First ... go to a large show and try all of the sit-down machines you can get your hands on. I had tried several and I can say that each had a different feel to it, some I liked better than others. Your experience will be similar, but probably with different results. Try everything you expect you will ever do, including changing the bobbin ... some of the bobbins are tricky and difficult to get to, not a simple 'drop' bobbin!!
That said I had narrowed it down to three machines ... Sweet 16, APQS George, and the new Juki TL2200QVP. They were all very nice machines, each having one thing I liked over the others. The things I liked best about the Juki (compared to the others) were: vertical orientation (improved visibility (to me), the lighting is fantastic, longer harp space 18", and higher harp space (10"). It also has a thread cutter, but to be honest ... I don't use it.
In the end, my LQS is a Juki dealer and when the owner whispered an absolutely remarkable price in my ear ... I jumped.
To my knowledge all of the large harp sit-down quilting machines are only free-motion machines. There are no feed dogs.
Below is a picture of my set-up. Please excuse the newspaper ... I'm preparing to spray baste a small wall hanging. I happened to have this large spare table that I put to the left of my machine, and ideally .. the machine needs to be moved to the right (as well as the table) so that it's up against the wall for a right hand "barrier" to keep the quilt from falling off the table on the right hand side. I purchased the standard size table, I did not get any of the additional extensions (because I have this handy table!). But they are certainly available.
Some machines are oriented horizontally like a domestic machine, mine is oriented vertically. With a vertically oriented machine it's best to have a table, or a wall to both the left and right of the machine to prevent the quilt from falling. With the horizontal mounted machines you need to have a table or a wall to the left and the back of the machine. The size of table is dependent on the size you are comfortable working with - controlling - while quilting the largest size quilt you think you will quilt.[ATTACH=CONFIG]542156[/ATTACH]
Last edited by DogHouseMom; 02-07-2016 at 11:20 AM.