themadpatter

OK, now we have to talk about machines that could go in here. I could put in the Necchi Lydia 3. I'm a bit hesitant, because it only has one threaded hole that will take a bolt. So it will be hanging there by one and only one little bolt, screwed into a plastic plate. And its a free arm, so there's gonna have to be some woodworking done, by the Reluctant Engineer (Motto: Why can't you do this in some easier way that does not involve me in your craziness??)

Or, I can see if the White zig zag will go in there. Or the 15 clone. Leaning toward the White.

I'm glad that some of you are living vicariously through this project. It's nice to have your invisible friends with you when overcoming obstacles, right?

I went to the Home Depot to try to get a stain that would match the cabinet. As everyone who has ever hoped to only have to refinish part of a piece of furniture knows, this is nearly impossible. Not completely, though. There is a place that sells upscale woodworking supplies where you can buy spray tints and stains. You can then use more than one color to get a perfect match. I saw it on a buy's blog. He does repairs on antique furniture. His discussion of it is really rather fascinating, and you can read it here, if you wish. https://millcrek.wordpress.com/2012/...an-techniques/
I really love that the name of his blog appears to be a typo of the name of his business. Gotta love the net, huh?

WIChix

Ha! I have one, too!

maudeflanagan

Got it. I've only seen the 301A table with the cradle once and this one reminds me of it. Good to know!

Macybaby

This is made for machines that have a base - one that can sit fine without being in a cabinet. Usually there are brackets that hook into the holes and then clamp the machine in place. Most often they are used with open arm machines (made at a time when that was pretty much the way all were made), and clamp over the base under the open arm. This cabinet is like that - for this machine. The machine had a hole in the back side that the bracket fit into, and then had a wing nut underneath to tighten it down.



The front wood insert lifted out, and the back wood flipped up. There was a plastic table that then fit into the opening to make it a "flat bed" machine, but I did not get that part with the machine.

A picture of the underside - did not find any pictures with the machine installed.

miriam

Maybe a freearm Bernina or some such

themadpatter

Macybaby, I was wondering if there were hooks with wing nuts involved, but I'm not sure why. I ended up putting the Necchi Lydia in, and its doing fine. I used another bolt I had that has a 1/2" flat top instead of a hex thingy or whatever, and drilled a hole in the plastic bottom of it or possibly didn't, I can't remember now. I did drill more holes in the wood shelf of the cabinet where the machines attach. The engineer and I had a nice chuckle at that- holes, holes everywhere, except where they'd work with my machine. Of course, lol. Thanks for your help with my project, Mr. Murphy- don't you have someone else you'd like to bother for a while???

themadpatter

Note to all: I couldn't figure out why the Lydia would make strange vibrating npoises and sometimes get a weird shimmy when I really stepped on the gas. I finally figured out its because that piece its attached to is kind of loose in there, and it vibrates. I may not especially like this cabinet, or I'm going to make some shims to wedge in there to tighten it up.