Doug Kerr
Well-known member
As may of you know, for the past couple of months we have been occupied here with the design and assembly of a modern numerically-controlled quilting machine. A major component of the system is the "sewing head", in this case a newly-introduced specialized sewing machine derived from a normal industrial sewing machine, but having a substantially longer arm.
In the course of this, we have prepared some instruction sheets to help other users with some of the mysteries of threading the machine. While this is covered in the Owners Manual, that is still in an early stage, not all the explanations are satisfying, and the graphics are fairly primitive.
The project gave us a chance to do a little bush-league macro work. I thought I would give you an idea of what we did.
This is an illustration from our sheet on loading the bobbin into the machine.
This was taken with a Canon EOS 40D using the Canon EF-S 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. Illumination was from a Canon Speedlite 580EX II equipped with a Ray Flash ring light adapter. The aperture was f/9.
The image magnification (with respect to the plane through the center hole of the bobbin) was 0.29 (1:3.4).
It might have been desirable to have some background fill to minimize shadow on the background, but I didn't do it on this round. And the subject needed a little more dusting!
This is an illustration from our sheet on using the inbuilt needle threader.
Again, this was done with the 40D with the EF-S 60 mm. Illumination was from a gooseneck desk lamp (incandescent). (I told you this was bush league!) The aperture was f/16.
Here, the image magnification (with respect to the plane through the presser foot bar, on the left) was 0.23 (1:4.3).
The insert sketch was prepared in our technical illustration system and joined to the photographic image in our image editor.
You can see that I neglected to fully expunge the dust bunnies from the subject before doing this shot!
This was my first opportunity to exploit the live view feature of the 40D in this kind of work. It is fantastic! All focus was manual, and I used the zoom feature of the live view to be certain that the plane of best focus was just where I wanted it.
The live view was also wonderful for aiming and framing. Some of the shots were set up in a way where looking through the optical viewfinder was difficult. (In even tougher situations, I could use an external video monitor.)
It is also wonderful to be able to have the "LCD status panel" indications repeated on the rear monitor screen of the 40D.
You can see the two instruction sheets these images were used in here:
http://pumpkin.annex.home.att.net/manuals/Bobbin_Loading.pdf
and here:
http://pumpkin.annex.home.att.net/manuals/Needle_Threader.pdf
In the course of this, we have prepared some instruction sheets to help other users with some of the mysteries of threading the machine. While this is covered in the Owners Manual, that is still in an early stage, not all the explanations are satisfying, and the graphics are fairly primitive.
The project gave us a chance to do a little bush-league macro work. I thought I would give you an idea of what we did.
This is an illustration from our sheet on loading the bobbin into the machine.
This was taken with a Canon EOS 40D using the Canon EF-S 60 mm f/2.8 macro lens. Illumination was from a Canon Speedlite 580EX II equipped with a Ray Flash ring light adapter. The aperture was f/9.
The image magnification (with respect to the plane through the center hole of the bobbin) was 0.29 (1:3.4).
It might have been desirable to have some background fill to minimize shadow on the background, but I didn't do it on this round. And the subject needed a little more dusting!
This is an illustration from our sheet on using the inbuilt needle threader.
Again, this was done with the 40D with the EF-S 60 mm. Illumination was from a gooseneck desk lamp (incandescent). (I told you this was bush league!) The aperture was f/16.
Here, the image magnification (with respect to the plane through the presser foot bar, on the left) was 0.23 (1:4.3).
The insert sketch was prepared in our technical illustration system and joined to the photographic image in our image editor.
You can see that I neglected to fully expunge the dust bunnies from the subject before doing this shot!
This was my first opportunity to exploit the live view feature of the 40D in this kind of work. It is fantastic! All focus was manual, and I used the zoom feature of the live view to be certain that the plane of best focus was just where I wanted it.
The live view was also wonderful for aiming and framing. Some of the shots were set up in a way where looking through the optical viewfinder was difficult. (In even tougher situations, I could use an external video monitor.)
It is also wonderful to be able to have the "LCD status panel" indications repeated on the rear monitor screen of the 40D.
You can see the two instruction sheets these images were used in here:
http://pumpkin.annex.home.att.net/manuals/Bobbin_Loading.pdf
and here:
http://pumpkin.annex.home.att.net/manuals/Needle_Threader.pdf