeuse (fr the original)

Are you sure? yes | no

jupdyke wrote 06/04/2015 at 15:22

Thanks for the comment. I like the idea of scrapping an old sewing machine to test with. But I would like to find a more sustainable solution. There is not much to taking a sewing machine and adding a XY table. But I want to design done more like an industrial embroidery machine. I would like to be able to add more than one needle down the road.

Are you sure? yes | no

tfolbrecht wrote 06/06/2015 at 18:04

Why not print fabric dye onto the single thread with commercial techniques like dye sublimination as it goes along?
Actual hardware designing and manufacturing is much more of a headache than designing around something you can find in the garbage/off the shelf and add electronics to.

Are you sure? yes | no

jupdyke wrote 06/06/2015 at 18:27

The fabric dye is a neat idea. I have seen people explore that with 3d printers. I think it is harder then it sounds though. Might be a cool tangent project though. As for why I don't want to just hack a old sewing machine, is because i am thinking more long term. I want to design an open source machine that any one can build. I can not rely on everyone being able to find the same kind of machine.

That being said, the electronics and software will be designed to be easy to use on any machine. similar to how the reprap electronics were for 3d printers. If someone does have access to a old sewing machine then they should be able to skip the mechanical design and just use the electronics and software.

More work for me, but better for the community I am hoping to build.

Are you sure? yes | no

target drone wrote 06/04/2015 at 04:18

Reading your comment regarding the needle assembly, many commercially available embroidery-capable sewing machines are simply normal sewing machines with a stepper or servo motor replacing the regular motor. If you did that, you wouldn't have to start by building the part that needs to be very precise.

And sewing machines can be had for cheap. You can get a used one at a thrift store, or you can get a very cheap unit for about $100 new. Since an automated embroidery unit uses it's own XY motors to move the fabric hoop, it doesn't need the sewing machine's mechanism to move the fabric, which is the least accurate part of a cheap sewing machine.

Are you sure? yes | no

Open Source Embroidery Machine

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Parts List TMFXII-C.pdf

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