The Sewing Place

(Possibly) looking for an industrial table...

Madame Cholet

(Possibly) looking for an industrial table...
« on: February 21, 2018, 18:32:46 PM »
Hmmm... the Bernina 840 flatbed that I bought last year for a fiver and resurrected has had my bodged-on feeble domestic motor removed now because I wickedly attempted to make it stitch through umpteen layers of bag components. Which unsurprisingly it couldn't quite manage.

So I remembered the DC motors made by a chap in Cornwall that I had seen for sale in his ebay shop some time ago. Although the size of a domestic sewing machine motor, being DC they provide high torque on starting. Not enough to sew thick veg tanned leather but powerful enough to cope with multiple bag component layers and shoe uppers. I first contacted him a month ago and he has been back in touch and there have been emails exchanged with photos etc but things are happening really slooooowly and I still don't have one of his motors, there's none in his ebay shop, I don't know when I can expect to get one, and tbh I'm getting impatient now and my mind has wandered off on a tangent that goes something like this...

... OK I hadn't really got space for an industrial table... but then again I have just had a jolly good clear out of the spare room and put up oodles of shelves thus freeing up floor space... and if I slide the tumble drier into the corner and put those toolboxes into the cupboard.... then I could fit an industrial table in there...  :ninja: 

So I am wondering the following:
1. where would I start looking for an industrial table - just the table and motor - no machine?
2. what would I expect to pay? (second hand; cheap if possible)
3. the size of the cut out on the top - are they tailored to each machine or is there some kind of standard size?

The annoying thing is that I used to own a Brother industrial machine which was in excellent repair, not a scratch, and a lovely machine. Then when my life took yet another unexpected and 'interesting' turn and I had to sell the house I (part) owned several years back, I had to downsize considerably and was forced to let it go. I had to sell in a hurry and the local sewing machine shop gave me £50 for it (ouch) and the man made out like he was doing me some kind of favour because he said he would have to buy a new clutch motor before he would be able to sell it again. I don't know what truth there was in that but to this day every time I pass his shop I still grit my teeth  -<
(And relaaaax...  :))

So... the back of my mind is churning away and wondering if getting an industrial base is a practical idea. I'd put up with a clutch motor but the humming can be irritating but there'd always be the option of one day upgrading to a posh and (mostly) silent servo motor instead. I don't want to let DC motor man down but then again I've waited a month now and nothing has materialised. So... I'm just wondering about the possibility of what I had previously considered to be not possible!
 

Roger

Re: (Possibly) looking for an industrial table...
« Reply #1 on: February 21, 2018, 21:07:36 PM »
We got a work bench made by a local builder/carpenter out of a piece of work top to fit a particular space, you could probably do the same, and get a hole to fit the machine. Clutch motors go really cheaply on eBay, servo motors are about 100ish but I’m not confident about buying one and getting a 1/2 decent one.

Sounds like DC man has his mind else where...
A bit of a vintage sewing machine nut! Singers: 500a, 401g, 48k Elnas: lotus SP & grasshopper, Bernina 530-2 F+R 504, Pfaff 30, Cresta T-132

Madame Cholet

Re: (Possibly) looking for an industrial table...
« Reply #2 on: February 21, 2018, 21:19:36 PM »
We got a work bench made by a local builder/carpenter out of a piece of work top to fit a particular space, you could probably do the same, and get a hole to fit the machine. Clutch motors go really cheaply on eBay, servo motors are about 100ish but I’m not confident about buying one and getting a 1/2 decent one.

Sounds like DC man has his mind else where...

Hmmm... I have a big chunk of worktop, I have tools, and I could borrow a router so I could make one myself probably, but what about the footpedal? The industrials I've used in the past have all had a monstrously huge footplate pedal arrangement with a big long metal rod that connects them to the clutch motor. I wonder if you can buy them separately, or if there is a work-around.

I don't know anything about servo motors tbh but when I read they were silent my ears did prick up. Have you heard bad things about them?

DC motor man is a really nice bloke and I'm the one who contacted him about making up a motor and selling it to me when it turns out he's just taken on another business and he's really busy, and that's why there's none in his ebay shop actually for sale at the moment. I've tried not to bug him but I can't help but think there's other things he needs to be getting on with at the minute and I daresay if I rang him and said 'I'm sorry I don't want the motor anymore' he might not mind too much!

Edit to add: Roger you don't know what you have done, the little grey cells are activating, those little cogs are spinning now...  :ninja: ;)

Meanwhile I have just watched these 3 go for 200 quid; the Krishna machine is an Indian embroidery machine that does a satin stitch, the width of which is altered by twiddling the rotating handle beneath the bed. I've seen some remarkable videos on youtube of these things in action, and I thought of you when I saw it up for sale earlier re. your interest in salwar and belly dance costumes etc  :)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-industrial-machines-sewing-overlocking-and-embroidery-/222845513401?hash=item33e2a0aeb9%3Ag%3AB6kAAOSwm%7Edae1Mn&autorefresh=true&nma=true&si=87Oe%252BsO8XorYYuv%252BlqJGqjeurkA%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557
(sorry for uber looong linky haven't learned how to shrink it all down yet).
« Last Edit: February 22, 2018, 00:01:11 AM by Madame Cholet »

Roger

Re: (Possibly) looking for an industrial table...
« Reply #3 on: February 21, 2018, 22:26:44 PM »
Glad I was inspiring... you could look for a 95k they’re pretty unpopular so you could get a fridge cabinet pedal and motor and shuck the 95...

I hadn’t heard of a krishna... now I must do some research...

I feel there must be a way to handle the pedal... the 95ks is on a chain could you convert the movement to a knee lift?
A bit of a vintage sewing machine nut! Singers: 500a, 401g, 48k Elnas: lotus SP & grasshopper, Bernina 530-2 F+R 504, Pfaff 30, Cresta T-132

Madame Cholet

Re: (Possibly) looking for an industrial table...
« Reply #4 on: February 21, 2018, 22:41:23 PM »
I'm thinking aloud again...I've been using the 840 a lot of late and I absolutely love it. I especially like the way you can use a knee lever to lift the presser foot, and not only does that mean you have your hands free to manouvre your sewing but when the lever is pushed hard to the right the presser foot lifts up an extra few mm (higher than the lifting bar at the back raises it) which is really useful for thicker stuff.

What I do not like about it is having to tip it backwards to get my hand beneath it so as to swap out the bobbin case; although it has a sliding plate which you can move out of the way so you can see the bobbin and de-fluff etc, in reality you can't get the bobbin out that way. Swapping the bobbin is a real mega faff  :S

And when the machine head is tipped back it has a tendency to rock all the way backwards and tip up its wooden base too. I have to keep some rolled up fleece to hand to balance it on when I tip the machine head backwards. Which works well until you realise there is a cat asleep on said fleece, generating that aura of 'but I've always been here you can't move me' that cats do so well  :meow:

DC motor man sells workstations in his ebay shop, which consist of a large rectangle of ply on short stubby legs, the ply having been cut and routed so a specific flatbed can sit tidily in it. This morning I was wondering about possibly making myself one with my chunk of worktop, then I thought how I'd be having a large table-like space sitting on top of a table top, so why not go the whole hog and make a table/bench with a cut out to fit the 840??

Then you suggest making a bench along similar lines... but with a clutch motor plumbed in to boot!!  0_0

I've had a quck squiz on ebay and the pitman rods can be had for about a tenner, with new foot pedal plates around £25. I'm not fully convinced yet that it's do-able, but I'm having a jolly nice time thinking about it, you know, doing that making it in my mind thing  8)
« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 22:43:42 PM by Madame Cholet »

Madame Cholet

Re: (Possibly) looking for an industrial table...
« Reply #5 on: February 21, 2018, 22:54:50 PM »
Glad I was inspiring... you could look for a 95k they’re pretty unpopular so you could get a fridge cabinet pedal and motor and shuck the 95...

I hadn’t heard of a krishna... now I must do some research...

I feel there must be a way to handle the pedal... the 95ks is on a chain could you convert the movement to a knee lift?

I'm not sure this is a 95K as I'm not so good ID'ing vintage Singers and it's not on a fridge cabinet... but I spotted it on my ebay wanderings earlier and besides having had all that done to it, for some reason it has been dragged into a field for the photos!... (- insert facepalm emoji here...).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Upcycled-Industrial-sewing-machine-bench-table-Lamp-up-cycled/352232312125?hash=item5202ae8d3d:g:OFAAAOSwvu5Zx9gp
« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 22:57:07 PM by Madame Cholet »

Roger

Re: (Possibly) looking for an industrial table...
« Reply #6 on: February 21, 2018, 23:03:38 PM »
That does look like a 95k the pedal arrangements on it looks very feasible and more or less a seesaw on a piece of pipe... you could make a ‘moveable’ version of that...

A pitman might make the tensioning easier so the control is easier
« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 23:09:18 PM by Roger »
A bit of a vintage sewing machine nut! Singers: 500a, 401g, 48k Elnas: lotus SP & grasshopper, Bernina 530-2 F+R 504, Pfaff 30, Cresta T-132

Madame Cholet

Re: (Possibly) looking for an industrial table...
« Reply #7 on: February 21, 2018, 23:12:57 PM »
Pitman rod:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Pitman-Rod-for-Industrial-Sewing-Machine-connects-motor-to-pedal/281807934136?hash=item419d0fd2b8:g:hqwAAOSwVL1WAo9Y

Pedal assembly:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/INDUSTRIAL-SEWING-MACHINE-MOTOR-FOOT-ACTUATOR-PEDAL-STAND-ROD-NOT-INCLUDED/381670160671?hash=item58dd50791f:g:8ksAAOxyXHpSTY5d

You're right, there's no gubbins inside the pedal, it's just a hinged thing that pulls on the pitman rod. There's a second hand one on ebay that is just a square piece of wood with hinges and a chain:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-industrial-sewing-machine-foot-pedal-controller/253424662436?hash=item3b014977a4:g:0yUAAOSwyQtVxP88

I must admit when I worked sewing on industrial machines all day every day I had no interest in how they worked, these days though I'd probably get the sack for trying to take them apart to inspect the innards, lol.