Swing Down Vs Swing Away Guides

[Elmore]

I am seeking to learn about edge guides, and then purchase (or possibly make) one for my singer 111W155.

It seems like there are two different styles, one that bolts onto the bed or bobbin cover and is able to pivot away when not in use. The other bolts to the back of the machine and swings down. Both offer fixed guides as well as roller feet.

Other than the difference in price, with the swing down being more expensive, what are the benefits each has? Does the swing down offer much more versatility?

The bed of my machine has several tapped holes in it already, so it looks like a swing away guide was previously installed.

Thanks guys!

[Wizcrafts]

You will have a hell of a time installing a drop down edge guide on a Singer 111 machine. Go with the bed mounted swing away guide. I used to have one that clamped over the front facing edge of the machine, with one or two large screws. It worked fine.

[Colt W Knight]

I got this one from Bob Kovar at Toledo Industrial sewing supply for ~5$. The swing up/down required me to drill and tap my machine plus the guide was almost 100$

The swing down is nice because you can flip it up and its completely out of the. The swing away thats mounted to the bottom is still in the way if you need to use the whole bottom if you are sewing something big.

Anything sticking up on the bed of the sewing machine will create a drag point, and when your leather catches that it will FUBAR the stitches everytime ( at least for me it does).

Edited September 22, 2015 by Colt W Knight

[Constabulary]

I would not say a hell of a time but you have to drill 2 holes and tap 2 threads - thats it. I have flip down guide on my 111G156 which is the same as your but mine has reverse. You just need the correct adapter for the machine

I bought this one, it comes with a roller and straight guide and and it works well:

https://www.college-sewing.co.uk/KG1245-DROP-GUIDE-PFAFF-1245%2c1246%2c1525%2c1526%2c335%2c591

Some pictures:

[Uwe]

The bed mounted guides will be cheaper, partly because they're fairly simple designs and easy to make. The swing down guides are more complex to make and cost more but they're also more versatile. It's matter of personal preference often. Swing-down guides will require drilling and tapping holes on a 111W155 class machine - not something everybody is comfortable with. I had installed a swing-down guide on my Consew 225, which is nearly identical to a 111W155. I did not use an extension bracket like Constabulary. My guide sits closer to the presser feet, but the extension bracket (KB09) could be easily added for increased adjustment range. I had posted some installation pics in another thread before, but here they are again:

Edited September 22, 2015 by Uwe

[Art]

I am seeking to learn about edge guides, and then purchase (or possibly make) one for my singer 111W155.

It seems like there are two different styles, one that bolts onto the bed or bobbin cover and is able to pivot away when not in use. The other bolts to the back of the machine and swings down. Both offer fixed guides as well as roller feet.

Other than the difference in price, with the swing down being more expensive, what are the benefits each has? Does the swing down offer much more versatility?

The bed of my machine has several tapped holes in it already, so it looks like a swing away guide was previously installed.

Thanks guys!

The easiest method (Kiss) on a flat bed machine is a magnetic edge or seam guide, about $6 or so. If you want it semi permanent, drill and tap a couple of holes and get some thumb screws and washers from the hardware store. Most of the dealers on here should have them.

Art

[Uwe]

I caught the tinkering bug yet again and made a cover plate mounted edge guide from parts I have sitting around from my various Kwok Hing swing-down edge guides. The KG-AA straight edge guide and the KB-09 bracket lend themselves quite nicely to making a custom edge guide. Cover plates are available on Ebay for about $9 (and I'm sure our resident vendors stock them as well), and the two guide parts run about $25 by themselves (I have some of these). So for about $35 in materials and twenty minutes of work, you have something in the middle between the cheap, cool magnet guides and the elaborate, more expensive swing down guides. Drilling and tapping holes into a cheap and easy-to-replace cover plate is considerably less stressful than drilling into your precious machine.

I drilled two holes into the thick part of the cover plate and tapped 10-32 threads. The screws are ground off level with the bottom of the plate, so the whole affair slides in and out of place as usual, making for an easy five second swap between regular cover plate and a cover plate with mounted edge guide.

Hopefully the pictures help tell the story.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Uwe

[Uwe]

To answer your question about whether swing down guides are more versatile, the short answer is yes.

Bed mounted guides are often one-trick ponies - they're mostly one-size roller guides or straight edge guides. Rarely can you easily switch between the two modes. Bed mounted guides are useless when you need to follow an edge of a small top piece in the middle of a larger bottom panel (like attaching a smaller pocket in the middle of a larger bag front or back panel.) The bottom panel will simply cover the bed area and you can't use a guide from below. A guide that descends from above can deal with that scenario quite easily.

The swing down guides are more of a system with many attachments available for straight edge, various roller sizes, zipper guides, center seam guides, etc. I'm attaching a screenshot of a guide page at Kwok Hing that illustrates the various attachments available for the swing-down guides.

So if it is versatility you need the swing down guides may well be worth the investment.

Edited September 22, 2015 by Uwe

[Elmore]

Thank you for all the replies, this has been very helpful so far!

I like the simplicity of the bed mounted guide and the fact that additional cover plates are both readily available and affordable. I also can see how having the swing down guide would be beneficial in the circumstances Uwe mentioned. So I think I may pickup both and see which works best for me.

For buying a swing down guide, it looks like both in this thread are made by Kwok Hing. Constabulary posted a link to a UK site and UWE's is for Kwok Hing directly out of Hong Kong. Do any of the dealers in the US stock something like this, or do they have to be imported?

Uwe - it looks like you successfully tapped the head of your machine. Did you have to take any extraordinary precautions when tapping it? I've tapped plenty of aluminum and steel, but come to think of it, I don't think I have ever had to mess with cast iron. Thanks for posting your step by step photos of your fabricated bed mounted guide. That was a pretty clever reuse of spare parts!

[Uwe]

The drilling of the mounting holes was not so hard, actually, just a little nerve wracking because it was the first time I drilled into a machine. I triple checked the locations and depth to make sure I'm not drilling into anything I shouldn't. The cast iron on my machine was surprisingly soft in terms of drilling. Use a vacuum to suck up the metal shavings - you don't want to get those into the gears and bearings. Placing a magnet right next to the drill area might work, too.

I had placed the machine on its front on a work surface and used shims to level the area to be drilled. Then I used a hand drill with a bubble level on the back so I can drill as vertical and straight as possible. For tapping I used two identical tap bits, but on one I had the tip purposely broken off. This allows you to get the threads as deep as possible into the holes after starting the threads with the normal bit. There are special blind pocket tap bits available, but they're expensive and a broken-off bit worked just fine for me.

The picture shows the tap bit modification. (The picture is from a stripped-thread fix on my Adler 67 - your drill and tap size for swing guide installation may be different.)

Get your swing guide and bracket before you start drilling. The KB-09 extension bracket uses a smaller screw size than the swing guide itself. Make sure you drill and tap for the exact screws you will use.

For sourcing the swing guide, they're available from various vendors online, usually with a "fits most machines" type statement. Very few vendors carry the adapter brackets to actually make the guides fit a particular machine. I always get a few extras when I order stuff from Kwok Hing for my machines. I put the extras in my Ebay store to help finance my sewing machine habit. I have guides and brackets.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Uwe

[Instinctive]

@Uwe Your mounting instructions for a swing away edge guide were extremely clear. Did this to my Consew 226 following your instructions. Very simple process with good preparation. Thanks.