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

[Uwe]

Good point carlosbruno, the wheels don't lock as they are. On a smooth tiled or linoleum floor the table would move quite easily. A carpet keeps it in place better, but not as solid as fixed legs or locking wheels. I may go with a hybrid solution, having wheels on just the heavier side, and regular feet on the other. I can still move the table around by myself easily by lifting just one side a little bit. This hybrid approach has the added benefit of allowing quick leveling of the desk on uneven surface like my slate tile floor.

[stelmackr]

Didn't really build a sewing table, but modified it a lot after and accident with the original table. A friend of mine suggested I put the FERDCO Pro-2000 Saga at the leatherworker.net, so I did. Here is the story.

Bob Stelmack

[Uwe]

I was working on the flatbed sewing table attachment for my Adler 205-370 today and thought I'd share a few pictures from that project. None of the commercially available table attachments appealed to me so I decided to make my own, spending more effort and money than I probably should. It's all aluminum, made from two sandwiched aluminum plates that mount to the cylinder arm using existing threaded holes intended for attachments. The support plate is 5/8" thick. I made a CNC pattern and cut the plates using a WaterJet machine at my local TechShop. The project is not quite finished yet but I like where it's heading.

[Constabulary]

For sure a nice work and It´s great when you have such opportunities. I guess you will put a clear coating on the surface, right? Anyway - for me it has a bit too technical look I personally prefer wood. But it still a nice work!

[Uwe]

Thanks Constabulary! I do plan to paint it, either white or a hammered gray to match the machine. The brushed aluminum surface is actually too shiny and scratches quite easily. The next version will have a plywood support plate and a painted or anodized metal top surface.

[Uwe]

Just an update on my flatbed table attachment for my Adler 205. I sanded the whole thing down to make smooth, rounded edges and painted it white. It installs in under a minute and is remarkably solid when attached to the cylinder arm by two countersunk screws, earning it a perfect score on my UCI scale (Uwe's confidence indicator)

[thesergeant]

Copper legged table is finished! I ended up adding a cross brace to the back and it added quite a bit of stability, thank you for the suggestions to do that! I'm probably going to drill and rivet some of the joints/tubes in place for some additional security as well.

The top of the table is going to be walnut so I made a matching walnut foot pedal that is removable.

I'm still thinking about the best method to attach the table top. I'll update the thread when I figure it out.

The legs feel plenty strong with no real noticeable flex or give but they just don't have the heft of the steel legged table that I made previously. I picked up an o/a welding setup last week and am planning on make matching steel/walnut tables for the rest of our machines. This one is probably going to be the only copper legged setup and will be for a lighter duty machine, maybe our Bernina 950 or possibly our Bernina 217.

[Uwe]

Nice work on the copper table frame, Mr. Sergeant! I like the walnut pedal, too - it looks very classy.

[thesergeant]

I just finished up some new table builds so I thought I'd share. Funny to see how far things have come since I first posted the thread wanting to use IKEA table tops. Thanks for all the inspiration, advice and motivation guys!

Here are a couple shots of the completed copper legged table for my Pfaff 130. It's a 'light duty' table suitable for only machines of this size (~50#) with a light servo motor.





With the scrap left over from cutting down the table top from 25" to 20" I was able to veneer the table for my Singer 114W103. I took the 5" wide piece and resawed it down on my bandsaw. Extremely happy with the results on this one:

BEFORE:


AFTER:



Also, welded up some new legs for the bartacker and made a walnut top for that as well. I forgot to take 'after' photos but here it is before I welded feet on the bottom of the legs and then bolted on casters. I made it tall enough so the machine is used while standing. The foot is mounted to a block of walnut with rubber feet that you pull out from under the machine when you want to use it. The legs are pretty long so I'm considering adding a brace across the bottom for more stability.



And finally, a vintage sewing machine display. Kee Klamp Industrial fittings, welded brackets and handmade box jointed walnut display boxes with 'matching' bookshelf:

Edited November 11, 2015 by thesergeant

[cjsamples]

I've been meaning to post pictures of my latest sewing table project to contribute to this nice collection of table ideas. I finally got around to making a CNC template for carving out a tabletop for my Consew 225. The legs came from a local University surplus store for $20 (same legs as a previous poster, haha). The wood is marine plywood and ran $45 for this project. The ShopBot CNC router machine is at my local TechShop playground for adults. The two plywood plates are glued, then screwed together, for a total thickness of 1.4 inches - just the right amount of overkill.

uwe-sew-table-1.jpguwe-sew-table-2.jpguwe-sew-table-3.jpguwe-sew-table-4.jpguwe-sew-table-5.jpguwe-sew-table-6.jpguwe-sew-table-7.jpguwe-sew-table-8.jpguwe-sew-table-9.jpg

Would you mind sharing the cnc files? I have a router and would like to make a bigger table myself. Why reinvent the wheel if someone has already done it. You have done some nice work on your machines.

Thanks, Chris.