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[Joemcglynn]

I just had a thought as I was watching one of @John’s videos on sewing pleats. He uses a ruler along the side of the foot after locking the stitch at the beginning to ensure that the material starts out with the stitch line square to the needle.

What about an adjustable laser line that could either be centered on the needle of offset for the normal seam allowance (or some other amount)? You can buy laser line projectors fairly cheap, so it would mostly be a matter of figuring out a stable and adjustable mounting mechanism.

For example: https://www.amazon.com/Quarton-VLM-650- ... laser+line

I may have to order one of these to play with. I’m not sure where it would need to be mounted in order to project the line properly, but probably in front of the machine aimed back toward the needle.

[Joemcglynn]

This one might be even better, it has a power supply and adjustable holder. Just need to make a simple mount for the sewing machine. That could be as simple as a rare earth magnet epoxied to the mount (although the mount base looks a little too big and klutzy).

[hapyrdr]

I like your idea. Surly the base could be made more compact

[John]

Thats a really creative idea. The laser might get blocked in certain sewing situations maybe... Let us know how it works out If you decide to try it!

[Joemcglynn]

Ok, I mocked up my laser gizmo. I just used zip ties to hold it to the metal guard in front of th4 thread feed arm on the front of the machine. It wasn’t perfectly aligned, but it let me try it out.

Here is my assessment:
The line projects nicely, and with a proper mount would be able to easily go from the needle to the front of the table.
The downside is see is that the line is bright enough that it makes it hard to see if you’re off the layout line. But at the same time, it shows the tiniest bit of misalignment easily.

In @John’s videos he shows using a ruler on the side of the foot to make sure you are square to the layout line before starting to sew a pleat. I think this laser would be really good for doing that. I’m thinking that maybe I could hook a micro switch up to the knee lift on my machine to turn it on. So the use wold be as follows: sink the needle into the layout line, lift the walking foot up (releasing it in the process) with the knee lift, which turns on the laser. Use the laser to make sure i’m In alignment with the layout, lower the knee (switching off the laser) and sew. This would be a bit faster and easier than grabbing a ruler every time.

Here is a picture of my mock-up so you can see how clear the laser is (and that the part is a tiny bit out of alignment)

[BigRig]

Lasers are really cool but once bumped they go way word pretty quick. I have seen the commercial lasers for industrial machines before.