With Or Without Castors Sewing Table...

[Yanni]

I'm buying a couple of PFAFF 335 machines and wondering shall I get a table with castors or without castors?

Castors will make the machine more portable but the seller wants to charge me £80($130) for the different table.

The photo shows the machine with the current stand.

What's your experience, are tables without castors more stable and do you find that once you place the machine somewhere you don't need to move it all the time?

We'll be using it for leather bag making.

Thanks.

[cdthayer]

What's your experience, are tables without castors more stable and do you find that once you place the machine somewhere you don't need to move it all the time?

I have two machines with casters under them, a Consew 225 electric and a Singer 29K70 treadle. Our shop is so small that I occasionally have to roll a machine out into the alley or onto the sidewalk for larger repair jobs. Also, we don't use either machine daily, so the castors help with storage.

The casters on the Consew 225 all swivel, making it very unstable when free-standing. Most of the time it's placed against a wall to keep it from running away or "wiggling" while in use. Part of the wiggling can probably be attributed to the light-weight caster brackets used on this machine. They have a little flex in them. My casters are a homemade application by a previous owner.

I built a primitive "trolley" out of 1x4s to go under my Singer 29K70. I put swivel casters on the handwheel end, and rigid casters under the other end. It's almost always free-standing when used, but remains fairly stable with this setup.

CD in Oklahoma

Edited September 11, 2012 by cdthayer

[KAYAK45]

I have castors on my Cowboy 4500. Like your new machine, it is big and heavy, so moving otherwise would be a problem. Since the whole table, legs and rollers where made to work together I get no "wobble" when using.

Adding you own later MIGHT be an option, like CD has done, but it will raise the height of your table. If you are vertically challenged, as I am, that could be a factor.

On the other foot, ~$130 over..10 years of use..may knot be that large an issue, for the right set-up. (all puns intended).

Kevin

[Vintage Singers NYC]

I have castors on my Cowboy 4500. Like your new machine, it is big and heavy, so moving otherwise would be a problem. Since the whole table, legs and rollers where made to work together I get no "wobble" when using.

Adding you own later MIGHT be an option, like CD has done, but it will raise the height of your table. If you are vertically challenged, as I am, that could be a factor.

On the other foot, ~$130 over..10 years of use..may knot be that large an issue, for the right set-up. (all puns intended).

Kevin

Hi fellas, you may be interested in taking a look at this; it's photos and videos of "DIY Designs of Retractable Wheels for Tool Bases" that different people have whipped up:

http://www.core77.com/blog/tools/diy_designs_of_retractable_wheels_for_tool_bases_23197.asp

These guys have the same needs as us: Need to occasionally wheel the machine out of the way, but do not want to change the overall height, and need the wheels to disappear when it's time to use the machine, so that the vibration does not cause the table to wander. Only difference is they're using tablesaws rather than sewing machines. In any case, there are some cleverly jury-rigged solutions there.

- Nick

[rickybobby]

I'm buying a couple of PFAFF 335 machines and wondering shall I get a table with castors or without castors?

Castors will make the machine more portable but the seller wants to charge me £80($130) for the different table.

The photo shows the machine with the current stand.

What's your experience, are tables without castors more stable and do you find that once you place the machine somewhere you don't need to move it all the time?

We'll be using it for leather bag making.

Thanks.

Go with some kind of wheels! My machines are all over the shop depending on what is going on!

Sometimes out to get out of the way, sometimes to be in the middle of production!

Hope that helps,

Edited September 13, 2012 by rickybobby

[mogwild]

I put big, heavy duty one's under the table when I made one for the Randall Lockstitch.

Things a monster, but its very stable if I turn each wheel outwards, it gives it a bit more stability as the wheel stick out sideways a bit, enlarging the foot print, all 4 swivel, and all 4 lock, and are a good quality rubber so they don't slide.

[Dirck]

I buy things without castors and use three wheel castors when I need to move something.

These are ~$5 each and can be used as a temporary or permanent setup. Usually they don't have a lock feature.

You can also use a piece of 2"x4" with fixed wheels added for a stronger, more stable wheel.