Shopsmith Forums

My wife wants to bring her machine to classes -I'd like to make her one and would love to use the collapsing handles like you have on some airline luggage. All I can find are imports that require 25 to 500 as a minimum order. Can someone direct me to a supplier? And I "assume" I'll use 3/8 plywood as the case material to hold down weight, but wonder if that can be dovetailed or jointed in some way rather than adding more wood to keep the weight down......

Thanks for any input....

jarhead wrote:My wife wants to bring her machine to classes -I'd like to make her one and would love to use the collapsing handles like you have on some airline luggage. All I can find are imports that require 25 to 500 as a minimum order. Can someone direct me to a supplier? And I "assume" I'll use 3/8 plywood as the case material to hold down weight, but wonder if that can be dovetailed or jointed in some way rather than adding more wood to keep the weight down......

Thanks for any input....

There are grocery carts that are collapsible that have this mechanism. Or perhaps get some luggage from the goodwill dirt cheap and repurpose that mechanism.

Not sure if it's really the style you want to be going with but this site might be of use to ya just for the list of suppliers http://fuzzcraft.com/flightcasediy.html it's all about how to build a flight case and lots of those suppliers have folding handles and lightweight construction techniques .. you mentioned using ply so I am thinking you're not going for something that looks like a mahogany steamer trunk or anything...?

Thanks guys - it's a 'tentative' build at this time - but needed to find out the options and where to get equipment. Probably doing searches with wrong buzz words.

If you want to make a case (or box) for the sewing machine, I'd use Baltic Birch plywood. Unlike other types of plywood, it doesn't have voids and it is quite stable. If you use dovetails or box joints at the corners, you can get a really strong case.

Cool, I'll check both the big box stores and Rockleer and see what they have. I'd like to make it in 3/8th as maximum thickness.......will let you know "if and when" she's built.

Thanks again.

My wife had the same desire. She drug me to a sewing machine store to look at existing cases. The result, we bought an old model cloth case with wheels and a handle for less money than I would have invested in materials to build one. Last year while checking out a second hand store we found a better solution for less than I paid for the first case. Jim

You might check Here. They would be lighter than wood.

You could make a box then use a folding dolly like this.

http://www.acehardware.com/product/inde ... 94.1260276

Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0ERcGiiefg

Thanks all of you guys - great suggestions. Just needed to "bat it around" and that's exactly what I needed.