Stretching my machine
 

I am thinking about having my brother's 1500se stretched. I have a mid arm already but would be able to put this machine to much better use if it had a longer throat. Has anyone done this with the brothers machine. I know I have read were the JUKI has been stretched and some say with success and other say not. Will it be worth my $$ or better to leave things as they are. I want to be able to pass this to my granddaughter to learn some of the basics of machine quilting. You comments will definitely help with this decision.

I would be afraid to do that. I would be much more inclined to buy a machine already made "stretched". There are so many to choose from, it would be the much easier and more reliable route, imho.

I'll be watching this thread. I would love to get one of my vintage Singers stretched. Is there still a company that does this?

I have no idea where you would get a machine stretched, but I image that it would be fairly expensive, I bought a 20" sit down Bailey for under $3000, I would love to have a frame, but simply don't have the room for one.

There used to be a gentleman who did the stretching process on some machines but he hasn't done it in years. I'm not sure if he passed away or not, but I know he stopped. A lot of people had issues once it was done, too, others didn't.

I can't imagine how stretching a machine would be accomplished. How do you "stretch" the mechanicals inside the machine? Is the whole inner structure of the machine rebuilt?

Years ago a friend had her Bernina stretched and it cost around 25;000$. There is a wide throat straight stitch available, believe a Brother. I would consider something already done.

Sell the 1500SE and look at the Babylock Jazz, it has a very large throat. I don't think it would be worth the money or risk to have a machine stretched.

The Brother PQ1500 is a high shank. Is the Jazz? If not the space will be longer but shorter vertically - different. don’t know how much more actual room the Jazz would give. You could look at the Q’nique 15. They sell the set up at Joann fabrics and Leah day sells it. Brother has a machine that looks identical to the Q’nique and it comes in a table or frame. More expensive though.

For the money you'd be spending, you could get a used sitdown longarm...or buy a new Bailey Home Quilter, now available in 20" throat! Reasonably priced because it has no computorized anything...a functional quilting machine, no feed dogs, no gizmos to break. I bought a 15" in 2012 before they put out the larger versions...love it!

I think the short rod is removed and a longer one is used to fit the gears . I don't know how the housing is made longer. It will probably look bad is what I think.

If you can afford “stretching” you could afford a longer throat machine, I’d think. Do not be afraid to buy a used machine from a reputable dealer. These machines are made to last.

I'm sure you void all warranties if you stretch a machine. Why would anyone spend $25,000 to stretch a machine, when you could by a mid arm or long arm? Ridiculous. Stretching a machine, also ridiculous. Buy a machine with a larger throat.

Isn't the Voyager 17 a stretched Janome? I thought I read that somewhere once... Maybe I dreamt it. :)

I had the Juki 98Q back in the early 2000's and had it stretched by a guy down in OK. His health wasn't the greatest back then but he was training someone to take over his practice of stretching machines. He stretched certain Singers, Brothers 1500 and Jukis. Whether the guy he was training is still doing it I can't say and when the machine has been stretched, its not as pretty as they attached a metal plate over the center area to hide where they cut it into 2. But I never had issues with my stretched Juki on a Grace Pro frame and with MQR robotics no less. I sold it when I went to a larger 26" Innova machine. Good luck if you can find someone to stretch your machine.

It didn't cost me $25,000 but less than $1,000 back in 2010. I'm sure the cost has risen since then but hopefully not that much. I had my Juki 98Q stretched and had gotten that used online so didn't have too much invested in it.

yes, they add a metal plate to the center area. Doesn't look great but the machine works very well and it gives you that needed throat space. So if you have the machine already the only cost is for stretching it.

Thank you, Onebyone. I can see how that would work. I agree it would look bad. For the money, I'd just buy another machine.

I would look into a used machine with a wider harp. Stretching a machine seems like it would invite a whole lot of problems!

1) The only company I knew of that would stretch pre-owned machines was called Wow, and they went out of business several years ago.

2) I actually owned an old Singer that had been stretched by Wow several years ago. It worked okay, but I quickly became frustrated because it had no stitch regulation, despite the fact that it had an 18" harp, it was also a short machine which meant I was still limited to the size of top I could quilt.

3) I believe Hinterberg is no longer producing new Voyager machines. I think you can buy refurbished ones, though.

I heard the bailey's were stretched janomes, not sure how true it is