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Hundreds of happy customers are using a PC Quilter in their home studio or as a professional business. |
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PC QUILTER Affordable Computerized Quilting Solutions Since 2001 |
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But in all fairness, we must say that some of the long-arm systems are very high quality and work well. They just cost too much. In some cases, there are reasons why it might cost a little more - such as the vendor coming to your site and setting it up. Also, because some have priced it so expensive that they don't sell many systems so they need a high price to recover development costs and on-going-overhead with so few sales. We have sold more systems in a single year than some robotic long-arms have sold in many years. In general, the expensive systems are priced high because quilting robotics were developed years ago and originally on long-arms. Long-arms are expensive so anything you add is going to be expensive. Similar to boats. At Quilting Technologies, we too are consumers and quilters and we do not like paying for "stuff" at much higher than necessary prices. You might say we are the Costco or Home Depot of robotic quilting. The PC Quilter costs a lot less but does as much or more than most alternatives. It is of very high quality. The significantly lower price is also because in general, it is not sold in Quilting stores and Sewing Machine Dealer stores because that would just about double the price if not more. We do have a few such stores selling the PC Quilter because they believe in the product and accept the lower than "normal" markup for that type of store. Our products have always been reasonably priced - that is part of our company policy. Good, quality stuff for fellow quilters at affordable, reasonable prices.
There are 3 choices. The About PCQ button on the home page describes the two main choices - Standard PC Quilter or Side Mounted PC Quilter. If you buy the Standard PC Quilter, you have two choices. The SF model will sew about 30% faster than the F model depending on the pattern. For patterns that are designed to be sewn fast (long sweeping arcs and long straight lines), the SF can sew much faster than the model F. Sewing machine weight is also a factor. If your sewing machine weighs about 35 lbs or less, the F model will do. For heavier sewing machines (especially mid-arms), the SF is a better choice. Many customers, thinking of the future, do purchase the SF because the price difference is not significant compared to the total price. The model F and SF have 15 inches of travel. The model SM currently has 24 inches of travel. If you are going to use the PC Quilter for a business or commercial use, you should purchase the SF or SM model because speed will be more important.
There are several choices
Most of your decision will depend on the size of quilts you make, what sewing machine you already have, and on how much money you have to spend. Trying to do queen and king quilts with 9 inches of throat depth is possible but very inconvenient. The sewing area would become smaller and smaller as the finished quilt becomes "fat" with finished quilt on the take-up roller. You would also need to "flip" the quilt half way through. Stretched sewing machines, which have 13 or 19 inches of throat depth have their drawbacks. They are usually older machines with no modern features (thread cutter, needle up/down, etc), may vibrate a lot, or are heavy and therefore cannot be moved as quickly by the PC Quilter, and may start sewing slowly when turned on. It is probably fair to say that many people who own an older machine that has been stretched have a love/hate relationship with it. They like the extra throat depth and the price and dislike everything else about it. There are longer throat depth machines. They range in Price from $2000 to $6000 or more. Several machines commonly used with the PCQ are the Homesteader, the Handiquilter 16, and the Voyager (others work fine too, ask on the User group). Be careful to not be talked into (or required) to purchase the machine with a stitch regulator - that adds a lot to the price and is totally unecessary if you just want to do PC Quilter type quilting. Most customers (but not all) do not mix free-motion and PC Quilter type quilting on the same quilt - the free-motion quilting will look bad next to the precision PC Quilter sewing. More users do not quilt enough to become skilled at free motion - it takes practice to do well. Do your research carefully before committing to such an investment.
The PC Quilter requires a fully bidirectional parallel port that is not controlled or otherwise manipulated by other software on your computer. Our tech support can walk you through tests as well as changing the BIOS or Port address of the Parallel port to make sure your settings are correct. In some cases we may ask you to try the PC Quilter on another computer. You do not need to move the computer into the room. You simply take your PC Quilter to where the computer is, set it on the floor and run the tests our tech support has asked you to do. This will assist us in eliminating the most PROBABLE cause of your problems. In a few rare cases, we do find a PC Quilter that has developed a problem during shipping or setup. Those problems are usually solved by shipping a new part to be installed by the user (with our detailed instructions). IMPORTANT - PLEASE CALL US IF YOU ARE THINKING OF USING AN IBM THINKPAD. These laptops have proved troublesome as the parallel ports are not truly bidirectional.
We have found, for example, that screen savers interfere with the operation of the PC Quilter. This is nothing new! They also interfere with printers, modems, etc. Another culprit is print spoolers which grab control of the parallel port and want to control the flow of data. Still another is "dongle" software - which although it may now be hooked into your USB, sometimes also checks and plays with the parallel port because they used to make dongles that were there! There are many programs that might take up too much of the processor time and may cause the PC Quilter to slow down or act erratically if you were to run them at the same time. The PC Quilter can use an OLDER computer - a Pentium 2 or newer computer will work fine except that if you digitize your own patterns, it may be slow for just that task. Such an old computer is normally free or certainly under $100. It might be in your best interest to consider leaving your newer main system for designing patterns, surfing, other hobbies, etc. AND getting a "retired" computer for the PC Quilter. It is also preferable if the PC you use with the PC Quilter is not connected to the internet. There are so many ad-ware and viruses floating around and infecting PC's. Some of that "unwanted" software will "wake up" every few minutes and check out what you are doing on your PC. That can happen while you are quilting and cause less than perfect stitching quality. Having kids on the same PC you use with the PC Quilter will probably be a disaster. Most websites of interest to kids and young adults (and older adults acting like kids) put a LOT of ad-ware onto your PC. The computer will need to have Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 installed as it's operating system. We DO NOT SUPPORT Windows 95, 98, ME, NT or 2000.
You must have a working knowledge of Windows to use the PC Quilter including the ability to copy files between folders, use Windows Explorer, organize files using sub-folders, and use to dialog boxes and pull down menus.. You should also understand what a file extension is (the .txt or .exe etc) and at least be familiar with other Windows options - for example - how to get into Control Panel, etc. If you intend to design your own patterns, you should also know how to connect and use a scanner, and save an image to the BMP format. If you want to digitize images (optional) to create your own pattern files you should be able to use simple image editing software such as MSPaint and simple text editing software such as WordPad. Being able to lay out geometric patterns on graph paper and entering the corresponding column and row will also be to your advantage but is not required. Of course, if you buy all your patterns, you will not need to know anymore than the basic Windows knowledge, and the ability to edit the text file to change pattern commands. For more information check our Order Procedure page. For more information check our Order Procedure page.
If you want to digitize your own patterns (optional), you will need a more powerful computer. We recommend a Pentium 4 running at 1.5 GHz with 512Meg of Ram.
It will require that the customer mount 2 small parts on their long-arm sewing head carriage so that it can "dock" with the Side Mounted PC Quilter. The parts are very adjustable to fit a wide range of long-arms (mid-arms too). In those cases, when our parts will not work for your particular make and model of long-arm, we can have special parts made at a nominal cost if you provide the dimensions of your carriage and what it rolls on and pictures too. Or, you can have them made. They are simple parts. Keep in mind that sewing out very detailed patterns will be at about .75 - 1.0 inches per second - less than the speed you probably use for free-motion (nobody can sew such detail in free-motion). However, patterns designed for fast sewing will sew at well over 1 inch per second - depending on the weight of your sewing head. Such patterns have long flowing curves and straight lines. The software then automatically does "ramping up" and "ramping down" at all sharp turns in the pattern. Adding the Side Mounted PC Quilter to a long-arm requires that you have some mechanical skills - most long-arm owners do.
The PC Quilter needs 100% of your computer's attention when it is running. The rest of the time, it doesn't matter. That means that you need to have a computer that is free of ad ware, programs running in the background, and extra processes that are so commonly "preloaded" on new computers today. If you are going to use an older, used PC, that is often just fine for the PC Quilter. If you are also going to digitize (optional) on that PC, that may be too slow. If the old PC is free or very inexpensive, you can always try it and see if the digitizing speed is too slow. If you don't digitize often (that is the normal situation), you may not mind that it is a bit slow when doing just that. But the PC Quilter will work just fine on almost any computer running Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7. The best type of computer to use is one with a real parallel port, a serial port, and a USB port. As of 2007, it is difficult to buy a new laptop with a parallel or serial port. Many older laptops do have either a parallel or serial port or both plus a USB port - they all work fine for a PC Quilter. Older desktop PC's tend to have a parallel or serial port or both. If a desktop does not have a parallel port or serial port, it is inexpensive to add one. It is not easy to add a parallel or serial port to a laptop. Desktops also offer the advantage of being less expensive than laptops, and you can typically get much more memory, processor speed and a bigger display for less money. If in doubt about a PC you are going to buy, ask us. Another approach some customers use is to buy a PC that has a 30 day free return privilege and then make sure you try it on the PC Quilter way before that 30 day deadline expires. Allow time for getting help from tech support if you have setup issues.
Patterns can be purchased inexpensively or you can design your own and use the included digitizing software to create the pattern from a drawing or scanned image.
You cannot run the PC Quilter from another part of your house using a network (yes, some have asked that question).' Realistically, you will want the PC Quilter quite close to your computer for convenience - usually to the right or left of your quilt screen.
* modifications may be required to these frames to accommodate the PC Quilter carriages or to strengthen the frame for use with the PC Quilter. The PC Quilter will NOT work with frames where the QUILT moves (such as John Flynn's frame). The PC Quilter works only on frames that have a carriage on tracks that move across the quilt.
In some cases, there are simple adapter kits to adjust the PC Quilter to work with your frame. Those are available from us or the frame manufacturer depending on which frame you are using. If you have not purchased a quilt frame, PLEASE talk with us first. We work with all the frames and we can advise which are rigid and have the best features etc. The best frame is not always the most expensive frame. Some frames are too flimsy for good results. Visit the various quilt frame sites to educate yourself and then ask questions on the user groups.
Ask on the PC Quilter user groups for other sources. The PC Quilter is currently the most common robotic machine quilting system so many designers sell PC Quilter ready patterns. There are more than 3000 patterns available so there is no shortage of choices. And you can always scan in drawings and digitize them (please don't violate copyrights of designers - it is usually OK to copy for personal use if you purchased that pattern from the designer or authorized dealer. It is usually not OK to buy or copy or use patterns to put on items you are going to sell. Dover publications has lots of books with drawings that can be made into patterns and are copyright free (public domain).
Six months of software/technical support is provided for ONE individual who can read and understand the instruction book and who knows Windows reasonably well. After six months, you can buy an additional six months of support/warranty at the prevailing prices.
You should be aware that some sewing machine dealers or reps will refuse to sell you a sewing machine if you do not buy it with the expensive stitch regulator. Even if they know it is not needed for the PC Quilter, they will not sell it without. We suggest that you look elsewhere. If you want a stitch regulator for free-motion quilting, that is another matter. But they are so expensive that you should be sure you want to do free-motion quilting and that you like the end result (how good it looks or NOT!). Most quilters are not good at free-motion - it takes a lot of practice. It is also hard on your back and shoulders. If you did become experienced, you then would probably turn off the stitch regulator and not use it (that is what long-arm experts tell us). So save yourself some money. In some cases, the savings will pay for your PC Quilter.
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