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Sewing needles have not changed much over the millennia. For a flexible fabric thread sewing needles are good. Obliging fabric thread can easily double back 180 degrees and pulling a double wide piece of thread behind the needle does not require an overwide hole thru the fabric.
Other types of thread
are less obliging. Plastic or polymer threads like nylon do not double back easily; likewise metal, leather and especially glass. Surgical needles accommodate this by having the needle attached to the thread. This is fine for them as the needle is a single use item anyway.
The chuck head sewing needle has a grabber at the top and a screw fitted collar. As with a drill, screwing the collar down opens the chuck to receive the end of your thread. Screwing it back up tightens the chuck. Now you can sew with a hole only big enough to admit your needle and thread end on.
[link]
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[+], but the chuck mechanism is going to have to be extremely slender. |
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We consider that the best solution would be a sleeve, that slides over the point on the needle and then runs up the shank until it compresses the "jaws" of the chuck. There could be machined grooves in the inside of the sleeve and a ridge on the jaws to engage with it. |
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A special tool might be needed for small needles. |
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A lot of my students end up working as fashion designers, so I know a bit about the stitching business. My mum was also a stitcher. Changing needles is a pain in every circumstance that I have seen. What is needed is a two part device. You slot the needle into one part, away from the machine, then you attach that part to the machine via a really simple mechanism. This means that several needles could be preloaded. |
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//A lot of my students end up working as fashion designers// That's sad. You'd expect that at least a few of them would be able to get jobs. |
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/best solution would be a sleeve/ I thought the threads might be necessary to keep it in place. I can envision the sliding sleeve but not the ridge. How would you disengage the ridge on the jaws? |
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[Max] You might want to take a look at how Simone Rocha
is
getting on. I'm sure you could offer her some helpful career
hints! Ha |
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There is an awful lot of polishing involved in making a needle. Even the slightest roughness on the surface causes it to grab and tear at the fibres it's supposed to be sliding through. The exterior of your chuck will need to be very smooth. |
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A possibly more practical option would be just an axial hole in the back of the needle, that the thread stuck into, using a glue that could be dissolved later. |
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//Simone Rocha// Never heard of him. |
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Be curious. You'll find it an interesting experience. |
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Well, a quick Google only turned up a "Simone Rocha" who designed some dresses. If there's an important or useful "Somone Rocha" that I'm missing, let me know. |
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Life is very short. And there's no time. For fussing
and fighting, my friends. |
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/glue/. The glue would stick onto an area the
circumference of the end of the thread. I worry
that tiny area will not be enough to support a
force able to pull the thread. |
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The exterior of the chuck should be covered
completely by the smooth surface of the device
used to tighten or loosen it. |
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//Life is very short. And there's no time. For fussing and fighting, my friends. // |
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no no no, [bung]. The entire point of life is fussing and fighting. It's, like, the whole basis of evolution. |
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And, sp.: "ti-eye-eye-eye-ime". |
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Oh don't be such an old fart. It's no fun living in a
fashionless world. What do you wear all day when you're
counting those barrels of Monsanto? I could get my girls and
boys to run you up a nice rainbow coloured boilersuit. Ha |
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How do you feel? SEW SEW. |
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The limiting factor is the diameter of thread so the needle
with the new method has to be slightly bigger. |
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How about an internal cleated tube. Poke in the thread so it
never pulls backwards. Of course their needs to be a hole,
further down the needle, to push out an old color/type
allowing for a new
thread. |
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Oh, is that the current euphemism in vogue ? Used to be "model", or "actress", hurr hurr hurr .... |
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Getting the thread into the shaft of the needle is going to be tricky - trying to push a diminutive, limp object with no mechanical strength into an aperture can be problematic, as [MB] will testify (although he says he has tablets for it now). |
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Wetting the tip and twisting it in will create a bit of
compression stiffness and get it there. |
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Yes, apparently he tried that, but he hurt his back and needed to
rub special ointment on the affected part, too. |
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He was walking round with a funny sort of scuttling crouch for
days, and the whimpering would have been piteous if it hadn't
been so funny
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//trying to push a diminutive, limp object with no mechanical strength into an aperture can be problematic// Yes, but it was even more problematic to get you out again. |
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The thread needs a thread. |
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// it was even more problematic to get you out again. // |
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Yes, well, we should have guessed that you family's idiosyncratic version of "Hide and Seek" would be weird in the extreme. |
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If the needle were a hollow cylinder, the thread could be sucked into the shaft by a pressure differential between the rear and the front. Once through, the sharp point could be pushed into the cylinder, trapping the thread in place. |
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The idea could be tested with a vacuum pump and a hypodermic needle. |
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There shouldn't be a problem pushing the thread into a hole
in the end of a needle, since this needle is only designed for
thread that isn't very flexible. If you're using flexible
thread, stick with a standard needle. |
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What scad said! I did not even think of that
obviousness. |
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If you want the needle to grip the thread, check out a leatherworking
lacing needle (it's hollow, and threaded inside - screw it onto the
thread) or a 2-prong lacing needle (the back spreads open, put the
thread in, and squeeze the jaws shut on it). |
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If the needle was basically a tapered hollow cylinder, the thread could
be pushed into the end, and then the assembly rolled to a smaller
diameter. Rolling, as opposed to crimping, would keep a smooth
surface. A once only operation. |
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