Decent Swing Away Edge Guide?

[Trox]

Yes, I have ordered some great looking suspending guides (drop down guides) @ some great prices. Great customer service too, I cannot wait to get them. The prices is so low, it almost feels criminal. I will post all about it when I receive it.

Trox.

Are you ordering a guide? Let us know how their stuff is.

Andrew

[Trox]

I received the guides to day. One for my Dürkopp Adler 267-373 and one for my Pfaff 345. On the Adler, it is bolt on, 10 minutes job. On the Pfaff, I have to make a treaded hole. I will post when the job is done.

I bought the guides from Kwokhing.com. Two guides with rollers and extra straight edges for both. Brackets and a set of binding feet’s for my Pfaff. All together 69, 70$ and 31 $ in shipping (Hong Kong - Norway).

Great price, Great service, Great stuff.

Top shelf all the way, very nice people to do business with. You can find the Adler KG 867 guide on Ebay for 90 $, I paid 25, 90$ for it, and 22 $ for the other guide, direct from the manufacturer. Great Deal, now I know where to buy all my attachments. Thank you Kwokhing. I will post the Pfaff guide when it

is done.

Trox

Yes, I have ordered some great looking suspending guides (drop down guides) @ some great prices. Great customer service too, I cannot wait to get them. The prices is so low, it almost feels criminal. I will post all about it when I receive it.

Trox.

[Northmount]

After seeing the different options for roller guides here, I decided to try my hand at making one. I used some 1/2" keystock I had plus 1/4" and 3/8" rod and a piece of 1x1/8" flat stock. Picked up a few screws at a local hardware store. Also a collar for a 3/8" drill bit. The roller bearing is a replacement for a router bit. It is attached with an 6-32 screw. I chucked the screw in the drill press and shaved the head on a taper to a wedge fit inside the bearing, so the bottom of the bearing can be right on the arm or ride on a piece of leather when the item you are sewing is off-set from the bottom piece.

The blocks used to support the guide have to be drilled with very little clearance, else any free motion is amplified at the roller end and it flops around. (That's why that piece of rod is now 3/8") Since my "maching" skills are less than perfect, there is enough misalignment with the support blocks and the 3/8" rod, to produce enough friction to hold the guide where ever you set it. If you manage to have perfect alignmnet, then you will need a spring between the collar and left block (looking from the front) to hold it in place. The other holes for the 1/4" rod all have set screws to take up any sloppy fit. 1/64" oversize makes a sloppy fit.

If you bore the longitudinal holes in the blocks deep enough (mine are 7/8" deep), that will allow you to adjust the length of the rod so it can line up with the presser foot.

I thought the larger diameter bearing was a good idea, but if you have some small radius inside curves to sew, then a smaller diameter bearing will follow the curve better.

Tools you will need include drill with bits to fit your rod size and for screw holes, tap for threading the screw holes, hacksaw, file and wrenches to suit. Drill press is nice but not necessary. Try to keep the drill square to the keystock while drilling. Things will fit better and look better.

If you have a need for a roller guide, and have some disposable time, you can do it yourself and save a few dollars. Else keep selling goods and buy one from your sewing machine vendor. All depends on how much you make per hour!

Have a great day.

CTG

EDIT:

Trox ... I see your post the same time I posted mine. Very nice guide!

Edited February 28, 2012 by northmount

[Trox]

After seeing the different options for roller guides here, I decided to try my hand at making one. I used some 1/2" keystock I had plus 1/4" and 3/8" rod and a piece of 1x1/8" flat stock. Picked up a few screws at a local hardware store. Also a collar for a 3/8" drill bit. The roller bearing is a replacement for a router bit. It is attached with an 6-32 screw. I chucked the screw in the drill press and shaved the head on a taper to a wedge fit inside the bearing, so the bottom of the bearing can be right on the arm or ride on a piece of leather when the item you are sewing is off-set from the bottom piece.

The blocks used to support the guide have to be drilled with very little clearance, else any free motion is amplified at the roller end and it flops around. (That's why that piece of rod is now 3/8") Since my "maching" skills are less than perfect, there is enough misalignment with the support blocks and the 3/8" rod, to produce enough friction to hold the guide where ever you set it. If you manage to have perfect alignmnet, then you will need a spring between the collar and left block (looking from the front) to hold it in place. The other holes for the 1/4" rod all have set screws to take up any sloppy fit. 1/64" oversize makes a sloppy fit.

If you bore the longitudinal holes in the blocks deep enough (mine are 7/8" deep), that will allow you to adjust the length of the rod so it can line up with the presser foot.

I thought the larger diameter bearing was a good idea, but if you have some small radius inside curves to sew, then a smaller diameter bearing will follow the curve better.

Tools you will need include drill with bits to fit your rod size and for screw holes, tap for threading the screw holes, hacksaw, file and wrenches to suit. Drill press is nice but not necessary. Try to keep the drill square to the keystock while drilling. Things will fit better and look better.

If you have a need for a roller guide, and have some disposable time, you can do it yourself and save a few dollars. Else keep selling goods and buy one from your sewing machine vendor. All depends on how much you make per hour!

Have a great day.

CTG

EDIT:

Trox ... I see your post the same time I posted mine. Very nice guide!

Ok That explains it, 22 $ @ Kwokhing.com. ( you can use the Pfaff guide for your machine)

Trox

[Andrew Chee]

Hello Andrew , Actually those guides exist for those big machines & once" you got one you'll wonder how you ever lived without one !

Hi, I was looking back at this old post and I notice that the swing down guide that you have in the picture is attached to a 441 clone. Where did you get this particular guide?

Andrew

[Wizcrafts]

Hi, I was looking back at this old post and I notice that the swing down guide that you have in the picture is attached to a 441 clone. Where did you get this particular guide?

Andrew

Here's mine, which I got from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines:

It came with two screws that had to be drilled and tapped into the back of the head. Some 441s already have these holes drilled and just need to have them tapped. The design began on the Adler 205 models.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Wizcrafts

[Andrew Chee]

Here's mine, which I got from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines:

It came with two screws that had to be drilled and tapped into the back of the head. Some 441s already have these holes drilled and just need to have them tapped. The design began on the Adler 205 models.

I purchased one of the Kwok Hing ones that I'm going to put on a different machine. It was marked as compatible with an Adler 205. I tried to put it on the Toro 3000 and the spacing wasn't correct. It wouldn't reach the bed of the machine even when extended all the way. The other thing was the mounting area interferes with the function of the foot lift lever. Do you have that problem with the guide getting in the way of the lever?

Andrew

[leatherkind]

Mine was interfering with the lift handle. I solved the problem by lowering the guide as much as possible and grinding a bit of the handle off.

http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=34113&view=findpost&p=215041

[TomG]

Here's mine, which I got from Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines:

It came with two screws that had to be drilled and tapped into the back of the head. Some 441s already have these holes drilled and just need to have them tapped. The design began on the Adler 205 models.

Are any of these machines that have been discussed clones of, or similar to, the old Singer 111W155?

Tom

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

I get a lot of questions about these swing away roller guides. I stock/sell them for ALL model machines, and will custom setup a kit to send out for your machine. Some machines have provisions for install, some have to have holes drilled and tapped. Each machine model will differ on install.

This setup seen here is on a Consew 2050 (Adler 205 clone) we have setup, and comes with all hardware and tools necessary to install. Check out the youtube I made, so you can see this in action;

Swing away guide Installed on Consew 2050 (Adler 205)

[TomG]

Ok That explains it, 22 $ @ Kwokhing.com. ( you can use the Pfaff guide for your machine)

Trox

I emailed them for a quote for one for a Singer 111w155 and they "were not familiar with that machine".

Does anyone know which of their listed guides are for one of the Singer clones?

Thanks

Tom

[Trox]

Hi Tom,

Many Singers are clones themselves. Who cloned whom, that is the big question. These days it is very few Singer clones.

If your machine is without threaded holes on the backside. (I guess it is, no dropdown guides where invented when that Singer was born)

I believe you can use the universal Pfaff bracket and guide. The installation enquires some mechanical skills.

I promised before to post here when I had installed both my new Drop down guides. I bought two sets of suspending guides from kwokhing.com, one for my Dürkopp Adler 267 and the other for my Pfaff 345.

I already showed pictures of the 267 installation. It is an almost new machine and has threaded holes on the backside for installing the guide; all it needed was a custom-made bracket to fit the guide. The suspending guide KG767B, $ 22,-, and the bracket KB267 $ 5, 80. http://www.kwokhing.com/adler/da_guide.htm

The older Pfaff 345-H3 has no holes for guide installation. In the pictures, you see how I drilled and threaded the two holes needed for the installation.

The guide I bought for the Pfaff is called; KG1245. It is made to fit the Pfaff classes; 1245, 335 and more.

The set contains a universal bracket that can be attached to almost any machine type. Your Singer head is very similar to the pfaff, (except for the bed). I am sure you will find some material to drill in on the backside of your machine too.

The KG1245 set contains the guide KG867 (who also fit Dürkopp Adler 867,767,467 and 267 and more). A universal bracket to fit many Pfaff machines (other brands too), a straight guide and the roller guide http://www.kwokhing.com/pfaff/pfaff_guide.htm. The price was $ 25, 90

The tools you need for the job is:

A caliper or micrometer, drill machine, one 3, 5 mm and one 4, 2 mm high quality drill bits. A set of M5x0, 8 threading taps (the set contains three taps) and some cutting oil.

I started to measure out where I needed to fix the guide.

The holes need to be at least 8 mm deep, make sure there is enough material where you need to drill.

I will not hold any crash course in threading, if you are unfamiliar with this job. Read up on the subject, and find something else to train on. Make your training similar to the job, it easy to thread apiece vertical, it is a more difficult job done horizontal. (The Guide in the picture is the one I bought for the Adler. I switched the guides because I liked the “Pfaff” guide better. Both guides will fit the Pfaff universal bracket. See my earlier post to see the guide in the KB1245 set). The pictures will tell the rest of the story.

Good luck

Trox

I emailed them for a quote for one for a Singer 111w155 and they "were not familiar with that machine".

Does anyone know which of their listed guides are for one of the Singer clones?

Thanks

Tom

[Uwe]

I recently installed an edge guide on my Pfaff 335. I bought the guide through eBay from Nick-O Sew for around $90. The edge guide looks to be a Kwokhing and is actually a very nicely done guide. It also needed a bracket to attach to the Pfaff 335. Alas, I cannot bring myself to drill holes in these machines. I figured out a solution using existing holes and making a little custom bracket from a scrap piece of aluminum. It worked out quite nicely, fits under the cover panels and does not interfere with with anything. I'm attaching some pictures that hopefully show how I did this.