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question for Lenni owners and or sale Reps


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I know this is going to sound like a wierd question, but I have had a problem with the spacing between my rails since day one. By this what I mean is the distance between the back rollers and the front rollers is not the same. The reason that I know this is because there is about 1/4 to 3/8 inch of play on between the rails on the back take up roller and about a little less than that on the roller without any leaders. You can tighten the end knobs all the way down and if the brake is not set you can slide the rail back and forth about that 3/8 inch. When I advance the quilt if I am not careful to keep it in the same exact spot then my quilt starts to go wonky and I end up with one end of the quilt or the other higher or lower. in other words the last row of panto or design board is not even from one end to the other.

I can't figure out why this is. What I have done so far to try to figure it out is first I took of the rails and the side arms and the brakes and reversed the end pieces. What that did is take the extra play from the front of the machine to the back. So I would rather have it on the back than the front but still not a solution.

I have tried to resquare the table ends to try to push the back side of the side arm out a bit which would bring the roller in a little tighter. That didnt help either as I probably only gained about a 1/32 inch if that. The only other thing I can think of is that one of the side arms must be bowed somehow. IT sounds pretty odd that steel that thick could be bowed.

I have taken all the rails off and measured them up against each other and they are all exactly the same length so it isnt that.

My last idea was to put a spacer on the outside of the rail between the side frame and the black knob to try to keep it from sliding back and forth. That might be helping a little but the spacer is only a piece of plastic that I cut off the end of a caulking tube and it is really too big and not sturdy enough.

Any other ideas as to what might be the problem or if anyone else has had a similar problem, plese let me know.

It took me forever to figure out why when I got the the bottom of the quilt it was not square any longer. I always baste a straight line across the top and start off square but by the time I get to the end it has rolled enough that it has become skewed!

Thanks guys sorry so long, but it is hard to describe.

a picture is worth a thousand words so when I get home I will try to take a picture where the rail is too long.

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really well I thought I was just the crazy one. I cannot figure out why it is like that. It was on the front backing roller and I reversed everything to make it go to the back because I roll toward the take up and I thought that would help. Your roller for the top of the quilt is not a little long as well?

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Kathy, that is a great idea. I have the opposite problem. (See a post dated 3/10/10 with picture). My problem is primarily the back take up too. My poles are too short and the black caps become unscrewed so as time goes on the pole starts to move right to left. The spacers on the outside helped a little in that it does not unscrew as quickly. I also apply presser to the left as I roll since it unscrews on the left almost like I am rolling on a diagonal but it keeps it straight. This seems to have fixed the majority of my problem.

I am going to try putting tape or string on the Inside of the poles at each end!

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Hi Brenni I remeber your post. Luckily my poles have never come loose. Hopefully adding some tape/string might help

Hi Jeanne, i have just been and checked. Yes there is extra space on both my front backing roller and the quilt top roller. For some reason I had forgot. I have rolled string at one end of each pole between the side frame and end knobs. It seems to work and stop them from sliding side to side, but still allows them to roll okay.

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Our Lenni also had the shifting. It had a diff between the leveler bar and the foot of the top of the quilt. Himself switched the foot of top roller and the leveler roller, so the seam in the middle of the rods is even. Then he put bolts in the "hole" that is outside the side rails, and that stopped the problem. We then checked the width of new leaders we made, made sure they were straight, and put a mark on the center of each leader. We only use two for quilting. Our problem is solved.. Oh, we also use the red snappers.. wonderful.

Maybe I can get picts of the rails and rollers. Camera, Windows Pictures don't get along. :o Ask if you really need picts. ;)

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Well mine is the same! Yes I guess steel that thick does bow. My arm flares out at the front where the backing roller is, same as Kath's. I'll have to try Kath's solution. I'm not too worried about it though, as I always float my tops and can adjust as I go along.

One problem I have with my two piece poles is that they are starting to bow in the centre. I put this down to me leaning my substantial top half on the rollers when doing custom - which is every quilt! I also use my Quiltazoid quite a bit. It weighs quite a bit and that wouldn't be helping either.

Just recently I saw an article by Kimmy Brunner, in Machine Quilting Unlimited. She was using a quilt centreing tape, which attaches to the ends of your frame. It's just another tool to ensure the top is staying square as you advance the quilt. I'm trying it out on my current quilt.

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Judy

I use that centering tape too when I can but the problem I seem to get is that extra play makes the centers slip away from each other on the leader and that will make it roll out of square. I can't imagine how all of us are having this same probelm, what could it be that causes it, has to be either the side arms are not flat or the table not sqaure and I have measured and re measured the table is SQUARE! I hope whatever it is that APQS will take a look at it and make sure that the new Lenni's are not having this same issue as it is very annoying. I wonder if they would consider making a large spacer to put over the rail end to keep it from sliding.

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I know what you mean about the centres slipping away from each other and the quilt going out of square. I've started using very wide backing fabric, either widebacks or two lenghths of fabric sewn together. I don't bother to centre them, just eyeball it. with plenty of fabric either side I figure a small amount of shift won't be noticeable. Mind you Jeanne, I generally don't do quilts much bigger than 80inches - not like your oriental beauty!

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I'm not sure I have noticed play in the rollers - I'll look out for that , but one of mine - the leader roller comes unscrewed on the left all the time however hard I tighten it up. Perhaps it is a related issue. I usually notice it and tighten it up, but yesterday it fell out as I obviously had not tightened it in a while. Luckily it fell out as I was rolling on and was able to catch it before it fell too far..

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I think the solution would be get the locking collars from APQS and put one on the inside and outside of each pole and lock it so there is no sliding or shifting. That is what I have been thinking of doing as I too have that problem. For the moment my problem has been solved by moving one locking collar to the outside of frame and one on inside, I removed them from the tension bar to try out and it seems to work. I also square up my backs and put blue painters tape on take up leader as line to follow on each end as I float my tops. Does this make sense? I am heading home from Fla tomorrow and get to quilt again!! Wonderful news about my dtr. Biopsy on thyroid benign she has had an attack of a virus on her thyroid that enlarged everything. So all is well and mom can once again breathe and relax;)

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Irene glad to hear the good news about your DD. It must be a big relief for you both.

Thanks for the info about the locking collars. Is this something new with the Bliss table.?

If you would not mind once you are back home and have a moment, would you take a photo of the locking collars. I am trying to get a picture in my mind.

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Kath, its the round piece that fits on each end of the roller to hold it in place and secures with a hex wrench. there is one on each end of each roller. I just took off the 2 from the tensioner roller and tried them on the take up roller to see if it would shift and so far it has held very well with both of these collars one on each side of the legs. one on the outside and one on the inside on each side. So I think one of these on each roller on the outside and inside may be the answer. Hope Mark jumps in here to help us with this.

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The black caps on the end of my poles also come unscrewed...this might explain why my quilts are shifting...thought it was just my inexperience. It has helped to move the caps to different pole ends. Now I only have one that wants to come unscrewed as I advance the quilt.

I use a longarm centering tape and have mounted it to my leveler bar with double-sided tape. It works great as I can know exactly where the quilt edges should be each time I advance.

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Amazing that this subject came up!!! I have an old square-legged table that used to house a ult but I have a freedom on it. My quilt-top bar is the same length as all my other bars but it wanted to slide from side to side about 2 1/2 inches. I had decided I was missing a screw (there is a screw missing in the cam on the left side). So even tho my problem is different is it also the same. I had thought before I noticed the missing screw of going to the hardware store and getting a pipe clamp and placing it on the left end. That would fix mine completely. Funny thing is, I have no off centered (or twisted) quilts on center. Good luck with fixing this. I will be interested to know why this is! Blessings all.

Irene, so glad to hear the good news! The C word can be so frightful!

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