Singer Monogrammer for slant needle

Well, I got a Singer Monogrammer for slant needle machines on ebay for
a few bucks, and it just arrived.

The good news: it's in excellent condition.

The bad news: No way in heck will it attach to a vertical needle
sewing machine, such as mine. The mounting point is angled for a slant
needle machine, and if you try to angle the device to make it fit on
the shank of a vertical needle machine, you can't lower it enough for
the holes for the mounting screw to align. I had wondered if the
mounting point was on a replacable part, so I could perhaps scavenge
the relevant part from a common, inexpensive buttonholer to make a
FrankenMonogrammer, but it turns out to be molded onto the metal
casing of the device.

Conclusion: Don't buy a Singer Monogrammer for slant needle machines
unless you in fact *have* a slant needle machine.

The device itself seems nice enough, I think if it fit my machine, I
might be very happy with it. It makes small elegant shaped letters.
The included template is used to position the letters and mark the
fabric to determine when they're done. (When the letter is completed,
it just keeps sewing unless you stop: it has to return to the starting
point, which would mess up some letters if you don't stop at the
appropriate stopping point.)

The device drags the fabric around in the shape of the letter, but
unlike the Singer Buttonholer, it does not jerk the fabric back and
forth in zigzags, assuming that the machine is a straight needle
machine. The Singer Buttonholer for slant needle machines assumes that
the machine is a zigzag machine, and the width you select for the
zigzag on your machine will determine the thickness of the lines of
the letter. Remembering that this means that the width of the line of
the letter will "flatten" on horizontal lines and "fatten" on vertical
lines, this implies that the letters will give the impression of
looking like calligraphy. If you set the machine for straight stitch,
you'll get a letter in a fine line instead of a calligraphic letter.

Also unlike the Singer Buttonholer, you can replace the cam for the
letter without removing the device from the sewing machine, because
the door to access the cam is on top of the device instead of on the
bottom. I found the cam rather difficult to remove from the device
though. It's not easy to grip, and there's no real space under it to
allow you to get your fingers underneath to pry it up.

In general it seems like a nice tool and I wish they still made it,
with mounting points suitable for current model machines. I intend to
photograph mine for a descriptive web page about this category of
equipment and for my book, and then put it back on ebay.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

Tom,

Any chance you can find an adaptor to make the monogrammer work on your
machine? With so many attachments available today there must be something
that will work.

Liz


Snipped ....

"Tom Farrell" wrote in message
m...
Well, I got a Singer Monogrammer for slant needle machines on ebay for
a few bucks, and it just arrived.

The good news: it's in excellent condition.

The bad news: No way in heck will it attach to a vertical needle
sewing machine, such as mine.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

It would be a good trick to manage it but if you do Tom, let us know. Just
to get my old buttonholer to work with my not-so-old machine took a good
deal of looking around and figuring out. The solution was a little metric
screw and wrench that only cost me 30¢ each but it took a whole lot of
guessing and seeking before I went to the local seed & feed (farm store,
whatever you call it where you live) and found what I needed in the metric
section of the hardware aisle.

I'd like to find a mechanical mongrammer to use with my machine too. In the
meantime, my free-hand technique is improving but will never have the degree
of precision a machine will give. Let us know how it goes for you, Tom.

Max

Max
"Ward" wrote in message
roups.com...
Tom,

Any chance you can find an adaptor to make the monogrammer work on your
machine? With so many attachments available today there must be something
that will work.

Liz


Snipped ....

"Tom Farrell" wrote in message
m...
Well, I got a Singer Monogrammer for slant needle machines on ebay for
a few bucks, and it just arrived.

The good news: it's in excellent condition.

The bad news: No way in heck will it attach to a vertical needle
sewing machine, such as mine.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

"Ward" wrote in message groups.com...
Tom,

Any chance you can find an adaptor to make the monogrammer work on your
machine? With so many attachments available today there must be something
that will work.

I don't think so, but if anyone knows where to find one I'm all ears.

Although, now you have me thinking about what I could do to make
one... the shank on my machine would have to be raised in order to
make space for me to put in an adaptor, but as it's a 100% mechanical
machine that's not a problem, it doesn't care what it thinks the foot
position is when I sew...

I'll look over the problem with some friends and see if we can come up
with anything. if so, I'll post about it.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

"Max Penn" wrote:

It would be a good trick to manage it but if you do Tom, let us know.

Sadly, I made another examination of the monogrammer and sewing
machine this evening and determined that it almost certainly won't be
possible. My low-shank machine can't raise its shank enough to get far
enough out of the way of the monogrammer for an adaptor to be inserted
between the two.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

You need a 401 or a 500a. They are fun machines and would be happy to
work your monogrammer.
Taria

Tom Farrell wrote:
"Max Penn" wrote:

It would be a good trick to manage it but if you do Tom, let us know.


Sadly, I made another examination of the monogrammer and sewing
machine this evening and determined that it almost certainly won't be
possible. My low-shank machine can't raise its shank enough to get far
enough out of the way of the monogrammer for an adaptor to be inserted
between the two.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

Tom,

if you realy want to get into this , and I very much suggest you don't,
compare the attachement portion of your monogramer to the attachment portion
of your buttonholer. If they are similar in that they are sort of the same
and are set in the device in the same way, you could try purchasing another
cheap buttonholer that fits your machine, and fit the attaching part into
the monogrammer.

but this falls into the "don't try this at home" categorie

good luck

Jean P.

"Tom Farrell" a écrit dans le message de
om...
"Max Penn" wrote:

It would be a good trick to manage it but if you do Tom, let us know.

Sadly, I made another examination of the monogrammer and sewing
machine this evening and determined that it almost certainly won't be
possible. My low-shank machine can't raise its shank enough to get far
enough out of the way of the monogrammer for an adaptor to be inserted
between the two.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

"Jean Péloquin" wrote:

if you realy want to get into this , and I very much suggest you don't,
compare the attachement portion of your monogramer to the attachment portion
of your buttonholer. If they are similar in that they are sort of the same
and are set in the device in the same way, you could try purchasing another
cheap buttonholer that fits your machine, and fit the attaching part into
the monogrammer.

Yes, I already thought about making FrankenMonogrammers, but the
relevant parts are not the slightest bit the same between my
Monogrammer for slant needle machines and my buttonholers. However, I
did also order a Professional Buttonholer on ebay and it hasn't
arrived yet, so when it does I'll also compare it to that.

There are so many buttonholers and enough slant needle monogrammers
available that if it was something technically possible, I was
thinking about buying a bunch of each and doing the work on them and
then offering up the converted-for-vertical-needle monogrammers for
sale on the web. However, that's not so reasonable under the
circumstances: even if it's possible using the Professional
Buttonholer, those aren't nearly so common so I wouldn't have a
reliable source of parts and anyway I'd feel guilty cannibalizing a
rare-ish item.

but this falls into the "don't try this at home" categorie

*chuckle* My home is a little more fearless about such things. I took
a sofa and sawed it up and turned it into two recliners and a chair. A
little surgery on sewing equipment doesn't scare me, if I have or can
fabricate the appropriate parts.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

Tom Farrell wrote:

Well, I got a Singer Monogrammer for slant needle machines on ebay for
a few bucks, and it just arrived.

The good news: it's in excellent condition.

The bad news: No way in heck will it attach to a vertical needle
sewing machine, such as mine. The mounting point is angled for a slant
needle machine, and if you try to angle the device to make it fit on
the shank of a vertical needle machine, you can't lower it enough for
the holes for the mounting screw to align. I had wondered if the
mounting point was on a replacable part, so I could perhaps scavenge
the relevant part from a common, inexpensive buttonholer to make a
FrankenMonogrammer, but it turns out to be molded onto the metal
casing of the device.

Conclusion: Don't buy a Singer Monogrammer for slant needle machines
unless you in fact *have* a slant needle machine.


You now have an excellent reason to pick up a slant-needle
zigzag Singer....I recommend the 401, but there are
several others that will do nicely.
--

Joanne @ stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us
http://bernardschopen.tripod.com/
Life is about the journey, not about the destination.

Pogonip wrote in message ...

You now have an excellent reason to pick up a slant-needle
zigzag Singer....I recommend the 401, but there are
several others that will do nicely.

Well, I can't say I wasn't warned that someone would try to talk me
into buying one. I don't know if I'd want to use it for anything other
than the monogrammer, which seems like it'd be a real waste, but it
might not be so bad to have a second working machine I could loan to
friends and students.

At the moment I'm unemployed, and laying out just a few bucks for
these attachments is a stretch for me. (If anyone needs a really
*great* web developer in the Boston area, email me.) Sometime when I'm
employed and have paid off some debt, I'll be able to think about
taking in an antique sewing machine. Meanwhile, I'm afraid I can't
even consider it.

Incidentally, can you shed any light on what's the *point* of the
slant needle machines? From an engineering perspective it would seem
like a bad idea to me...

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/