how much is too much

[Kathy Krause]

Good day everyone, 

This is my first post; I own a Millenium that I purchased from my late father-in-law's estate. With the help of the people at APQS long phone calls and videos and my sister-in-law I have been quilting for a while now. I have been building tops lately and am ready to long arm 4 of the many I have done. My question is, is there a limit as to how much backing material I can load the machine with?  I know I will have to roll it to make sure it is straight etc. just need to know if there is a limit as to how much yardage I can roll? 

Thank you for your answers.

[SueD]

The limit would be how much quilt is on the back take up roller. The more finished quilt is rolled on that, the smaller your available quilting area will be because your machine will not be able to move as far forward. 

If you want to load enough backing for the 4 quilts, that shouldn’t be a problem. However you may want to cut the backing and remove each one as you finish. Then repin to the take up roller and do the next one. 
 

[jimerickson]

There is one more issue.  That is the amount of fabric on the backing roller.  Now backing doesn't take up a lot of room, but it does make the backing roller "bigger".  At a certain point the diameter of the backing roller (roller and fabric) will affect the alignment of the quilt sandwich.  Probably not a practical  issue, but it is there.

I've tried doing this, and found it to be as troublesome as cutting and loading each back separately.  Haven't done it since.  Jim