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Industrial machines are awesome. Apartments are tiny. I just got a great deal on a Nakajima 380 from a shop that was closing up, and wanted to bring it home. With a 42" wide table, that simply wasn't going to happen. So, with a little tinkering, I put together a very rough-and-ready tiny cylinder-bed table. It's not the prettiest by a looooong shot, but it works, and it's about two feet square. I thought I'd put up some photos in case anyone else wanted to try doing the same; also happy to answer any questions folks have! So, the machine came to me like this: 3-phase clutch motor, decently solid K-leg table, mint-green top, and way way too big for the space I had. So the Nakajima actually came as part of a package with a couple other machines (the old New York story, everything had to be out by the first of the year), and I'd trimmed a chunk off another industrial table to make it fit into my shop. I was going to use that smaller square chunk and fabricate a post base for it - a nice welded 4x4 with some angle iron bracing, yadda yadda. I have the equipment & materials for it, but it'd be spring before I had the time to actually put it all together. And then inspiration struck. K-legs are kinda like tinker toys, right? So just bolt them together! Some cutting and drilling later, I had three brackets: My apartment (sadly) doesn't have 3-phase power, so off with the clutch motor (if anyone wants it, let me know!) and on with a new Consew servo from my local Sewing Machine Guy (everybody should have one). A little on the pricey side, but soo nice, and I haven't even hooked up the EPS yet. That, plus the bolted-together K-legs (and a diagonal brace bodged together from the back strut of the table), gave me this: Going for space-saving over ergonomics (this is a hobby, not my day job), I wanted to convert the presser foot from pedal to knee lift. Another visit to Sewing Machine Guy came up with a knee lift bracket, and a bit of strategically bent steel rod did the rest. It ain't pretty under there, but everything works and everything clears (barely) - and most importantly, almost everything is off the floor. And now it was actually movable! So I took her home! Pro tip: Don't do this unless you are very very familiar with your local sidewalks and have a short trip. Many new and creative profanities later, she arrived safe and ready to go. Well, good enough - sharp-eyed folks will see that the "pedal" is just the servo controller C-clamped to the side rail of the K-leg. For now, it works. Eventually I'll figure out how to tack that controlled on the side of a real pedal, but that means longer wires and some bracketry, and I wanted it Done and Usable rather than staying a project forever: And lastly, yes, she sews! Even with a terribly dull needle, it went through 3/16" of leather like butter: Now for the downside: Very sharp eyes will see that there's a strange object tucked up where the two legs meet, two photos up… it's a counterweight. The reason this table won't be a permanent solution is that it's just a liiiitle bit unstable. If I put more than 30# of pressure on the cylinder arm, the machine wants to make friends with my lap. So, it's a bodge. It took about 4 hours and basically $0, let me put an industrial machine in my apartment, and lets me see what the ergonomics of a post stand are actually like so I can build a better one when I have the time. Maybe it'll provide some inspiration to other folks out there trying to do something similar. Best, -Zac
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- nakajima 380
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