Has anyone made their own sewing desk?
 

Yesterday my husband, father in law and I worked on altering a table desk to set in my sewing machine (Juki 2000) and I'm totally bummed.
The desk I used was this awesome old sturdy desk that I loved. It had a metal drawer in it. We decided to use the drawer to hold the machine. We got a cut out for the machine sized perfect. We drilled a hole through the desk to get the cords down. and the machine bounced/vibrated too much so we had to start over again...

We then added conduit under the drawer rails to add more support under the drawer... still vibrated too much...

We then took out the drawer and used the metal drawer rails and put in a piece of shelving. It still vibrated too much.

We then bolted the shelving to the conduit and it still vibrates and bounces too much.... then we gave up for the day. We'll have to try again another day.

After my father in law left (he lives a bit over an hour away) I had a thought... why not add a 2x2 length of wood in the area where the drawer goes on both sides and attach the shelving to that We could countersink a bolt going through the desk top, through the 2x2 then through the shelving. That would make it so the shelving part would be secured to the desk top not the metal rails that are there for the drawer. We can't easily remove the drawer rails. They are welded on so they're going to have to stay where they are... I wish I would have thought of that before my father in law left. I might have a working set in machine now :'( I don't know when he'll be able to come back.


My question is - has anyone altered a desk or table to set their machine in... and if so do you have much vibration? I'm beside myself. I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars to buy a cabinet - and I couldn't find any for sale that I liked more than this table style desk. I'm going to use it as is for now and just sew slower than I'd like to but it will be much more comfortable than having it sit on top of the desk. I have two of those awesome table desks and might need to get a third if we can't figure this out.... now that this one has a hole in it... it isn't exactly a usable surface for anything else so it will most likely have to get chucked :'(

My mom has used the cabinet from an old sewing machine for her new one ( just to sew, not to store) & you can get them for a few bucks. I think she had to cut some extra space for the plug ins.....but that was it. She puts another desk next to it in an L shape for cutting, pressing, whatever. Good luck!! I use a desk from a yard sale for my sewing desk. I like using old or up cycling too!

I bought a table top and separate legs from Ikea. Works fine. The table top measures 30x59. You can get smaller size tops if this is what you need. I have room for my cutting board on it as well.

I made my sewing table from two cabinets from Lowes; I think they were $39 each. Wood across top w/cut out for acrylic insert from Dreamworld, shelf below to support machine. On each side is a wood strip running the width of the cabinet so that it could be screwed into the particle board side of the cabinet - the back of the cabinet was too flimsy to hold it. So then the shelf is attached to those.

Maybe try some of that rubber shelf liner until you can work on your solution (which sounds like it should work). I think I've seen folks post that using that has helped. It's got a little bit of padding to it, that might absorb some of the vibration?

Probably just me, but I would add a "cripple" support under your shelf, just like they do in doors or windows to keep the shelf from coming down. It doesn't have to go all the way to the floor, but it would keep your shelf from breaking loose & dumping your machine if the nails or screws work their way loose or the board possibly breaks in the corners where it is screwed/nailed together. Some of the inside molding for where ceilings meet walls would work too.

Someone in the Juki 98 yahoo group suggested that I put shelf liner under it as well. I had to raise up the machine a bit anyway since it was about 1/4" too low.. it helped a lot.. so I put several layers under it and then realized that the back needed more than the front. I think the machine isn't quite level! That might be a part of it..

So then I looked around my room and saw the Janome under machine mat that I got when I bought my Janome years ago. That helped A LOT. It doesn't shake nearly as much as it did before.

I then took it out and put it on the desk that I used to sew on (we couldn't use that one because we felt the drawer wasn't as sturdy as the one we cut up. wow. Never noticed just how much my machine liked to jump before. There is a certain mid range speed that I sew at that makes it dance. That Janome mat might just be what I need to fix the issue at least to the point that I can actually use the machine.

I'm really happy - or at least much happier than I was when I went to bed last night.
I think the next time my father in law comes up we'll try a few more things. We still need to cut the plexiglass that I need to the left of the machine for accessing the bobbin. I might take my machine down to the glass cutter store and have them cut me a piece to form fit to the machine. That would be sweet :D

Here are pictures of what we have so far. The machine is a wee bit too high (about 1/8") over the desk top after adding the Janome mat but I'm okay with that.
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We still need to cut and add the plexiglass to the left of the machine. I think this will work. I might look for a floor mat that is a little lower than the Janome mat so that the machine would be completely flush with the desk top but for now I'm just happy that it isn't making me dizzy from the bouncing when running the machine.

My Husky 875Q vibrated alot in my Kangaroo sewing table, I put 2 or 3 layers of rug rubber pad beneath the machine, and the vibrations on minimal. Try that before you chuck the project.

I also did this, plus got the drawer module to hold my scissors, etc. love it and no vibration.