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Ultimate 2 and M bobbin


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We have an U 2 , new to us (Mom in law and D in law) and we are new to L A.  I have been watching this forum for several years, and gathering info before we actually bought our machine.  I am not afraid of making some modifications (had to cut table in half to get it upstairs) and am considering changing to an M bobbin.  It appears I need an M hook and bobbin assembly and then set timing to make the change over, is that correct and is it worth the cost?  Do prewound bobbins actually increase the amount of thread by 40% vs winding the bobbins yourself?

Thanks for any advice.

 

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In my opinion it is not worth doing the conversion at this time.  It will cost you a few hundred dollars in parts and you will have to fab something for a positioning finger.  Jim Erickson has done this conversion on his Ultimate 2 but he got the first set of parts very cheap.  He has since played with a couple of different M hooks and cases to try and find the easiest combo to make the conversion. Get comfortable with your new machine first and then make the changes you think necessary. 

Prewound bobbins do hold more thread than self wound but I doubt it is 40%.  We have next to no Bottom Line thread on a cone to wind and do an apples to apples comparison.  My comparison would be from So Fine to Magna Glides.  I tend to use prewounds when I can't make a complete pass of a pantogragh with self wound or if it happens to be the perfect colour choice. 

 

Nigel

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Great answers and much appreciated!   We bought this basic machine knowing that upgrades were possible if we felt the needed to do so.  I am hoping we can figure out how to use this lovely unregulated machine successfully, since others do I should expect we can as well.  The only company I found that will add and after market SR is Quilt EZ with the Perfect Stitch.  The Intellistitch doesn't appear to be available any longer on the east coast and I haven't read any reviews on the Quilt EZ product.  Any thoughts?

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While SR is a nice option to have, it definitely isn't a necessity to do great quilting.  There was no such thing for years; my first machine didn't have it and I quilted on it for ten years.  I did upgrade to a machine with Intellistitch in 2004 and I love it but I find that I use mostly just for ruler work.  I just "flow" better in non regulated.  Practice, practice, practice....you will be fine.

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SheepyBee:  I have two books that I think were most helpful to me.  They are: "Long-Arm Machine Quilting" by Carol A. Thelen, and "The Ultimate Guide to Longarm Machine Quilting" by Linda V. Taylor.  I especially like Thelen's book.  These are relatively old publications, written when most of the long arm machines weren't stitch regulated.  They cover a lot more than just stitching techniques.  I think both are still being printed, but you can probably find them used on Amazon.  Jim 

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