Getting closer to the brim

[mudslinger]

Whenever I do hats I can never get any closer to the brim than about a 1 1/4 inch, it doesnt matter where i put my design its allways 1 1/4 from the brim
How do I get closer.

[GameDayDesigns]

I usually get between 1/2 to 3/4 inch from the brim. I just hoop normally and then move the "hoop" down (or back)with the keypad on my machine so the design is just within the hoop limits.

[mudslinger]

So you are just jogging your design to where you want it??? but does it stay in that area from hat to hat?

[signman]

I 'wish' we could get 1/2 to 3/4 from the brim but it's never happened, no matter if we use WACF or CCF hooper.
Best I can do though is offer this-in Design shop, have your hat hoop selected and showing. Flip your design after finishing it so it's ready to send to Amaya without flipping it there-so in Design Shop you can raise it all the way up in the hoop (closer to the brim in Amaya when sent)
This will save you a lot of hoop jogging when you load your hats.
When hooping (not sure if Herb, Ed, or Aaron helped me out with this but thanks to one of them!) before you load the hat, bend the brim backwards to take some of the curve out, put it on the hooping station, and flatten the face right down hard as you apply the hoop/straps.
Then reach down underneath before you 'lock' the strap/bar and pull the back of the hat firmly.
(the hoop making company I can't remember the name of has a modified hooping station with a tension bar you pull-does this automatically!)
This pulls the face of the hat down better, and because you 'bent' the brim back, you can pull the hat snug to the gripper and get an extra 1/2 inch or so. Also, if the hat has a padded headband, flip that out-don't have it under the face. Same with the 'cords' on some hats-flip them under the brim. Anything that is under the face of the hat will push the brim 'away' from your hoopstrap-getting your sewout further away also.

[Rod or Sharon]

Mudslinger,

Roland uses the older CCF/WAD hooping frames on a non XT AMAYA. On those you cannot get as close to the brim as you can with the newer style XT Extended frames. Roland, you are still using those, arn't you?

My wife Sharon and Herb Acree made an instructional video while I was working on one of his machines. They did a pretty good job of it too...

Scroll to the top of this page and on the left side you will see a section titled "Tips and Tricks". This is where the video is located....watch it, Herb does an excellent job of explaining the process.

If you are hooping the "same" way everytime with repitition, then yes the cap should stay pretty much in the same area, more so with the vertical movement but I always seem to have to jog a bit left to right because of the hooping varibles.

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[signman]

Yup, still the original big red...and 4 of the CCF frames and we hung on to one of the WACF in case it was ever needed...hasn't been out of the box in 3 years! Never did like it....
so the 'frame' is the reason we can't get as close?
That explains why you-all claim how close you can get...those of us with the dinosaur models have to suffer....LOL
We do notice a big difference in how Sue hoops a hat compared to me...She is shorter and doesn't have the height to look straight down at the center seam-so her hats are always 'off' to one side a 1/4" or so. So if you have different people hooping-it may explain why some of them are 'off center'. As Rod says, if you hoop consistently you should only have to worry about the 'center' jogging.

[GameDayDesigns]

Mudslinger,

Yes, once I get it set with the first cap then I only have to jog the frame left or right a tad to center it as Rod explained due to hooping variables with each cap hooped thereafter. Just make sure you don't center the 'hoop' after sewing each cap because then you will have to jog the hoop vertically again. Hope this helps.