MrsWD's New, Mean, Mo-chine

[wdfifteen]

We got the MrsWD's new sewing machine (that got the U-Haul thread started) about 90% reassembled. Whew. Glad it went together without any hitches.
It's a 12 foot robotic quilting machine that is pretty cool to watch in action. I never thought I ever own an actual robot.
She was about the pull the trigger on a new one with a base price $18,000, which she optioned up to $38,000. While she was taking one more day to think about it, this one popped up on one of her quilting message boards. It has even more gadgets and do-dads on it than the one she was about to buy. The guy said he paid $43k for it, and was selling it for $24,000. We couldn't get down there to get it fast enough. It has under 2 million stitches on it, which is like 5,000 miles on a new car. It was better than a "good" deal.



Sewing head, X-axis actuator, auto tensioner.




Sewing head at the other end of the quilt frame.



Sewing head, with the sewing head micro-controller and robot programmer computer.

[LWJ]

Holy Cheese!!!

Can you show what the output of such a gizmo looks like? This is impressive.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

WOW! Really want to see a video of that in action!

Are you taking orders?

[mgatepi]

There are "quilting message boards"???

And holy smoke we need a video of this running!!

[herr_oberst]

I see bulk thread discounts in someone's future.

Seriously, my mom was a quilter and she wore out a lot of expensive sewing machines, spending hours behind the wheel of a Bernina or a Pfaff or a Husqvarna, all table machines. She would have loved that.

That's really something.

[DonDavis]

Holy Bobbins Batman!

That system is no joke. Looking forward to seeing it in action.

And you need to give it a voice, too.

[stevej37]

Why the 12 ft length?
Isn't the largest quilt only 7-8 ft in length? Or does it have to be that long to do a seven foot quilt?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Holy crap! I didn’t know such a thing existed.

[Scott Douglas]

You're going to make my wife envious. THAT is a serious quilting machine you have there. Ours was one of the first adaptations of a Pfaff Grand Quilter machine to a frame. My wife has been wanting a long arm machine for a long time.

Can you show us some of her quilts?

[Scott Douglas]

I can see where your machine solves a lot of the problems our frame has. The main one being the tubes that hold the quilt layers. Those won't flex like ours do which causes problems with the layers not going together correctly.

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by stevej37

Why the 12 ft length?
Isn't the largest quilt only 7-8 ft in length? Or does it have to be that long to do a seven foot quilt?

Not only the length but the width too. Quilts are built oversize then cut down to finish sizes so you need extra for that.

[GH85Carrera]

Many quilts are designed to cover a bed, and drape to the floor and act as a bedspread.

We have a quilt on our queen size bed that we use as our bedspread. My MIL made it. It is huge as it goes to the floor on three sides, and has the pillows rolled up in it at the head of the bed.

[Ziggythecat]

So much for the old fashioned quilting bee, and the old Amish woman

Sweet machinery

[wdfifteen]

Here you go Scott. She has sold some of her bigger art quilts. They go for big bucks. Her friend just sold a smallish one for $5000.











This is the back of an antique wheel chair that she restored.



This one is a labor of love. The cloth is all one-piece, all one color. She is hand quilting it, so no machine. Tens of thousands of little stitches.

[DonDavis]

Those are truly beautiful. Such detail. Most impressive.

[tabs]

Since she has the capability to do rather detailed graphics she should start doing historical scenes...like Egyptian hieroglyphics, Greek pottery designs, Indian or cave hieroglyphics, Chinese historical scenes, the signing of the Declaration of Indie......Audubon prints...etc

I think a quilt of the signing of the Declaration could go for big bux to the right collector..somebody might pop 10 to 20 on something as unique and historical.

[look 171]

You guys are such chauvinistic men. Can we see the end product already instead of talking about the inner working of a dumb machine? You pigs and what make you think this is for wives only?

OK, dangit, show us how it works, I am interested too. Who the hell cares about the quilts.

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by wdfifteen

Here you go Scott. She has sold some of her bigger art quilts. They go for big bucks. Her friend just sold a smallish one for $5000.











This is the back of an antique wheel chair that she restored.



This one is a labor of love. The cloth is all one-piece, all one color. She is hand quilting it, so no machine. Tens of thousands of little stitches.

Thanks Patrick.
I wish I could get my wife to sell some of hers. Maybe offset the cost of her machines some.

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by look 171

You guys are such chauvinistic men. Can we see the end product already instead of talking about the inner working of a dumb machine? You pigs and what make you think this is for wives only?

OK, dangit, show us how it works, I am interested too. Who the hell cares about the quilts.

Stepper motors are the key.
There's a big one on the end of his frame that runs what appears to be two belts that provide the 'X' axis motion to the sewing machine head. The 'Y' motion is controlled by a smaller motor located at the back of the cradle and runs the same kind of 'belts'.
All the motion is controlled by the computer which also controls how fast the machine head stitches.
Just imagine a CNC machine moving over fabric instead of metal. Same idea only it isn't 'cutting' anything.
First time I saw an embroidery machine run I had to buy it it was so cool to see working. Just think of this 'frame' only on a size that fits in table top machine.

[mgatepi]

WOW
Very impressive workmanship! Machine or no machine...amazing.
WE NEED TO SEE IT RUN!
NEED!!!!!