My Viking Quilt Designer II needs major repairs
 

I bought this machine with the embroidery unit in 2007. It spent a few months in the shop not long after I bought it because of some problems. I haven't used it a lot. It was in the shop this time last year. That ended up costing me $200. A few weeks ago it decided to only sew in reverse. Just got the call from the shop $500+ to fix it !!

:(

I still have my Pfaff 7510 from the late 1990's that works great. I use a Viking Mega Quilter for machine quilting.

I don't have the money to sink another $500 in the QD. I'm so upset. I didn't use it a lot for embroidery but wanted to get back into that.

I'm thinking I should just sell the accessories and embroidery cards I have for it and then sell the machine for parts.

:(:(

Oh, I feel for you! A machine like that should last more than 7 years without those kinds of repairs being necessary!!! :(

I have quilt designer 11 and got it in 2006 and it has been a good machine. I spent about 900.00 but did not get the embroidery unit with it mine was bought new. I just love it

Maybe you should take it somewhere else for a second opinion?

I agree with the idea of getting another opinion. Did the repairman offer you a good trade in value on a new machine? Sometimes I think we go along too easy and they raise the costs until we choke or decide on a new machine.

I thought about getting another opinion and estimate. Looking online, I think it really is the step-motor. I saw one place to order it and it sells for $225. That's the price he quoted me for the part and then $200 for labor. Plus there was something else he said needed to be done. I don't remember because I was so shocked and upset about the total price. I'm going to pick up the machine on Saturday.

There was no mention of trade-in-value on a new or used machine.

I'm torn between getting it fixed or just selling it for parts and selling the accessories. This machine uses d-cards for all of it's stitches and embroidery that are no longer available from Viking. It's hard to even find them on ebay. If the d-cards go bad, then I'm stuck again.

Then I think "but for a few hundred dollars I could have my embroidery machine back. I can't buy another machine for that price."

I have my Pfaff 7510 to do sewing on but I wanted to get back into working with the embroidery machine. I don't *need* the embroidery machine but I *want* it.

decisions, decisions

I hate to say this but if it were mine I would not have it repaired..you have soaked way too much money
into a machine that is not used that often....as you have said......bring it home, spray paint it yellow ( for lemon) and use it for a door stopper! In the meantime check around for a reasonably priced combo machine that will satisfy your urge to now do "some" emb. Projects...JMHO. As an aside, I would take a pic of the " new" yellow .machine along with its "history" and send it to the mfgr......will not get you anything, but a bit of satisfaction! I have done this to several items that have proved not worth the cost........

Have you looked at the embroidery only machines? The Janome 300E is an older model that you can get for around $900 or less. It uses older technology PCMCIA card with compact flash for embroidery transfers. You can find the pcmcia cards and compact flash on ebay all the time. I've had my Janome300E for 7 years now using the same set when I bought it. They have a step up from that one the 350E and I think it uses USB and that machine is around $1200 new. I use my embroidery machine all the time and have only had repaired once. The repair was replacing the needle threader. www.kenssewingcenter.com (i think the link is right) will take payments and give you trade in. They are in Muscle Shoals Alabama. I am not associated with them just one very happy customer. He also sells on ebay with seller name easyterms.
A lot of people have been getting the Brother PE770 embroidery machine and love it too.
If I were in your situation I would cut my losses on the Viking, see if you can use it for some trade in value, and get an embroidery only machine. With a 500.00 repair bill that same money can put you over half way to purchasing a new machine.

*raises hand* I'm one of those people! I bought mine last year and have just recently started getting into using it. I am really happy with it - so far the only problems I've had have been caused by me not really knowing the right stabilizer, etc. to use. Machine stitches beautifully and trouble-free, my only complaint is that the screen is really small and everything gets really pixellated - it's hard to see which design you're selecting and then hard to see which section of the design you're on. It's easy to go back a step if you need to re-do an area, the bobbin-low detector works like a charm, and this is the easiest machine to thread I've ever owned. It uses flash cards or a regular ol' USB thumb drive. It can also handle larger hoops to do continuous designs (but I haven't tried that yet). All in all I think it's a really good machine, I'm glad I have it in my sewing machine arsenal.

Right now it's listed on Amazon for under $600. I bought mine from Amazon and it came to me perfectly tensioned and ready to stitch.

Good luck...I hope you find a resolution that works out for you!

Did they say they have to replace the motherboard? It sounds like it to me. I know this is a bad time of year for this but I would bite the bullet and buy the least expensive embroidery machine with the largest hoop, I could afford. Right now there are many no interest for 60 months sales going on. I bought a Bernina and I am thrilled with it.