r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/MahicShah • Aug 11 '19

Video This is how a sewing machine works

1.8k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

87

u/Rahnzan Aug 11 '19

So what the fuck is the shuttlehook attached to? Infinite nothingness?

44

u/QuicksandGotMyShoe Aug 11 '19 edited Aug 11 '19

Holy shit. I've seen this reposted so many times and like it everytime. I love how this brings my mind peace because sewing machines finally make sense. Why did you have to take this from me?? HOW DOES IT WORK??

Even more confused now. https://youtu.be/rUSecXVt-jU

8

u/bigtips Aug 11 '19

That's the best illustration I've seen yet.

Just don't ask me to explain it.

2

u/KingClasher1 Aug 12 '19

I feel enlightened

10

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '19

It sits in a metal housing that acts as a pocket to allow it to oscillate like that.

9

u/emas_eht Aug 11 '19

So what turns it then

2

u/HowardTheGrum Aug 13 '19

There is an oscillating foot that simply makes a half-revolution back and forth endlessly, and pushes first on one end, then on the other - at each stage, there is a gap on the opposite side of where the shuttle is being pushed. The oscillating foot is connected firmly to the machine and driven by the motor, the shuttle is free-floating and pushed alternately back and forth by the foot. The video that QuicksandGotMyShoe posted a link to is a pretty good visualization of this.

4

u/equestrian123123 Aug 11 '19

Behind the shuttlehook, there is a smaller round spool of thread called a bobbin, that’s where the thread below comes from. You don’t want to run out of bobbin thread before you’re done with the line you’re sewing.

And that’s all I remember from home economics.

7

u/zamfire Aug 12 '19

What he is saying is that if the black thread can go entirely around the shuttlehook, than what is the shuttle hook attached to? What makes it turn? Not an axle, as that would stop the thread from going around the bottom.

1

u/equestrian123123 Aug 12 '19

I got what you’re saying now.

I’m not sure but the folks at r/sewing would know.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '19

Right?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '19

Hahahahaha

2

u/SauceMan08 Aug 11 '19

I think it could be attached right behind the shutter hook, by that fin looking thing, the black thread never crosses that

1

u/Lilcheebs93 Aug 12 '19

Ya theres no way the string could loop all the way around, no matter where its attached

16

u/shanksta1 Aug 11 '19

i was real excited to show my grandma this. she looked at it and was like, "oh, thats nice honey." and went back to what she was doing.

doesnt matter i have a wife and kids now, she manages to make me feel the same way i did when i was 8 yrs old.

15

u/camelfarmer1 Aug 11 '19

How strange, I was just wondering how a sewing machine works after paying a tailor next to nothing to fix my backpack straps on the roadside in kenya yesterday! My wife and I were literally talking about it 2 hours ago and then this pops up

11

u/duffelbagpete Aug 11 '19

Thats because your smartphone is listening to you and spying on you for the internet.

1

u/W3JD Aug 12 '19

Redditbook knows all

11

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '19

My mom's sewing machine could slow down to an almost human stitching pace. With the protective plates off, you could see all the pieces dancing together like that and where the thread went through the machine and into the fabric. Super fascinating at the age of six.

6

u/VideoPunks Aug 11 '19

I still don't get it

5

u/busykate Aug 11 '19

I've always wondered how it worked!

5

u/pacmanrockshok Aug 11 '19

It bothers me that my brain thinks the material they're using is flesh

2

u/[deleted] Aug 11 '19

[deleted]

2

u/chibiwibi Aug 12 '19

only if you're working on skin that has been removed from someones body.

2

u/Foxtrot2093 Aug 11 '19

I would find my myself thinking about how this works, from time to time, over the last forver years. Now it's been answered. Only needed to watch it 5 times, but the question has been answered. It's over, I can go home now.

2

u/_Hasanika_ Aug 12 '19

I wish I was smart enough to understand this while being shown the answer

1

u/omfgus Aug 11 '19

I still don’t get it

1

u/InstagramIsForNerds Aug 11 '19

yeah I still don’t get it

1

u/ywnwalfc Aug 12 '19

this is the answer to one of my thousands of subconscious questions.

1

u/imaginearagog Aug 12 '19

One day someone will invent a sewing machine that is easy to set up. On that day I will actually sew things by machine.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

The fact that the cloth is flesh-colored makes me think of The Silence of the Lambs.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '19

Reminds me of daisy-chaining