Threads 77

I was given a Viking Designer 1 emb.machine to use but don't have manual for it so just been using the floppy discs that were with it to do some designs. I really like making quilting blocks with the designs...can be very pretty. Anyway, I would like to have more designs but don't know how to go about downloading them onto a disc. I have a few designs on my computer and see that there are sites that even have free designs that would like to try. Do I need a certain program to get these designs onto a disc or know some magic of sorts I have heard of a dongle to work with but really have no idea what that is. Information would be so very helpful and really treasure all the help I could get. I am just a newbie to the embroidery world. Thanks for any help i can get. Mary M

SHELTIE'SMAMA

I watch ebay like a hawk for parts for my Iris that I bought second hand. I'm sure that I've seen these available there.

katesnanna

I have a Janome 10000 and love embroidery but can't advise you because Janome comes with it's own customiser program. Perhaps you could try the website if you don't have a LQS near you. I hope you will receive help from the ladies here.
BTW when you get it worked out you are in for a fun time.

ckcowl

you can pick up a separate disc drive (i'm not sure if that's what it's called- but if you go to a store like office max and tell them what you need they know what it is) i have one (and a designer one) it is a square-- with a usb cord that plugs into the computer- floppy's go into it & you load the designs onto the floppy-to use with your machine- even if you have a design program & a dongle- you still need to get the designs to a floppy- thats where the exterior drive comes in- just ask at the store of a devise to copy floppy's from the computer---or someone who knows all the correct computer lingo will chime in here & tell you what it's really called- i bought mine 8 years ago & just don't remember-
i just know i plug it into the computer- stick in a blank floppy- save designs to it- stick the floppy into the designer one & embroider the designs.

Dolphyngyrl

You would need a program and disk reader to write to disks, if really outdated might be hard to find parts or compatible media. Maybe some viking people here can help you out. Most machines now dont even use floppies

Threads 77

Thank you. I didn't explain fully my ordeal, obviously. I did buy the external floppy disc reader but it is the process of getting the designs from the computer or from sites onto the floppies that I don't understand. Does this process take a certain program or a dongle ? Mary M

joyce blint

You need a software program............I'm using 4D embroidery w my Designer I.

PaperPrincess

This is only part of the answer. You do need an external floppy drive if your PC doesn't have one built in, but the Viking Designer I uses floppy disks with a proprietary format, so you can't just copy a file to a floppy and have it work.
The machine originally came with a CD that had '3D Disk Manager' on it. This let you create floppys and load them up with bunches of designs. If you can find an original Designer I CD, this would be your best bet.
Plan B would be to get a copy of "3D Organizer" or "4D Organizer" this organizes the designs on your pc, which is really nice, and will move ONE design to a floppy.
http://www.husqvarnavikingsoftware.c...dorganizer.htm
Your Viking Dealer may have this stand alone program. It's bundled with the whole 3D/4D software which is hundreds of dollars.

It was also included on the CD that came with the Viking SE machine. They may be able to order a replacement SE CD.
Plan C is buy Viking design packs that came with the floppy. You can still find them on eBay, for instance:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/husqvarna-vi...item19d7bb15a4

Make sure that the floppy disk comes with the designs, not just the CD.

They used to offer a D1 conversion that would add a USB port.

This is the only downside of the original Designer I.

romanojg

CKcrowl was good in explaining this. You first save the designs to your computer or straight to the floppies. I'd say save them to the pc first with orginal name and in a folder with the company's name so that if you ever need to download them again you know where you got them from and their orginal name. When the popup message comes up with what you want to do save or open do a save as and then it'll allow you to pick the path where the folder is and save it in that folder. The external drive will show up under My Computer as an external drive and you can click on the file, right click and do either a send to and pick the external drive or a save as again and then chose a name that identifies the design, like dog, Christmas, etc and it should go to your disk.
Question, do you have either 3D or 4D organizer that normally comes with Vikings, its up to 5D now, that's what I have. The organizer is a great tool and you can store and view your designs in it. The only time a dongle is required is when you upgrade to a higher version. Mine came with 5D but I bought 5D Pro so I need a dongle to show what parts of it I have access to. If you need more info on this let me know. You can also get infor on the 4D organizer at mrpatience.com.
For the manual; go to Vikings website and if you don't see a place to download the manual at the bottom of the page there is a link for support for hardware and software. Email them both and let them know that you need a manual for your machine. Plus if you look on the links under designs you can see where each month you can download a free design and project. They also have some tutorials so it's worth checking out Vikings site.
Also for your machine there is a site that has infor on your machine. I also have the Viking #1 and I ordered the CD for it and got lots of good info. It doesn't appear that it's updated anymore (I think to deaths in the family) but it does have your machine and you can email them to see if the CD's are still available. The link is sewmuch4retirement.com.

I hope at least some of this helps. Yes, there are tons of free designs out there. I have some really good sites that offer them. Good luck and let me know if I can help in anyother way.

eparys

Excellent advice from PaperPrincess - the only other thing that I would add is what ever you do - DO NOT EVER let anyone do the conversion to USB. The way they did the conversion was to put all the "control software" for the interface on the actual USB stick, which made it almost unusable (it did not change the format needed and you still needed the software). When I worked for VH, our clients who did the conversion wished they had not done it.

Another thing to be careful about is that a lot of that some of the older software might not run on the newer operating systems. Check before you purchase. Ask your local dealer - they might even have an affordable solution for you.

Here is a new 3d organizer on ebay (just an fyi)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HUSQVARNA-VI...item2326ab8518

Or - you could just find a friend who has 3D or 4D who could do it for you. We, at the shop I used to work at, did it for our customers gratis who purchased designs from us. I just looked at my Pfaff 4D - and in the configuration I can send a Viking D1 format - so Pfaff 3D Organizer might work as well.