Roller guide Toro 4000

[Bree]

Oh most venerated leather sewing minds and Artisan aficionados...

I ran into a problem today and I'm not sure about the best way to solve it. I was making up a double layer gunbelt for a friend in Georgia. I wanted to sew it in a groove, the center of which is 1/8" from the edge of the belt. I wanted to use my Artisan roller guide to maintain exact distance but couldn't. It seems that the guide can only reach somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/16-1/4" from the tip of the needle. It is just a wee bit away from the place I want to groove the belt.

The rub is that the guide center channel of the roller guide base has sufficient room to reach into 1/8" from the needle center. What is stopping it is the knurled wheel under the base that locks the guide onto its base plate. That wheel contacts the curve of the T-4000 outer arm assembly which stops the guide from moving its full travel towards the needle bar.

I am a little reluctant to get out a grinder and grind off the cast iron of the sewing machine's arm to make room for that knurled wheel to move that extra 1/16"-3/32" that I need. I thought about trying to get the wheel on top of the base plate but that just doesn't work. The design of the roller guide doesn't permit moving the wheel top the top. Trimming 1/8" off the wheel diameter might work except then you can't reach it to lock down the guide.

ARGGHHHH!!!

Luckily I have a 3 1/2" magnetic seam guide that I can use to form a guide wall. It is not a great solution because the magnets are not very strong and it can move out of position if I apply too much force. I guess I could make a wooden guide with some very powerful neodymium magnets but I would rather find a way to use my roller guide.

Any suggestions???

Edited January 11, 2009 by Bree

[esantoro]

Just an idea. What about modifying/grinding 1/16" of the circumference of the knurled wheel and then taking off the same amount off each side of the railing so that you don't lose room to tighten and loosen the modified wheel.That's option number 1, not a great one.Option two:Call around to see if anyone has a similar knurled wheel with a smaller diameter. By the way, what diameter does your wheel have? Mine is 27mm. Also on mine, the distance from one end of the guide assembly to the edge of the roller is 84.06mm. Call artisan to see if there is some variance among stock and to see if there has been this overlooked difference between your long arm and and regular 4000 and 3000, as the roller guide is probably the same for all machines, but your LA25 might be slightly different.ed

Oh most venerated leather sewing minds and Artisan aficionados... I ran into a problem today and I'm not sure about the best way to solve it. I was making up a double layer gunbelt for a friend in Georgia. I wanted to sew it in a groove, the center of which is 1/8" from the edge of the belt. I wanted to use my Artisan roller guide to maintain exact distance but couldn't. It seems that the guide can only reach somewhere in the neighborhood of 3/16-1/4" from the tip of the needle. It is just a wee bit away from the place I want to groove the belt.The rub is that the guide center channel of the roller guide base has sufficient room to reach into 1/8" from the needle center. What is stopping it is the knurled wheel under the base that locks the guide onto its base plate. That wheel contacts the curve of the T-4000 outer arm assembly which stops the guide from moving its full travel towards the needle bar.I am a little reluctant to get out a grinder and grind off the cast iron of the sewing machine's arm to make room for that knurled wheel to move that extra 1/16"-3/32" that I need. I thought about trying to get the wheel on top of the base plate but that just doesn't work. The design of the roller guide doesn't permit moving the wheel top the top. Trimming 1/8" off the wheel diameter might work except then you can't reach it to lock down the guide.ARGGHHHH!!! Luckily I have a 3 1/2" magnetic seam guide that I can use to form a guide wall. It is not a great solution because the magnets are not very strong and it can move out of position if I apply too much force. I guess I could make a wooden guide with some very powerful neodymium magnets but I would rather find a way to use my roller guide.Any suggestions???

Edited January 11, 2009 by esantoro

[skipj]

Which guide do you have? Mine will go right up to the needle guide. Could you wrap something, duct tape, around the roller to temporarily increase it diameter?

SkipJ

Edited January 12, 2009 by skipj

[Bree]

Ed... I think it is the same roller guide. Mine looks to be about 84 mm long and the wheel is 28 mm from outermost knurling to outermost knurling. I was hoping to avoid calling Artisan.

Skip has an idea that might work. Increase the diameter of the roller itself with tape. I never thought of that. And the tape might be stickier against the leather than the chrome roller giving a better "roll". I may investigate that further.

I had to run my roller against my burnisher motor for some time to get a little inner burr worn off to get free rotation. The tape idea would have been very useful when I was fooling around trying to remove that burr.

Any other ideas?

[esantoro]

Ed... I think it is the same roller guide. Mine looks to be about 84 mm long and the wheel is 28 mm from outermost knurling to outermost knurling. I was hoping to avoid calling Artisan.

Skip has an idea that might work. Increase the diameter of the roller itself with tape. I never thought of that. And the tape might be stickier against the leather than the chrome roller giving a better "roll". I may investigate that further.

I had to run my roller against my burnisher motor for some time to get a little inner burr worn off to get free rotation. The tape idea would have been very useful when I was fooling around trying to remove that burr.

Any other ideas?

I think I have to do the same for my roller to get it moving more freely.

Now I understand the tape method, tape around the spinning guide. I was thinking it was tape around the knurled wheel, which would worsen the problem.

ed

[Bree]

I think I have to do the same for my roller to get it moving more freely.

Now I understand the tape method, tape around the spinning guide. I was thinking it was tape around the knurled wheel, which would worsen the problem.

ed

LOL!! Yes that would make it harder. I wonder if I couldn't take some mounting tape with a foam core and wrap it around the roller once and then run some duct tape around it to cover the seam and provide some traction. That would give me a lot of expansion with out wrapping a zillion turns of tape. Makes it easier to remove as well.

[esantoro]

LOL!! Yes that would make it harder. I wonder if I couldn't take some mounting tape with a foam core and wrap it around the roller once and then run some duct tape around it to cover the seam and provide some traction. That would give me a lot of expansion with out wrapping a zillion turns of tape. Makes it easier to remove as well.

This sounds like another job for DUCT TAPE. Three wraps should do it.

ed

[Bree]

Jerry Zonis from Artisan called me today. He was monitoring our chat and then checked out the LA-25 model. He discovered that the casting for the arm is slightly different than the t-4000 16" arm or the T-3000 castings. The problem that I am having affects only the LA-25's. He said that there is plenty of cast iron to do a little Dremel grinding and make some extra room for the wheel to move forward an extra 1/8th". He is sending me some matching paint so I can paint over the cut and make it look healthy again.

So I am going to grind it out.

You just have to love those Artisan guys. They are like angels watching over us. Thanks Jerry!

[FatbackSlim]

So I am going to grind it out.

Go on E-bay and do a search for router bit bearings. You may be able to buy larger bearings that will work. The router bearings are what I used when I scratch built a sewing guide for my GA5-1.

[Bree]

I took some PIX of the problem. I put a piece of scrap with a crease to show how the needle is not going to get close enough and I took a PIC of the slope in the csting that is causing the problem. As Jerry said this appears to only be a problem in the LA-25 models. They are going to have the castings changed. You can't beat that for customer service.

Edited January 18, 2009 by Bree

[Art]

Go easy girl, that ain't Meehanite. Chinese castings have improved a lot over the years, but are still a little granular, just go slow.

Art

So I am going to grind it out.

[Bree]

Go easy girl, that ain't Meehanite. Chinese castings have improved a lot over the years, but are still a little granular, just go slow.

Art

Art...

It took the Dremel grinding stone very well. The metal was very good quality and the casting didn't even get hot as I ground it. I could touch it very shortly after grinding. It's fixed now and I sewed a nice belt with it the same day.

[Go2Tex]

Like I said before, Bree. Take that dang thing off, put it in your drawer and just learn to use your fingers to guide the work. Trust me. It works.

[Bree]

Like I said before, Bree. Take that dang thing off, put it in your drawer and just learn to use your fingers to guide the work. Trust me. It works.

Do you have to actually SEE the leather to guide it?? LOL! I'm old now Brent. That's a bifocal roller guide for the peeps that can't see anymore! Heck if I did it the old fashioned way I'd probably stitch my finger to the leather!!

[Go2Tex]

Oh you see well enough. You can read this forum. How do you do fancy stitching? There's no quide there, just a gouge line, presumably or some chalk line or whatever. You slow that thing down and just follow your line. I stitch tack and billets, saddle skirts, and it's the same as a belt. I want the line perfect. Plus, it's all curvy in places. I rarely step out of the gouge. My skirts are all all one big long curve with only a couple straight places at the top. So, for me, the use of the guide was impractical. I just figured out that I was already pushing the work against the guide with one hand, why not just put my thumb on the plate and run the work against it as a guide.

So far I haven't managed to put a needle through my thumb or any other finger. ...well, not a machine needle. The hand stitching awl, ....that's another story.