Caps, what speed

[Will]

What speed do you all sew caps at? I have an XTS and I am ble to sew caps at 950 to 1000, I just wonder if it is too hard on the machine? I have had to send my cap attachement head back for warranty because the ball bearings were falling out of it. do you think this is from sewing to fast?

Cp

[levelbest]

While I can sew faster on my original Reds, we keep hats in the 850-900 spm range and get good results.

[Rod or Sharon]

No, that speed is not too hard on the machine. A " properly digitized" cap design should be able to sew at 1200spm without issue. Some caps embroidery better than others. Low vs med vs high profile caps. Structured vs non-structered caps. How much small lettering is being sewn next to the bill. height of the design. Denseness of the design....bottom line is that the machine can handle any of the caps just fine as long as the digitizing is up to par.....

The ball bearings falling out is another matter.....I have found that if you are not very careful when sliding the cylinder onto and off of the shaft, the bearings can be "scrubed out of the rubber bearing boot or the boot can be damaged. Sewing at the speeds you described would not affect the bearings, unless they were allowed to become very dry from lack of lubrication, which could then possibly damage the containment boot.

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[GF]

I rarely change my speed from 1250 on anything. Depending on the thickness of the thread, the density of the design, and the movement of the carriage to output the design determines whether I will slow it down any. My experience with speed is if the XT is slowed too much, it doesn't get enough momentum to run smoothly and small problems like thread or bobbin breaks could occur as well as a minute quality difference.

Understanding the mechanics of your machine and the variables of each project will help you work together. Not too unlike cars really ... some perform best with higher speeds, and some just can't handle it at all. But even with an high performance car, you would adjust your speed on a mountainous curve-bending road versus a flat empty highway.

Having said that, there are some operators who prefer to run the machines slower and they probably have adjusted their tensions to adapt to that. Tension, rollers, thread, and the physics of how quickly the thread is moving through the machine and the tension the thread is pulled are really key to a quality sewout on anything. No one size fits all. Know your tools and adjust them to your preference. The XT is an amazing machine and will do exactly as you ask it too, and will let you know if one of your settings are not working right with everything else.

Geri