Frame Renovations

I have a Next Generation Gracie frame for my Viking MegaQuilter. I have been having a lot of issues lately with the rails bending and I read on a Yahoo group about an adjustment that I could do to fix the issue.

One trip to Home Depot later and I was on my way!

I picked up some longer screws, washers and a couple of drill bits to drill through metal. Luckily, the drill was still charged from when my Dad was here at Thanksgiving and did a few repairs.



The metal connector that connects the 2 rail parts together slides into the rails and attaches with screws through only one part of the connector. This isn't a great picture showing the bending, but you can see that the rails don't have a clean join.



Here is the connector. There were only holes on the one side of the connector.



I had to use a smaller drill bit to drill through the existing hole to get the right spot on the back side of the connector. I then used a larger drill bit to make the new hole a little bigger from the back side so that I didn't damage any of the threading from the existing hole. Then, I put the connector and rails back together and used a longer screw and a washer and rejoin the rails. If I was doing this again, I would probably try to find screws with a flatter head, but I really don't think that there will be an issue with the screws sticking out from the rail since it isn't more than 1/8".



All of the rails were modified and are back on the frame! I have a table runner and 4 quilts in the house to get done and I am thinking that I can do the runner and 2 quilts this weekend. I am anxious to see how the rails work now!

After I was done, I needed to clean up the mess that the drilling made. Lula felt the need to protect me from the vacuum cleaner and she kept barking at it. As soon as I turned it off, she ran to me to make sure I was OK, but she kept me between herself and the vacuum. Then, she got brave!



But she is still not sure about it.