Build an expansion table for your sewing machine!

I have a nice piece of collage fiber art near completion and I really need a large flat surface to achieve my first attempts at free motion quilting and embroidery on this piece. I began searching for an expansion table for my Pfaff sewing machine online. A 24 x 24 inch table would run me anywhere between 109.00and 200.00 dollars plus shipping. I figured there had to be a better, less expensive  way.

I measured my machine and made up a schematic for a 24 x 18 just to see what the price would be. If it wasn't too bad I would go for the 24 x 24 that I really wanted. I put my mask on and zipped to the big city where our glass guy would surely make me something similar for less money. I knew he worked in plexiglass. I crossed my fingers, made my way through a lot of contractor types and he came out to talk to me. He was very nice. He explained that he couldn't use an acrylic because it was too brittle and would crack when he did the cutting and drilling. He would have to use a "polycarbonate" and said a 1/4inch would be plenty thick enough. I showed him where the red dots you see above would be holes drilled for legs that my husband would attach  and that all that needed to be cut was that indentation on the right and some rounded corners. He handed the schematic to his quote person, politely said goodbye and I waited for my quote. $120.00!!! Well, no savings there! I took my blueprint and headed home. 

Hubs and I had done a lot of cutting and sawing and minor home improvements together over the past year and were feeling pretty confident that we could make something  that would work. I told him it had to be, more than anything, really smooth all over and I explained why. He said no problem and he could sink the screws. Hmmmm.....A big discussion ensued and we decided the two of us together would build this thing. We had no idea how but we would. This is how we've attacked many home projects that have  come out successfully, blind as bats and ready to fly. 

The next morning we headed out to Lowe's. Our grand bill was $36.25. but could we pull it off? We did. It's not the polycarbonate see through wonder that could probably also serve as a Kevlar shield in a police raid but it is s m o o o o o o t h and fairly attractive. You be the judge but I think it will work fine and it looks pretty nice as well. Here is how we did it.

Supplies:

We had no idea what we would use to make our table. We wanted to keep the cutting to a minimum and we were searching for smooth. We talked about buffing the surface with wax as many DIY vloggers did or just painting or staining the table. We walked all over the store looking at all sorts of  options we had previously discussed. Then I saw this beauty. They had 24 inch squares of cut plywood with wood veneer on top. This one is a white birch veneer, smooth, tight grain and very pretty. It is all sanded, cut and ready to be made into cabinets. 

I also grabbed a couple of wooden yard sticks for my edge trim. Worked out great.

You can get a better idea of the smooth grain here. They had other wood grain choices as well. The rulers will be my edge treatment to cover the plywood edges which were kind of rough. I will sand them down. 

Here are other things we bought but we did not use them all. More on that later. We found these clear corner bumpers on the far left  that come with sticky paper to glue them to the corners of the board. I am not sure I am going to use them. They have a rubbery feel that may cause things to actually catch.  I have gotten the corners quite smooth with sanding so will hold those out until I actually use the board and see how the corners work out while FMQing. Next in the middle are those little Scotch pads for under the legs of the table. We didn't know if we'd need those but we did. They brought the table up to perfect level once they were installed under the feet of the table. Also in the center were the flat head screws for the legs.  Hubs says he will sink those in and they will flat to the table top. On the right are adjustable furniture glides. You screw them into the legs and then turn them to adjust the height, as they do on appliances. We ended up not using them because the pads were perfect but I can see where these levelers would be great to achieve the  perfect height all around. They will go back to the store. 

The glue I used for my screw covers and rulers is E6ooo. I learned about this amazing glue when I started jewelry making. It can glue the moon to the earth. The stuff is awesome and I highly recommend. Because I was using a wood surface and did some research, other DIYers suggested a finish of a couple layers of paste wax. I experimented on the cutout scrap and it came out beautifully. 

Other things we used :

Painter's tape 
220 sand paper
Pieces of oaktag/manila folder
Clamps
Jigsaw
Table saw
1 1/2 inch dowel, 48 inch is plenty, for legs
Kam snaps and they were brilliant!
Extra large thumb tacks if you don't have Kam snaps
Acrylic paint for touch ups on edges. I used a blend of Vintage white and a pale beige.

 Veneer edge banding. At Lowe's this is hanging right next to the 24x24 boards.
     The veneer banding cost 6.48 so that took our total expenses up to 42.73, still   
     great. There was plenty left over after using as you can see. 

A brayer or smooth roller. 
Parchment paper
Weights with flat bottoms to weigh down the banding
Scissors

Construction:

 

* Our first step was to mark the cut out for my machine with masking tape or painters tape and then draw the actual line to be cut on top of the tape. This helps keep the wood from splintering. Make sure you make your cut out WITH THE GRAIN. This is a thin veneer of birch on top of the plywood and it will splinter. The board was clamped to my work table in my studio so it would be stable while he cut. That was the only cutting of the board involved. The tape is removed and you will probably have some rough edges. We will get to those later. 

* Next, cut your rulers to fit across the front and side edges. You could run them all around but they won't really show so I didn't bother. I did just the front and left side. Glue and clamp your rulers to the front and left side of the board with your clamps  and the E6000 glue and leave overnight to dry. 

* Next day undo your clamps and with your sand paper carefully sand the top of the rulers removing any excess glue and smoothing the edges a tiny bit. It doesn't take much sanding. Be careful not to sand the birch board. You could tape off next to the ruler so you don't sand the board. Sand all the ply wood edges until they are smooth concentrating on the corners. You can end up with a pretty smooth board. 

* Around the cut out you will see you have some splinters. Sand lightly AWAY from the board only. Sanding toward the board will lift the splinters and make them worse. 

*  You have a couple of options now for dealing with the splinters on the cut out. One is to get a little saucer and mix a bit of white and beige paint , go lighter than you think, and with a tiny paint brush, fill in those splinters. With your finger, wipe the paint lightly off the board away from the board. It will leave just enough paint to cover up the underlayer and match better. It's not half bad. 

The next option is the banding and it really was easy to apply. The banding cuts perfectly with a pair of scissors. I have scissors in my sewing room that are just for cutting junk and they worked great on the banding. I cut the strips longer than I needed. Have some weights with smooth bottoms handy. Heat your iron up to a cotton setting and get all of the water out. No Steam! You will need a brayer or smooth roller of some type. These directions are for the mitered cutout.

* Cut the longer side strips about 3 inches longer than needed. Do the same for the center top strip of banding. 

* Overlap one side strip with the left side of the top band on top,  just like you would for sewing bias strips. Mark the top band diagonally.  Cut the left side of the top band on this line with your scissors. See the picture above.

 

* Lay that diagonally cut top strip on top of the left side band strip and mark that corner. This will give you the line for diagonally cutting the left side of the top band. The corners will be mitered and should match nicely. The band cuts very easily. Do the same with the right side of the top band. You don't have to do mitered corners but it is a nice touch. 

* With all the bands cut, iron your top band  in place first. Place it exactly where you want it on the top part of your cut out. Test the side pieces to make sure it all lines up right then remove them. Put the parchment on top of your top band and place the oaktag next to the band. Top the band with the parchment.  Iron with the hot iron. All of these directions are on the package the veneer banding came in.  Right after your top band is ironed on, roll the brayer on it back and forth to give it a tight press and then put some weight on top. Go to your sides now. Use this same process. Place, iron, roll, weight.

* Iron on your side bands starting at the top. Use weights as needed to keep everything in place. Once the bands are ironed on they don't slip around and are stuck. You can then cut the bottom edges of the band off with the scissors and then give them a light sanding on the edge, away from the board only, just right on the edge. Doesn't it look fabulous? Great product. I'd let this all dry with some weight on it overnight before proceeding further. I then glued more banding on my left side. You can put more banding wherever you want. Awesome product!

Time for the legs! This is where marital contention  set in.

This table has to sit perfectly level with your machine bed or it will drive you insane and totally defeat it purpose of allowing you to smoothly move your fabric under the needle in any direction. We figured we had a bit of fudge factor with the leveling legs or the pads on the bottom of the legs. The pads worked out beautifully and their rubbery surface also kept the table from moving at all. They upped the table to the perfect height. The table also has to be perfectly smooth to function as it should. 

* Determine within a quarter inch or so the length leg you need. In other words, cut a quarter inch short of the exact length you need for the perfect height. Cut your dowel pieces to that length. We discovered that we only needed 4 legs and in each corner but set back about 3 inches in from the corners, that is except for the leg that went on the narrow piece of the board on the right front. That got set in the middle of that section about and inch and a half in from the end. This table, being plywood, is quite heavy and doesn't move at all.

* Put a bit of painter's tape down where the screws will go for the legs on the top of the board. Drill your holes for the legs through the board. Remove the tape.

* Drill holes in your dowels for the depth of the screws. They are Phillips head screws. My husband remarked that the dowels were very hard to cut and drill through but we got it done. 

*

*  Not a good picture but attach your legs to your table. This is where divorce papers were nearly filed. My idea of smooth and my husbands idea surely differed by micrometers but they differed. Finally I just let him "screw" (absolutely no pun ever ever intended) and I achieved a perfect surface over the screws in a different manner.  Marriage saved, smiling partners resurfacing once again.

* Check the table now against your machine. More than likely it is and should be a bit short of perfect. This is where we tried the rubber pads and they brought everything to perfect height as well as kept the table from shifting. Use what works for you. 

But what about those Kam Snaps, you say? Here you can see the screw in the board and it's bit of raised edge. The Kam snap provides a bit of a very smooth dome but it is a flat sort of dome and not very high. Underneath is the "male" part. If I put it in the screw it was too high. I cut it off about half way and it sunk into the hole perfectly. It had enough length left to sink in the screw and grab onto the glue. Perfect solution, Marriage saved!  Just put a blob of E6000 in the screw, press on the Kam snap after snipping the tail down half way  and let dry overnight. Next day, solid as a rock and totally smooth and low.  It occurred to me today you could also use one of those fancy big thumb tacks they sell in Staples or the book store. You'll need some good wire cutters for those. So there are options for smooth, low profile covers for the screws. Wear some glasses or goggles when you cut these as those little tips fly. Be careful.

Now it's getting pretty! Back to that wax! You can use Carnuba, Varathane "Finishing Wax", Butcher's Wax. They will all work great and are probably the same thing anyway. Two coats are suggested. It really comes out beautifully. Rub on a good coat of the wax to your table with a clean soft cloth, no lint and leave to dry at least 20 minutes. I left mine overnight at first because I had other things to do. It's OK to walk away. Go back and with a soft cloth buff the heck out of it. It really didn't take much. Now do this again, one more time. Buff, buff, buff. Voila!

All polished up and pretty! Here she is in her new home. 

Here you can see how level the table is to the machine.  Perfectly even. 

This has been a really fun project. Would love to hear your comments or if you have any questions. I have been making a blouse on it for most of yesterday and it has felt totally comfortable to work at. I assume that is because I am actually still working at the same level I always am which causes me no pain as it is. For some reason I thought I might need to raise my chair but I didn't. If you build one of these let me know how it turns out. Happy sewing!..................Bunny