Nicer thread stand?

[DonInReno]

Sitting in front of a well built machine, cutting super nice materials with scissors that rival the quality of 99% of the best finish carpentry tools, one thing always seemed out of place - that dang stamped out thread stand that seemed like it came out of a Walmart box.  

I searched for a few hours online before giving up and starting to gather parts.  Most thread stand projects are more "build a thread stand for less than $1" and less focused on something good looking and solid.

Some 1/2" plexiglas from a buffet sneeze guard, two 1/4" diameter hinge pins, 1/4" steel rod, some shaft collars, a couple of 1/4" shackles, a 5/8" steel rod, an arm off a commercial door closer and a polished aluminum water pump pulley cover from the clearance bin at a hotrod supply shop. Lol

This is the first version - it's solid, but there are stop collars with much better looks and I'd probably use roll pins in place of the 1/4" collars next time. The arm could be brazed to a collar eliminating the second one.  I heated the sides of the plexiglass too much and that caused the bubbles - I should have polished the plexiglass more and the edges would be nearly clear.  

Anyone have a thread stand project they want to share?

Edited February 4, 2018 by DonInReno

[Northmount]

Pretty fancy!  Nice job.

Tom

[dikman]

Pretty classy with that nice polished steel (would look a bit out of place next to my machines ). I find the bog-standard ones more than adequate for my needs, but maybe one day.....

[bikermutt07]

No shmancy is too fancy.

[DonInReno]

Lol - thanks guys - I was looking at a machined and ground shaft and thought that looked cool so I spun these rods with some fine sandpaper. 

[alpha2]

Wait until Mjolnir sees this! He could go to town with one of these.

[DonInReno]

....and the acrylic matched the bobbin winder.....and here's the shaft on a rough speed reducer mockup 

[ndnchf]

I built this one a couple weeks ago for a Singer 31-15 I refurbished.  I had the base and spool platform.  I made the rest from a rain gauge I found at Hobby Lobby.  It works just fine.

Edited February 5, 2018 by ndnchf

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

Nice!

[dikman]

ndnchf, perhaps you could call that "flight of fancy"? Suits the machine quite well.

[ndnchf]

Thanks. I was fortunate to spot the rain gauge while wandering around Hobby Lobby with my wife. It came with two hummingbirds, but I only used one. It adds a little whimsey to it :-)

[Rustic]

This is pretty cool...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/JUKI-1541-INDUSTRIAL-SEWING-MACHINE-REMOTE-THREAD-HOLDER/352264659115?hash=item52049c20ab:g:JXwAAOSwNDJaak0y

[dikman]

That's an interesting idea, although not much use to me as my meagre supply of thread is moved between different machines.