Part eleven- how I made my long arm quilting machine, stretching the feed dog shaft

   Its time for me to Stretch the vertical bobbin shaft. By making all kinds a miss judgments I can tell you how to do this better then I first did. Let me say again if anyone does this I am not responsible, this is just how I did it and got my machine to work. I needed a flat bar 1/2 inch by 14 inches, I could only find 1 inch by 14 inches. So I used a angle grinder and cut it down the middle, not a straight cut, but close enough. Wear safety glasses. Use a table clamp to hold the bar. Using a hack saw I cut the bobbin shaft in half.  I then need the bobbin fork in the neck and my bobbin hook piece to be in the right places. The bobbin fork is a part I could not get out when I cut the machine.

 Here is what it looks like under the bobbin, you have to only put this part back on, not the feed dog parts. Then put the other end back on. The part under the bobbin, the hook looking piece and the center piece needs to be 1/4 inches apart. No more, no less or the timing will be off. I know because I had the timing off and had to redo it. If it is closer the hook thing will hit the center part.

In the mean time the other side needs to go all the way to the right or the far end, what ever you want to call it. Clamp the 1/2 by 14 inch bar to it on both sides. I drilled two holes in each side. screwed them together with 1 inch by 1/4 inch bolts and tighten the nuts down. I tried welding but my weld kept coming apart. As I said I had not put my bar in the right place, that is how I know were to put it.  This is what it looks like now that it works.