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info on a royal ken quilting machine with 14ft frame?


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Kenquilt, and the Royal model, was a good machine, although a few years old now. Keep in mind that Kenquilt is out of business at this point. Kenquilt was sold to S & D Stitches, the makers of Compuquilter, several years ago. S & D Stitches closed and tried to re-organize as Odyssey Quilting Machines, but were not successful and ceased operations several months ago. Nobody, that I know of, has heard of another company picking up either the Kenquilt or Compuquilter product lines, or support. 

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The KenQuilt Royal was a fine 26" (maybe it was 24") long arm.  A friend has a Princess which is the smaller 22" version, and she loves it.  They were made in both a stitch regulated version, and non-regulated version.  Do you know which this one is? The stitch regulators on the KenQuilts were Intellistitch, which are outstanding, so support of the electronics should still be available.  If it's unregulated, you could have an Intellistitch regulator fitted to it for about $3000, if you liked.

 

The Royal came with an "M" bobbin system which gives you lots of bobbin thread.  The tables were aluminum, and were quite satisfactory.  As for repair of the rest of the machine, these are industrial quality machines, and not much goes wrong with them.  I think you'd be able to get whatever parts you might need in the after market, so I wouldn't be afraid of one simply because they are no longer made.  Edgerider makes wheels for them so that would take care of that need.  If you like it, and can buy it reasonably, I can't think  of any reason why you shouldn't.  Jim

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Thank you for the information you both have provided it has been very helpful. It is a stitch regulated version and she was asking 3500.00 so I'm hoping that is a reasonable price. It looked like it was in really good condition and I liked the metal frame. The only downfall is it is 14ft... As I said earlier I am new at this so I'm looking to others for advise.

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I'd say $3500 is a great price!  My friend Suzie paid $6500 for her smaller Princess model, and felt like she was getting a great buy. A 14' frame is nice if you can fit it in, you can always use the extra length..  If you absolutely can't fit it in, I'm sure you could find a local fabricator/welder who could shorten it for you.  Good luck.  Jim

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I no that this is off topic but i don't no where to post a new topic. Here goes i'm a newbie and have just gotten a ken quilt 622 and am doing my first quilt on it. I am looking to buy handles for this machine as it would make my work easier to see and do. I do relaize that the companies are out of business so i'm stuck.anyone out there can help me

Bonway

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Bonway, hopefully you've posted on other quilting forums as well. What I'm wondering is if you couldn't contact a local welding shop in your area and see if they couldn't make some pretty generic entended handles for you. My machine has the straight up handles, not the ergonomic ones, so I actually added bicycle handle extenders to give me a longer reach. I don't know what kind of handles your machine has, but maybe you could also do something like this?

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  • 3 years later...
On 1/13/2014 at 10:43 PM, bonway said:

I no that this is off topic but i don't no where to post a new topic. Here goes i'm a newbie and have just gotten a ken quilt 622 and am doing my first quilt on it. I am looking to buy handles for this machine as it would make my work easier to see and do. I do relaize that the companies are out of business so i'm stuck.anyone out there can help me

Bonway

If you still have this machine would you please contact me at. teesgirl45@yahoo.com

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Just:  This post is over 3 years old, and about a machine made by a manufacturer not represented on this forum, so I doubt Bonway will respond.  That being said, I once owned a Ken Quilt 622.  Mine was the long model - don't think they've made that particular machine for at least 10 years - and since then, I've owned 3 other machines.  Does that tell you something?  I sold mine on e-Bay 8 years ago for $650.

The 622 is a Singer model type 96 industrial sewing machine set up for frame quilting.  It's a heavy cast iron machine.  I think mine weighed over 70 lbs.  While you may be able to buy one very reasonably, I think you'd be better served saving your money and putting it toward a real purpose built longarm.  An APQS Ult ll would be a much better choice if you're looking for an economical longarm system.  In fact that's one of the machines I bought and I'm still using it today with both pride and satisfaction.

As far as machine details for the 622 goes, I think a schematic for a Singer type 96 would probably do.  Hope this helps.  Jim

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  • 5 weeks later...

By the way, Ken Quilt is a fine running machine.  My first machine was a 622 and the crazy thing is still running strong with the new owner.  I did revamp the track system before I sold it.  The machine glides like glass and I also made the table a little more user friendly for us quilters.  Zeke. 

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  • 2 years later...
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There will be a "box" on the front of the head.  It will say "Intellistitch", or if a later model with Ken-Quilt regulator S-stitch or something similar.  I don't remember what they called their version.  There will encoders on the rails with wires running to the machine.  Hope this helps.  Jim 

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