Gynecology table repair

I didn’t break this one.  Ok, I just felt like I’d open with that, I don’t get to say that too often.  This also differs from my normal electronics hacking, but I really have this motto: “if someone else can do it, I certainly must be able to” and an addendum: “if no one else can do it, it’s only because they aren’t as good at it as me”.  That’s mostly sarcastic, but it is a bit more honest than “if at first you don’t succeed…”.

This time I’m repairing a gynecology table.  I’ll let that sink in for a minute.  Ok?  Good, let’s move on to the story.  This table was purchased by a very good friend’s uncle for use at his tattoo parlor.  I believe the intended use was/is as a piercing table, and that there was a story that went along with this table that sorta motivated us to get it fixed.  As you can see, this is a vintage table, so repairing it was even more interesting and important.  The problem with it was that when it was moved someone decided to lift it by the tilting part that you see on the right and broke some welds.  I think the original construction method was a series of holes in one sheet of metal, and pegs sticking out of the other so welds could be made along the center of the hinge rather than the edge.

Onto the fix! The easy way to fix this was to drill out the pegs and replace them with nuts and bolts.  Luckily the hinge was bolted onto the seat so all we had to do was unbolt that to take it somewhere else to work on it.  A quick run to Home Depot got us the right parts (and locktite of course), but where could we get a drill? Oh, there’s a metal shop in the basement of a tattoo parlor.  Yup.  Drill press and all.  That was easy.  Some lubricating oil later we had cleanly drilled holes, brought it back and installed it, very easy.

I don’t know what model this was since I’m bad at pictures, but I know that of the things it came with it’s latest patent date is 1943.  So, this has been a tutorial on how to repair a broken post-1943 Hamilton brand gynecology table.  This was the way I spent my last day visiting in Seattle, and it was probably the best way I can think to have spent it.  Full set of pictures here.