CNC Quilting forum

[sdman]

Dave,

Thanks for the reply.

Looks like a window of oppurtunity for someone to develope a CNC low cost kit without all the bells and whistles that would fit most of the quilters out there.

Sam

[Glidergider]

I agree, when I priced the CNC quilters, the high end machines were running $30,000. To really take off, the hobby would probably need a good dose of testosterone.

Although, when I was pricing the non-cnc racks, they sales lady said the quilters were real popular with the husbands. Go figure.

[lmlamb]

Larry,
Do you have a build thread detailing some of the aspects of your CNC Quilter? Sorry I can't help you with your need for a macro, that's over my head.

Hey Glidergider,

Here are the notes that I promised you.

The thread is attached.

[lmlamb]

Is there a CNC kit for an add-on to an existing quilting machine that is economical?
Even a DIY project would be okay>

sdman

As far as I know there are no kits available for less than $1500 for a used PCQuilter. The system that I developed cost me about $500 to develop. That doesn't include gas and travel time and postage for the parts. The whole project from start to finish took me about 9 months to complete. Partially becuase my controller board took a header and had to be replaced.

[wwendorf]

It's already very well tapped. PCquilter is one, MQR, StattlerStitcher, and about 3 other robotic systems. Statler Stitch is the most expensive and goes on a Gammel quiling from ($30-50K). PCQuilter is the best and most solidly built with the widest variety of options and fucntions in their software.

Wade

Thanks Switcher. I appreciate the links. I figured there'd be some interest in this topic. Maybe others would pipe up with DIY links too. There are literally thousands of women out there quilting away (including my wife). 99.99% of these ladies have no interest in computers though. Commercial quilting machines cost $30k, so you can expect that this market is just waiting to be tapped.

[lmlamb]

SDMAN,

The cnc quilter that I built is just what you are looking for. It is a kit that I have developed. I am still doing some tweaking on it, and looking at different methods of providing transit for the carriage. I'll be trying a belt drive next, and that will be announced on this forum soon, along with photos.

[lmlamb]

Hello All,

Well, I've been real busy improving the CNC Quilter. I just finished installing a belt drive system using a quarter inch belt on both of the motors. It really smoothed out the operation. I found that even with the cable being a great idea, it tends to stretch a bit. The stretching caused the carriage and sewing machine to bounce when doing fast reverses, and that, in turn caused the pattern to be unsteady and jagged. So, I recommend that anyone working on a CNC quilter use either a belt drive or a screw drive.

Haven't heard from anyone recently, so everything must be going good. Good luck on all your projects.

[Slacker1]

Larry,

Thanks for all the info and congratulations on getting your project this far. I, like you, have a quilting wife, who has a B-Line 18" system which she is hankering to automate. The supplier has adapted his system to use Q-Bot, which is very expensive for what it is. I too have commited to automating the process for her and I plan to use your ideas as a start point.

However, she wants to be able to switch to freehand quilting at the flick of a switch and worries that belts and screws would interfere with her ability to do so easily. I noticed that Q-Bot uses wheels to drive the platforms in their axes. Can you think of any reason that that could not be done here?

Regards

[lmlamb]

Larry,

Thanks for all the info and congratulations on getting your project this far. I, like you, have a quilting wife, who has a B-Line 18" system which she is hankering to automate. The supplier has adapted his system to use Q-Bot, which is very expensive for what it is. I too have commited to automating the process for her and I plan to use your ideas as a start point.

However, she wants to be able to switch to freehand quilting at the flick of a switch and worries that belts and screws would interfere with her ability to do so easily. I noticed that Q-Bot uses wheels to drive the platforms in their axes. Can you think of any reason that that could not be done here?

Regards

Slacker1

Thanks for all the good words, I appreciate it. You are right about the Q-Bot is a very expensive system for what it is. You know, it would not be a very difficult thing to introduce a switch box to allow switching between automated and manual mode. I am certain that her machine can be equipped very easily to handle it.

Are the wheels on the Q-Bot driven by direct drive from a motor or are they belt driven? Can you take a photo of the machine and posts it? That way I can get a better idea of the best way to set it up! I don't see any reason why drive wheels wouldn't work, with the possible exception of slippage on the drive bar/pipe or what ever is being used.

If the carriage of the machine is using wheels on a platform that rolls the length of the table, I would consider using a belt drive system to move the carriage and platform. This really all depends on the weight of the machine. The heavier the machine, the larger the stepper motor will need to be, hence the greater the cost.

I use a rockcliff 4 axis cnc controller card for the interface with the pc, and so far it works very well. That is not to say that any other interface wouldn't work just as well.

The only problems that I keep running into are not really machine related so much as they are problems with the patterns that I am using. I find that most patterns that I get from the internet are for other types of machines, and they need to be adjusted to work with the cnc quilter.

Well, I hope I have lent some information that you can use. If you need any more assistance please use my email address, lmlamb@windmill-sbs.com, as I don't check the forum as frequently as I should.

Regards,


Larry

[lmlamb]

Larry,

Thanks for all the info and congratulations on getting your project this far. I, like you, have a quilting wife, who has a B-Line 18" system which she is hankering to automate. The supplier has adapted his system to use Q-Bot, which is very expensive for what it is. I too have commited to automating the process for her and I plan to use your ideas as a start point.

However, she wants to be able to switch to freehand quilting at the flick of a switch and worries that belts and screws would interfere with her ability to do so easily. I noticed that Q-Bot uses wheels to drive the platforms in their axes. Can you think of any reason that that could not be done here?

Regards

Slacker1

I forgot to address the issue of the belts and screws. Actually, with the use of steppermotors and belt drive, the machine is just as easy to use as without the motors. My wife has been using the machine in free motion mode while I have been adapting patterns to use, and she says that it is just as smooth and easy as without the drive system set up. There may be several ways to attach the motor mounts, however, I chose to go with the mid carriage side mount so that it pulls the carriage evenly without any twist in the movement of the machine. This has proven to be a very good method. It is possible to use two motors for each axis in tandem so that the pull is evenly distributed, but that will add weight to the system, as well as making the entire drive mechanism more complicated. I would not recommend that. If you like, I can make some short videos of my wife using the manual mode to freehand some stitches so that your wife can see the ease of use of the system. Even though the motors are attached to a drive belt, the carriage moves very smooth and with very little effort on her part.

I am located in Germany (stationed here). If you would like to contact me by phone or IP phone, I can be reached on Skype. My Skype username is LarryLamb7035, and I can usually be reached in the evenings, european time, or at about 1200 hours east coast time.

Regards,

Larry

[Slacker1]

Thanks Larry,

I would like to see a video of your setup and be able to show my wife that the belt system would still be usable freehand.

There are some rudimentary pictures of my wife's setup on the B-Line site:
http://www.tobequilting.com/

Good to know your Skype info. I have a son in Basel and it's about the only way I can keep in touch with him.

[Tom_M]

Hello All,

I just found this forum. I've been thinking of adding x-y drive to my wife's quilter for some time ( http://www.pfaffusa.com/5201.html ) and I'm glad I found others who are interested in the same.

I price a Q-Bot, and for $3K decided to pass on it and try this myself.

I already have a laser cutter that follows Corel Draw vector lines, but have no idea on how to duplicate the printer firmware to run my own steppers from.

I'm familiar with PIC and Arduino coding, and stepper motor operation and hope I can get some help here.

My original thought was to use a belt drive on the x, and acme screw on the y since it only has to travel about a 16". Still looking for proper motors that would be fast and strong enough to move the 40 pound mass back and forth.

Well I just thought I'd throw my hat in the ring and introduce myself.

Take care,
Tom M
State College, Pa