Friday, February 1, 2013

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.

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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.

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

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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".

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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!

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But she is still not sure about it.

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10 comments:

Regina said...

Looks much more secure -hope it does the trick! And LOL at Lula - what a brave girl!!!

elizabeth said...

Hope the repairs help make it sounder. That Lula is such a brave little girl protecting you like that, she really loves you.

WeedyMama said...

Another girl with her own Ryobi!!! Way to go! Sometimes a girl's gotta take matters into her own hands to get it done right!

Lulu... she's quite the girl too. Our furries always seem to need to protect us.

PunkiePie (Jen) said...

You go girl! Master of the power tools. I know who is getting quilted this weekend! WOOHOO!!

Jean(ie) said...

Tool time Jill! Love it! It's great being a gosh-darn independent woman! LOL at Lula. She looks serious.

InfinityQuilter/Knitter said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
InfinityQuilter/Knitter said...

You're a regular Martha Stewart! Watch out Lula....you never know when the vacuum might try to suck mom or you up!

scraphappy said...

Look at how handy you are! Hope it works out.

Jennifer said...

Impressive - Jill+drill and Lula vs. Vacuum!

Melinda said...

Rosie the Riveter watch out. You go girl. Hope it fixes the problem.