The Rudersberg sewing machine airlift mechanisms are still readily
available despite many companies now showing them out of stock or discontinued.
Cabinet makers, and home hobbyist woodworkers building
sewing machine cabinets have abruptly discovered that traditional suppliers of
the popular Rudersberg German airlift mechanisms no longer have them available
either listing them as discontinued or indefinitely out of stock on their web
sites.
Only one known supplier Cottage Craft Works.com in the US
and one supplier Sylvia Design in Canada with a dealer network in the US are
still listing the lifts as available. https://www.sylviadesign.com
Cottage Craft Works also has a subsidiary micro website with
the lifts available https://www.woodworking-kits.com/
dedicated to the home hobbyist woodworking individuals.
Both companies took aggressive measures to find a German
distributor that would continue supplying them after the long-standing German distributor
announced they would cease doing so.
These popular tap-and-release pneumatic lifts have been the
standard in sewing cabinet for decades. They are the mechanical air cylinder assist
lift platform used to lift sewing machines up from the storage position to
sewing bed height or tabletop height in counsel style sewing cabinets.
The German distributor that was supplying them suddenly announced
in 2019 that they would discontinue the lifts by the end of the year leaving the sewing
cabinet builders worldwide scrambling for a new source to obtain a sewing machine
lift mechanisms.
Cottage Craft Works also sells custom Amish sewing cabinets
and continues to supply the sewing lifts. Sylvia design who also sells its own
brand of sewing cabinets with dealerships in the US also sells the lifts. The
standard Sylvia lift SYLV-AIRLIFT is rated for 30 lb. capacity while the
Cottage Craft Works SML1 lift is rated for 50 lbs.
Cottage Craft Works and Sylvia Design also
offer a heavy-duty extra-tall lift for the next generation taller embroidery machines.
These sewing machines like the Bernina
model 7 series machines require at least 15” clearance when down inside the
cabinets. Sylvia Designs model number is SYLV-5004-Lift and rates the lift for
55 lbs., while the Cottage Craft Works extra tall heavy-duty lift SML-2HD is rated
at 60 lbs.
Cottage Craft Works is known for supplying Amish made
products and well-made products that are also used in the Amish communities.
Solid wood handcrafted sewing cabinets are one of their specialty products.
The Amish communities were one group of sewing cabinet
builders that were devastated to hear this type of news as they are very
dependent on sewing machine cabinets to maintain their sustainable
lifestyle. Amish women make almost all the
clothing for their large families as well as other sewn home goods.
Amish cabinet builders have also become dependent on the
lifts to continue building sewing cabinet for other Amish as well as others
seeking Amish made furniture which by itself is big nationwide business.
Sylvia Design https://www.sylviadesign.com
makes a full line of laminate sewing cabinets, sewing room furniture, and
accessories. With a US nationwide dealer network.
