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

[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

[thesergeant]

Well, I figured out the last piece of the puzzle (the footpedal) and thought I'd share with those that may be interested in doing the same thing.

The footpedal assembly is made using (2) U-bolts that are covered in a vinyl tubing of the same diameter. I drilled out the frame and installed the u-bolts as shown. The pedal is a standard foot pedal with ~3/4" holes. I cut a piece of 3/4" EMT conduit to act as the support the bar for the pedal. Then just slide the conduit through the u-bolts and the footpedal. The whole assembly removes super quickly but just loosening 4 of the crown nuts on the u-bolts.

To keep the pedal from moving side to size I bought a PVC nipple with an interior diameter of 3/4". I cut it in half and drilled and tapped a set screw in each of the pvc pieces. I installed them on the tube underneath the pedal and butted each piece up against the sides of the pedal. This locks the pedal in place but still allows it to operate smoothly.

[awharnessshop]

That looks amazing! I could post pictures of a few stands I made... But, they're not even close to that! Now I want one! Taking orders?? Ha!

[thesergeant]

awharness -- thank yoU! I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Post photos of your stands! It's great to see options and my table may not be an option for people without access to a welding setup.

I'm in the process of following "ElConquistador"'s method of building a table top use (2) peices of 3/4" plywood. I just finished gluing and screwing the two halves together. I drilled clearance holes in the bottom board every 9" or so, applied about 16oz to the top board, leveled it out with a putty knife and then screwed the bottom half on. It's drying now. I'll post photos of the completed top when it's finished.

[cdthayer]

OK, I know this isn't what the thread is talking about, but I just had to add my Industrial Sewing Cabinet "Slip N Slide" to the fracas for fun.

I set up my Slip N Slide when I re-sew dirty, nasty, old truck tarps or swimming pool covers out on my patio. Some thread runs are over 30 feet long, on an item up to 20 feet wide. I elevate the feed surface, and lower the sewn surface to help feed the item through the machine as a 1-man operation. Most of the time spent is re-folding instead of sewing. An old metal door on one end and a piece of roofing tin on the other....

It works.

CD in Oklahoma

[thesergeant]

Here are a few photos of "ElConquistador"'s method suggested earlier in the thread. The table feels very, very solid. I wish I wouldn't have refained from staining it though. I made the table from two scrap pieces of 3/4" "cabinet grade" plywood. Basically about $15 in wood.

[Jimbob]

I bought a solid industrial sewing top for 65 bucks...then 2 used H legs for $50.....couple of screws and 15 minutes of cutting a hole....did I do well??????

[Trox]

Nice color, but remember the best color is white. Or else you need allot of light.

[NeonKat]

Perhaps the copper pipe looks a bit on the light side. The black pipe appears to look much more substantial. I too, was looking for a new bench/table, although something ready made. Everything from Lowe's, Home Depot, Grainger was way too pricey for me. I found what I was looking for at Sam's Club, 25"x60" width and length, 1 3/4" solid hardwood top, steel powder coated legs and frame, this thing is built like a Mack truck, and could be easily converted to accept a variety of machines. Extremely solid throughout, heavy, adjustable, rubber footed casters on each leg [6 legs -two in the center] the best part.. $212 with tax. The worst part, that thing was a killer, trying to pull the carton into the building, definitely a two man job.

[hankthedog]

OK, I gotta chime in - let me start by saying Nice job on the table and legs !! I was hoping to see the black iron pipe version - visit a scrap yard, you may be surprised what you will find. A few years back I scored a 120 gallon compressor tank for scrap price.

Harbor Freight (admit it, you buy their stuff) has a workbench suitable for a machine- Being I have alot of MDF and plywood, I prefer 1-1/2" MDF with a plastic laminate top and T edging= I'm still using K legs, but mounted them to a heavy duty cart w/ 3" wheels at the same height as my other benches in the shop.

Lots of good stuff here !

[xtown]

You have inspired my to try to build my own sewing table to hold my Consew 206RB-2.

I found a Table to start from at a local university surplus property site for $20. I think it will look nice and hold up. The top is 1 1/8 that I will screw and glue another piece to the bottom for re-enforcement. The legs are 3/8 aluminum plate. I think I will go get 1-2 more for work surface. They also had some that were adjustable height and different legs but solid.

I don't have the skill I see on these pages, but I will slowly post some picts of my progress.

[mikesc]

Be careful that the top isn't the kind of thing that Trox was talking about further up ( particle board or fibre board with a laminate finish )..Office tables are only going to have to support a computer monitor or two an some other light stuff ( and not all in one place with a hole cut out of the table ) ..you might want to reinforce it if it is that type of board. your last image looks to have some sort of reinforcement running along the longest ( most potentially flexible ) direction ( maybe in case someone sat on it, or other things one gets up to at university with tables ) ..you'll be putting a lot of weight on the top, and some more hanging off the underside..and making a pretty big hole..right where the weight is going to be..

[xtown]

Thanks Mike. This was made to take the weight. Came from the Fabrication labs and easily supports 250lbs for prolonged use.

[thesergeant]

Goodluck! Let us know how it turns out.

Here's another shot of a table setup I made for an Adler 267 I setup for my mom. I routed out a cutout for her Singer 201 next to it. Both tables were made using birch plywood.

[suzelle]

Wow! Great ideas for building tables! These kinds of ideas swirl around in my head every day. Glad I am not the only crazy one!

[xtown]

I'm embarassed to put up some picks of my DIY table progect after seeing thesergeant's beautiful wood tops.

I'm happy with my outcome and the prices. The table and legs were $20 from the university surplus prop. The treadle, bobbin winder, thread tree and Servo motor totaled 195+ on Ebay. The link belt was $20 at HF. The 206RB-2 head was $275 but also included a Consew 226RB head and a table / motor setup I didn't like. I sold the Consew 226 and table for $400.

So the pictured Consew 206RB-2 was $160 after a trip to the shop for a cleaning and setup. Very happy man.

[Uwe]

LOVE that dark butcher block top and metal base you made! I'm contemplating using the ShopBot CNC router I have access to at my local TechShop to create the cutout in a new table top for my flatbed machine, a Consew 225. If it works out, I might make a few extra pretty table tops for the local Detroit market. It seems to me the cutout is fairly standardized for this class of machines. I'm also sure I'm not the first one to think of using a CNC router. The commercially available tops are clearly routed by CNC machines. Is anybody aware of available CAD files for CNC routing or do people re-invent the cutout wheel, so to speak, when they make their own table? I'd like to experiment making the CNC cutout with some cheap(er) plywood before I carve up my precious butcher block tops.

[SARK9]

Greg with Keystone Sewing has shared the manual for the Seiko STH-8BDL-3 in the past, and it has a fully dimensioned print for the table cutout included. I've not gotten around to writing the G-code for it, but someone probably has. You might ask if he would share the link for that manual again-

-DC

[thesergeant]

Oh man, I would love to have access to a CNC for my tops. It would make the process soooo much less labor intensive and the end result would be much more precise.

Not an industrial table but here's a preview of the "artisan table" from a Singer 1200-1 that I'm in the process of restoring. Repainted the legs white, applied waterslide decals to the legs and made a maple top. I still need to make the cutout for the machine but you get the idea.

[Uwe]

It turns out that Pfaff is one of the few manufacturers that include CAD drawing of the table top cutouts in their manuals, at least for the modern machines.

After some searching I had found dimensioned CAD drawings for the tabletop cutouts as part of Pfaff manuals, both for my Pfaff 335 and also Pfaff 1245. I took the screen shot of a section of the PDF drawing, imported it into Adobe Illustrator, scaled it to 1:1 life size and then printed it out on a 11x17 piece of paper to mark the cutouts for my testing work table. Worked out quite nicely. My Pfaff 335 test stand is quite ugly (with pretty details), but it's functional and the holes are in the right place. I'll post a picture once I figure out how to do that in this forum.

The Pfaff 1245 appears to be a standard flatbed design as far as tabletop cutout dimensions are concerned. The drawings use the euro style mount hinges. I'll probably use the 1245 drawing to create a CNC file for carving the cutout for my Consew 225 (and future upgrades). The PDF manual file for the Pfaff 1245 can be downloaded here:
http://www.pfaff-industrial.com/pfaff/downloads/technicaldoc/new/ba_1245_1246_05-12_e
just in case anybody else finds it useful. The dimensioned drawings for the tabletop cutouts are on page 19/20.

The tedious part will be to recreate the cutout design in CAD program to drive the CNC machine. I'll post the CAD file and CNC file if it all works out.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Uwe

[MuddyClearWaters]

This looks amazing.

Oh man, I would love to have access to a CNC for my tops. It would make the process soooo much less labor intensive and the end result would be much more precise.

Not an industrial table but here's a preview of the "artisan table" from a Singer 1200-1 that I'm in the process of restoring. Repainted the legs white, applied waterslide decals to the legs and made a maple top. I still need to make the cutout for the machine but you get the idea.