thesergeant

Thanks so much for the feedback guys! Really appreciate it! I think I'm going to go for the 1" solid pine Ikea table top since it's cheap ~$50 and I can put a stain on it. I'm going to fillet braze a steel frame out of 1" square tubing for the perimeter of the table top and then run a brace down the middle (directly to the left of the machine) to keep it from sagging. Figure the cost will be $50 for the table and $15 for the steel. As for the legs, as much as my wife wants me to use black pipe the cost is unreasonable. I priced it out and it's almost $150 in fittings. Not worth it in my opinion. So I'm just going to use some 1" square tubing and weld it into an H frame with a round 3/4" tube for the foot pedal. I'm going to braze everything together with brass/copper and force a patina on the steel to bring out the welds. I'm hoping it will come out looking pretty cool. Figure the cost for the steel is another $40-50. I'll post some photos. When it's complete. Here's a shot of the last table I made for my Singer 201 prior to finishing.

Hey guys, so the table from my 1940s Singer 111 is shot. A leg is broken, it's wobbly and the table top is warped beyond salvage. I was about to just buy a new table top and k-legs but my wife saw a photo of the setup and insisted I make something since she thought the k-leg setup was an eyesore. I'm always up for a project so I figured I'd give it a shot. I took a 6 week welding class a couple months ago and recently picked up an oxyacetylene setup. I thought this might be a good project to practice those skills. This is what I'm thinking: For the table top I think I'm going to go the easy route and just pick up a finished 1" thick all wood top from Ikea for $40. it's 2'x4' and is made of pine (not ideal, i know) so I might reinforce either the underside or the perimeter if I feel it might sag. From there I'm just going to remove the old top, trace and mark all the cutouts and just drill/cut/route everything out. I've made a few hinged sewing tables before so I'm not too worried about this part. After it's finished I'll stain and poly it. Here's the table top: http://www.ikea.com/...ducts/40136558/ For the legs I was debating between using threaded black pipe and fittings or just brazing the whole thing with 1" & 3/4" pipe. If I go with the pipe fittings I'd do an H-Leg design with a 3/4" bar across the bottom for the pedal and perhaps and extra support across the back. This is the style I'm going for, t-fittings, floor flanges and all: OR I was thinking of brazing 1" copper pipe in a similar fashion. I think it would make for a cool industrial look and go well with the beat up machine and leather drive belt. Maybe use fitting too just to make alignment easier. What do you guys think? Have any of you guys built your own? I'd be curious to here about your experiences And yes, I realize that I can buy a complete setup for $200 shipped to my door, but this is something unique and will be a fun project, assuming it's sturdy enough. Suggestions & criticisms welcome, please!

Awesome, thanks Eric! You are correct, just a hot, neutral and ground. The wiring is definitely not original so it sounds like it might have been rewound at some point. Thanks! You just saved me $200 on a servo motor that I probably don't need

Hey Guys, I recently picked up an old 1940s Singer 111WSV71, which to my understanding was a machine that was custom made for the military during WW2 and used on Naval bases (?). From photos it looks basically identical to the Singer 111W150, with is a needle feed only machine. I purchased it from a gentleman an Craigslist how had been storing it in his shed for the last 15 years after his father passed away. Apparently his father had an upholstery business and used this 111W as his primary machine. Anyway, I give it a thorough servicing and it sews wonderfully, BUT I realized what inspecting the wiring that the clutch motor is a 3 phase 220v model. I have no idea what he did with the wiring to get it to run but it sews with power and speed or at least enough for my needs. My question is, is this safe to run? The motor doesn't get any warmer than any other motor I've felt and doesn't have a problem starting up. I don't see a phase converter or anything anywhere on the table so I'm not sure what's going on here. Let me know what you guys think. I was a mouse click away from buying an Enduro Pro SM600-1 servo motor but didn't end up doing it because with a little practice I was able to get quite a bit of control from the clutch motor, so I'm happy for the time being. But I'm still open to the idea of the enduro if you guys think it's worth it. Thanks!