Cheers, still a long way from getting everything finished but it's all usable. A really good friend of mine gave me the sewing unit a month before he unfortunately passed away. It was a no brainer to make it work on the house somehow. The treadle does work and the mechanism is free moving... I can feel a Wallace and gromit-esc modification coming on!
Not a problem to remove all you need is a big hammer and an old blanket to catch the small chippings.