Has Anyone Built Their Own Industrial Sewing Tables? --Can You Critique My Idea?

[thesergeant]

Just wanted to thank everyone once more for their input. Thank you to all of those that steered me away from the IKEA 1" pine and encouraged me to go with a solid hardwood top, I'm really glad I listened to you all and went with it. I picked up my 25"x48"x1.5" maple top last week for $95 out of the door and got to work on it this weekend. Here are a few snap shots for those interested. I'm going to clean up the belt cutout today, route a soft rounded edge all the way around the top and polyurethane it this afternoon.

I'm still undecided about the legs but I might weld the old legs back together and use that for the time being. I'll post pics when finished.

Thanks again guys! Great community here.

Edited July 23, 2013 by thesergeant

[Samalan]

I have made hundreds of tables 1.1/8 thick lam top &btm with 1/16th lam you can use 3m spray 90 for glue , self edge wood T- mold this is very clean and strong just like Ferg said . IMHO.

[shtoink]

I'll post pics when finished.

I'm liking the way it all turned out. Really clean looking job with cutting out those tabs for supporting the machine while keeping it all flush with the table.

This may be a bit on the crazy side, but what about lining the interior surface of the cutout for the sewing machine with a wool felt to act as "dust seal", so to speak. It's help take up any bit of slack with the machines position in the hole and keep bits of stuff (fluff, thread, needles, and so on) from making their way into the groove between the table and the deck of the sewing machine. It would mean that you'd need to take care when dropping the machine in the hole so as to not knock the felt loose, but it does seem feasible and potentially a decent idea. It would give you the opportunity to felt the tabs for protection of the underside of the machine, too.

[Trox]

Just wanted to thank everyone once more for their input. Thank you to all of those that steered me away from the IKEA 1" pine and encouraged me to go with a solid hardwood top, I'm really glad I listened to you all and went with it. I picked up my 25"x48"x1.5" maple top last week for $95 out of the door and got to work on it this weekend. Here are a few snap shots for those interested. I'm going to clean up the belt cutout today, route a soft rounded edge all the way around the top and polyurethane it this afternoon.

I'm still undecided about the legs but I might weld the old legs back together and use that for the time being. I'll post pics when finished.

Thanks again guys! Great community here.

That more like it, very nice. Now you have an industrial quality table your machine deserves. Normally we use some rubber ears the machine bed rests on, to avoid vibrations and such. You can use some furniture knobs instead. A coat with green soap or paint will preserve and protect it.

Nice job

Tor

[thesergeant]

Thanks for the feedback guys I just finished taking the router to all the edges to put a smooth but subtle rounded edge on all the corners and cleaning up the belt cut out a little more. Going to give it a final sanding before I apply a couple coats of poly to it.

Schtoink-- I like your idea about lining the inside with felt to act as a "dust catcher". Very clever. I'll give it a shot with some grey felt and some spray adhesive and see how it works out.

Trox, Schtoink -- The original table had leather pads that the machine rested upon. I thought about reusing them but they were pretty thick (>1/4") and thought it was overkill. I'm going to use either some felt of some 1/8" closed cell foam on each of the tabs. I almost forgot about the hinges so I'm going to route those out real quick as well.

I took photos of everything at each step so that a first timer could follow along if they wanted to try it for themselves. I'll post a link to that album when I'm completely finished with the project.

[thesergeant]

[shtoink]

Shtoink-- I like your idea about lining the inside with felt to act as a "dust catcher". Very clever. I'll give it a shot with some grey felt and some spray adhesive and see how it works out.

I'm glad you like it. It was something that just popped into my head while reading your post and thinking about the process you used while typing up a reply.

Trox, Shtoink -- The original table had leather pads that the machine rested upon. I thought about reusing them but they were pretty thick (>1/4") and thought it was overkill. I'm going to use either some felt of some 1/8" closed cell foam on each of the tabs. I almost forgot about the hinges so I'm going to route those out real quick as well.

There are some other possibilities for padding/vibration damping. There's some grippy gel stuff that is typically used for keeping your cell phone, and similar items, from sliding about on your dashboard. They are cheap, relatively thin, easy to locate, and you can cut to shape as needed. The other benefit is that they shouldn't compress over time like a closed cell foam would. Besides, gels are extremely effective at damping out high-frequency vibrations. I'd check the local dollar stores or similar such places that sell that sort of thing. The stuff I am thinking of is about 1/8" thick and transparent, but may have some fancy colors added to it. Since it'll be buried under a sewing machine, being bright red or pink won't be much of a concern.

Another alternative is to maybe use something like that asphalt based weather seal. It comes in big rolls for cheap, has an aluminum backing on one side, adhesive on the other side, and cuts into the desires shapes and sizes easily. I've heard of car audio guys using this very product as a much cheaper alternative to DynaMat. Granted, the DynaMat is about 3 times thicker and slightly better and damping vibrations, but it's also about 30 times the price for the same square footage.The only concern that comes to mind is it making a mess in the long term with repeated heat/cold cycles. I could just be being overly cautious, too.

[thesergeant]

Well, I enjoyed making the last table so much that I decided to make another one, but this time with nicer wood and more robust legs. I ended up brass brazing 1 1/4" square steel tubing for the legs and getting a 1.5" black walnut 20"x48" top and routed it out for my Adler 167. Super excited about this one. The walnut looks spectacular in person.

I was hoping I could get a little input from you guys regarding the footpedal. I've been throwing some ideas around on how to install the foot pedal but I'm still undecided. I'd prefer a non-permanent solution. If you have any ideas please share.

Thanks guys!!

Edited September 8, 2013 by thesergeant

[shtoink]

Very impressive!

I love the results.

[Northmount]

Make a small platform that clips over the bottom cross braces at the height you want. Chances are a chain will work for your speed pedal. Then when not in use, move it up to the top braces. Using chains, you won't have to disconnect anything.

Tom