Bobbin and Thread nest mess

[Dave]

When sewing out small text or objects I often get a nest of thread all in one area that causes a knot of thread and bobbin thread. I have to cut this knot out from the bobbin arm in order to restart the sew out, not to mention I often destroy the project and have to start over.

Any ideas or suggestions on what causes this would be appreciate.

Thanks, Dave

[Rod or Sharon]

Dave,
There could be several reasons for what you are describing.
How small is the text? What fonts are we talking about? Are they pre-digitized or are they true-type fonts and what kind of small objects are you referring to?

Something that will help on ALL small columns, whether they are in text(font) form or used in any design is to adjust your column width. In Design Shop, select the entire design or just the elements you wish to adjust, or the lettering if that is the case and click on "Properties" and then select the "Column" tab. Close to the bottom of the display window, you will see a "Minimum Column Width" selection window. The default is normally shown at "5pts". This should NEVER be below "10pts". Therefore when doing lettering or designs that have small columns, set this to a "minimum" of 10 or higher. This selection process will not affect columns that are already over "10pts", just the columns that are less then that.

Sewing a column at a minimum width of 5pts, will give you something like an actual column of about .039 which is less than 1/2 of 1/10th of an inch wide and you are looking at nothing but fraying and thread breaking and (@&$^&#%#%.....

Also, adding lock stitches to fonts or designs that already have lock stitches digitized into them will cause knots to show, cause fraying and thread breaks and frustration and headaches.....etc. To check this,select the element(s), go to Properties, View, and at the bottom of the selection list, click on "View lock stitches." Then go to the " Stitches" tab" at the bottom of the project tree window, click on it and look at the first stitch in the font or element. When "TI" is shown, it means it has a "Tie-in". Scrolling down the list of stitches, when "TO" is shown, that is a "Tie-off".

Rod Springer
Melco Tech & Trainer

[Green Eyed Di]

How many tie in and tie off stitches should there be for Melco stock digitized letters?