WHAT IS LIGHTNING STITCH?

The Lightning Stitch™ is a revolutionary feature of the Innova Longarm. 

On the outside, Lighting Stitch is an easy-to-use color touchscreen interface that gives you total control and feedback about your machine. This interface allows you to easily change your stitch length from 1-22 stitches. It will display when in basting mode and show your stitch speed while quilting. The M series Lightning Stitch even allows you to save your favorite stitch lengths much like you would your favorite radio stations in your car, just one tap to change between basting and quilting lengths. 

The interface helps you perform a variety of functions quickly: pick up, tie off, set needle up/down, cruise speed/minimum sew speed, bobbin fullness indicator, track your time stitching per project, track stitch count per project and more. It will even connect and give you controls for your AutoPilot Mach 3 robotics system.  

The display also gives immediate feedback about your machine. If your machine encounters an issue, it will display information to help you fix it. For example: encoders are not reading properly, a fault will display to prompt you to fix it. 

All of those features are great, but it’s what on the inside that truly stands out: 

Innova is the only longarm in the industry that uses a brushless digital servo motor to control the movement of the needle. This servo motor is one full horsepower. The digital nature of the servo eliminates any delay in the electrical signal telling the needle to stitch. It is instantaneous, our stitch regulation will never feel delayed or “jerky”. This means that you, the quilter, get perfect stitches of EXACTLY the same length no matter how fast you take points or start and stop the machine. This also means the needle will only respond to your movement; when you stop the needle stops. You won't have any knots or stray stitches when you pause to plan your next move. The benefit is especially evident when doing ruler work or small free motion designs. 

The fact that it is brushless = no maintenance! Analog brush motors, which all other brands of longarms use, have carbon brushes that wear over time and need periodic replacing. Those set ups also have oiling points through the upper arm of the longarm (over the quilt-yikes!), no need for that on an Innova. 

The full horsepower motor means you can quite literally sew through any material you put on your frame: leather, Kevlar, denim, canvas or, more likely as a quilter, bulky seams. Your Innova will never hesitate to sew through thick, tough seams or materials. Most longarms are 1/5th – 1/3rd horsepower analog motor, so the Innova is not only more responsive but also quite a bit more powerful. The significant increase in strength gives the machine a safety factor of 5. The Innova is 5 times stronger than it needs to be, so that whatever you throw at it (on purpose or by mistake, like hitting a ruler or scissors) won’t be an issue.