Hoop Options?

[YDCustom]

I find that a lot of our designs need a hoop that is just a teensy bit bigger than the available sewing area in the 8.19" round hoop. Are there larger round hoops out there?

We have the larger rectangular hoops but they don't keep our fine sheets as tight as necessary to get pretty monograms. Are oval hoops any better?

[Rod or Sharon]

The term "teensy bit bigger" is vague. What I consider to be "teensy" may be a lot larger to you. Is 1/8th inch teensy, is 1/4 inch teensy? When dealing with the sewing area of the hoops, this can make a critical difference.

What I am going to now say will depend on accepting that each edsign is different in scope and exactly where it exceeds the built in hoop safety dotted line sewing area.

Having said that, IF the design is roughly 1/8th to within roughly 3/16 inch of fitting in the selected hoop and this would apply to the round hoops, square, rectangular or aftermarket hoops will take more care, then you can disable hoop limits.

This must be done with extreme care. Because of the off-set presser foot shaft, the 12 o'clock to 3 o'clock position of the hoop will come into contact with the hoop side if your design is too large. As the presser foot sweeps around the clock from 3 to 4 to 5 etc, the safe distance increases with 9 o'clock being the safest from a presser foot stike on the hoop. This means, with the hoop limits disabled, you can sew closer to the side of the hoop at 9 o'clock than you can at the 12 to 3 o'clock position because of the presser foot off-set on the right side of the presser foot shaft.

This is why you see the dotted safety line that designates the "safe" sewing area of the hoop. I do this all the time with some designs, BUT ALWAYS, when you are done sewing with hoop limits disabled, make sure you re-enable the hoop limits. In fact, prior to sewing at the start of the day, ALL machine settings should be checked just to make sure that things are the way they are suppose to be and then there won't be any nasty little supprises that will jump up and bite you in the you know what..

Always, ALWAYS trace your design, especially if you have disabled your hoop limits.

The other option is to scale the design down to fit inside of the selected hoop, but then the term "teensy bit bigger" comes right back into play again....but, that is another story.

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Knehmer]

I know the definition of "teensy bit bigger"--it's Murphy's law. It's always a little too large than the largest hoop YOU own--if your friend as a larger hoop, then the design THEY want to embroider is a "teensy bit bigger" then THAT hoop. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[YDCustom]

My teensy bit bigger is in the 1/8 to 1/4" area. I've toyed with the idea of turning off hoop limits but decided it wasn't worth the risk of messing up the presser foot and needle bar.

[signman]

I have never had a problem with shrinking a design enough to fit in the hoop limits...customers don't notice it and if I do mention it to them I just explain it as an 'artistic decision' to shrink the design for economic reasons...so I don't waste backing and stuff.
Works every time!
Roland

[Rod or Sharon]

Deending on which side of the design has the 1/4" overlap, that is about the max I would push it in the hoop limits.

Not learning how to utilize all the tools available to you just limits how flexible you can be to get the job done. It's all about time. There is not much risk if you just think about what you are doing....

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[gcannon]

Don't push the hoop limits- they are there for our use and protection from machine damage. Use a larger hoop for your own sake.