Heard of stretching machines?
 

I was just browsing ebay and read about this machine on sale which had been "stretched". It is a regular machine, but stretched to give a 18 inch throat.

Sounds interesing. Anyone done it before? It is not cheap though.

Not cheap but cheaper than a new machine. If you want one done, you need to decide, I understand the waiting lists are kind of long.

Bailey's are stretched Janomes and Rick at WOW started with stretching Singers and expanded to stretching Jukis and Brothers

I didn't know Baileys are stretched Janomes!

that's what i was told when i visited there

Goodness, what will they think of next?

I am wondering what gives? I mean when you stretch a machine, do you put additional strain on the drive shaft system? I am no mechanical enginner, just thinking aloud.

pimp my sewing machine!

hahahah!

aileen, with nothing useful to add.....

I love my stretched Singer 201. It's a WOW machine that I bought used for $800. A steal of a deal with a 12 foot table. Love it![ATTACH=CONFIG]373814[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]373816[/ATTACH]

I learned something today! I didn't know that!

How did you get such an amazing deal? I thought the stretching fee alone is $2000?

I was lucky enough to find a previously loved machine in a city about an hour away from me on Craigslist. She had a new computerized Gammil and had no room left for this one. In fact when I first saw it, she had it broken down to a 6' width because the room it was in was too small. I was pleasantly surprised to find she had the additional rails to make it the 12' it is now. It's not top of the line, it has no stitch regulator (but that's okay, because it's good to be able to regulate on your own, which I have learned to do), and not a lot of bells and whistles, but it does beautiful stitches and is a real powerhorse. I think if I spent several thousand dollars (ha, as if I had that, lol) and had a computerized machine, I'd almost be afraid to mess with it for fear I'd break something. This one is very forgiving of my practicing. Here's a pic of freehand writing just a few days after setting up the machine....
[ATTACH=CONFIG]373842[/ATTACH]

STRETCH ME!!!!!! I'd love to have just one of my machines stretched!!!! WOW! How cool would that be? :thumbup:

A no frills work horse. I'd love love to have that!

I'm afraid I have you beat. A friend gave me one after she upgraded. She said she couldn't wait to see what I did with it. Now I have to get a frame big enough for it, because it's not going to fit on my New Joy frame!

I have the Voyager 17 from Hinterberg, it is a stretched Singer. It's been great.

Hmmm... My dh is a mechanic and fantastic welder. Maybe I should find him a 201 to play with...

...runs about $2000 to have one stretched.

Please see the forum established for present and future Bailey owners. Go to the topic, Bailey Talk. Then look for the subtopic, Table Bailey, and look for posts by the forum's adminstrator, desertdebbie, starting with reply #4. The machine is not stretched and is made especially that way for quilting. Hope this helps. I purchased my Bailey Pro 17E and now that the learning curve is out of the way, I am really, really happy with it.

I tried to cut and paste the forum address and it is not working for me. Try bhqbaileyhomequilter.proboards.co. Registration is required.

There was lots of talk about stretched sewing machine. I didn't know so many had them.

heard-stretching-machines
 

The waiting period is much shorter these days. Rick hired his daughter (I think) and another guy to help up. The machine will run just as it did before stretched and all the attachments you had before will work again. The machine will weight no more than it did before also. I have a stretched Juki, PCQ/MQR (robotics) and Grace Pro frame for sale if anyone is interested. Can be reached at [email protected] if interested. Have ordered a new larger system and it will be here by the end of the month so need to find a new home for this system. Its a great system to start out with without going into debt. Will sell together or separately.

If you join the Home Quilting Systems yahoo group, there is a file in it called the Purple Monster or something along that line... it is instructions on how someone stretched their own machine.

WoW only stretched other people's machines... they no longer sell their wow. http://www.wowquilts.com/

Here is a stretch juki, not mine...I'm still using the original

So, I presume these techs take "your" sewing machine and by making a new housing for it make it into a longarm? So, at the cost doing this what does one save rather than buying a machine that was originally made into a longarm? Then you have your regular machine and a longarm????? I am really confused why someone would want to do this as opposed to buying one initially......

I thought you meant an inversion machine to stretch your neck and back! LOL!
I have a Bernina 750 and Singer Featherweight 221. Will have to check this out.

WOW! Learn something new every time I visit the QB! Amazing things....

I thought the machines were made that way---not stretched. Learn something new every day!

My take is that for some cases, the owner was using a mid-arm machine, but grew to feel the limitations of the smaller throat. Hence requiring the upgrade. At $2000, it is still cheaper than buying a new 18" long arm machine.
Just my take.. I have neither a mid arm nor long arm.

That is sew cool! Do they weld a longer neck and leave the rest as is?

Just amazing I didn't know about this either!

I am a Bailey sales rep. and let me make it perfectly clear that the Bailey machines are not stretched.
I did have a conversation with Mr. Bailey about this as he use to say they are stretched machines but only because he honestly didn't know what they do to stretch a machine. I asked if the Baileys were made with the 13, 15 and 17" harps or were they cut, stretched and welded to make them larger. He said they are NOT cut and stretched. I asked him to stop saying they are stretched. I hope you didn't get that message from him recently. :)

Desertdebbe

The price difference between a stretched machine and a non-stretched longarm was often the reason people did this. I'm not so sure that's the case now, the market is growing and we have so many more options and price points than we did a few years ago.

Some of them ARE made that way, and some are stretched. :thumbup:

Beware of having any machine stretched by WOW quilts at this time! He may have hired help, but the workmanship on this year stretches is awfully shoddy. I originally sent my Juki TL 98 QE to WOW to be stretched in January 2012. I
did not get it back until July and it has never run right since. When I first got it back, husband said it didn't sound as smooth as it did before I sent it out. Figured out that the needle bar was not high enough. Called Rick and did not get any help. Had hubby set it up according to the specs in the service manual. The tension was not right when it was returned either. Loosened the bobbin tension quite a bit and tightened the top tension. However, after only 3 quilts it began to skip stitches and the top thread was nesting on the back of the quilt. In trying to find the solution, my Grace Sure Stitch quit altogether which made me think that was the problem. Replaced it but didn't clear up the problem. Then the thread started breaking after 5-6 inches of quilting. Took it into the shop and it was out of timing. 3 quilts later, the thread started being pulled to the back and
looping. No skipped stitches, no breaking thread. So loosened the bobbin even more and tightened the tension as far as it could go. Didn't help. Back to the shop. This time the tech took the whole machine apart and found that the welds on the back of the motor had cracked and twisted up the inside of the machine throwing everything out of balance. The welds that cracked were to weld aluminum together which is very, very tricky to do and you need the right equipment. He said he tapped the weld and it felt and sounded like plastic which is not the way to make a secure weld. It was also extremely sloppy. He was also very critical of how the additional "shafts" were attached on the top and bottom to lengthen the machine - only by clamps which could twist (and mine did) or come completely off instead of welding the additional metal shaft to the existing one. He can't fix the machine and doesn't think it can be salvaged. I have an email into WOW and plan to call them Monday morning.

There are about a dozen folks on the Juki and Home Quilting message board that have experienced problems, too. The most simplest ones are the needle up/down button didn't work, but Rick at WOW requires the machine be sent back to him, at the owner's expense, to be fixed and he's had one lady's machine for three months!

Just my humble opinion.