Western electric appliances - plugs and voltage.

[lopburi3]

And you can buy very comfortable local made recliners at more reasonable prices these days.  

[Katia]

On 2/22/2017 at 5:40 PM, Arjen said:

That is the biggest problem.... And although frequency adjusters excist, they are very expansive. Like Crossy said. motors for 60Hz, will run slower on 50Hz, and get overheated. Motors you use only short (like a drilling machine, or a blender) usual do not have problems, but machines you use longer, (like a sanding machine, or a router) are more likely to have problems with the 20% difference in rotating speed.

I assume this is true for my (1973) sewing machine as well.  I brought it, without thinking about the 60/50 issue (I have transformers for the 220/110 issue).  But now I'm thinking using it is a bad idea?  Especially due to its age; it might not handle the difference well?

[lopburi3]

Actually it's age may be an advantage as in those days less concern was placed on making everything as cheaply as possible and  just good enough to run for the guarantee period and more/better materials were often used - plus the motor is not operated at full capacity for more than a few seconds.

[Crossy]

Arjen and L3 got there first, Your sewing machine is unlikely to have issues with 50Hz :)

[Katia]

Hm, I figured it might mess up the timing.  Or overheat.  The motor may have been made to last, but I assume it probably wasn't made to handle too many electrical variances or global use in those days!  Maybe I'll give it a shot, then.

[lopburi3]

1 hour ago, Katia said:

Hm, I figured it might mess up the timing.  Or overheat.  The motor may have been made to last, but I assume it probably wasn't made to handle too many electrical variances or global use in those days!  Maybe I'll give it a shot, then.

We are saying use the step-down 220-110v transformer and that should take care of electrical issue as the frequency should not be an issue for a small variable speed motor used intermittently.  

[Katia]

10 hours ago, lopburi3 said:

We are saying use the step-down 220-110v transformer and that should take care of electrical issue as the frequency should not be an issue for a small variable speed motor used intermittently.  

Okay, that's what I was taking away from it, too.  Just that one of the examples was a blender, which doesn't run for that long at once, and someone mentioned only running for a few seconds a time.  My sewing machine would probably run for 30 seconds to a minute or two, stop for a few seconds, run for  another 30-60-120 seconds, repeat several times, etc., so I wasn't sure if that was too much.  (I like this machine so don't want to take a chance on killing it!)

[lopburi3]

But the blender has to reach a set speed to work well and motor is under strain - sewing machine can operate fine being a bit slower and (unless you are really sewing leather) will not be operating at anything near capacity.  

 

Another option may be to replace your sewing machine motor with a local version and not even need transformer if sewing machine is main concern.  It might take some hunting and might require modification but probably possible.  But I would save that until current motor fails (which it probably will not unless you mistakenly plug into 230v outlet.)