1st Time Adjustment for WACF

[sschroed2]

I had to send my wide angle cap frame driver into melco because it was spitting out ball bearings. I received it (or may be a new one from the looks of it) back today.

Problem: A paper insert says IMPORTANT! In order to insure the proper operation of your Wide-Angle Cap frame Option, you must adjust your new drivers to fit optimally on your machine. Before using the Option, you must perform the First Time Adjustment outline in your operator manual.

2nd Problem. I go to my manual and under XT WACF Driver Installation it says: The wide angle cap frame driver, if ordered with a machine, is usually adjusted to the machine already. It then goes on to shw the installation for the driver. But I don't see any adjustments.

What am I missing. Is it a case of can't see the forest for the trees?

I need to sew 3 dozens hats now that I have it back, but am afraid to do anything until I understand this.

Sue Schroeder

[Rod or Sharon]

Sue,

Install the cap driver on your machine. If the machine is on, depress the E-Stop (Big Red ) button or you can check the adjustment with the machine turned completely off....

Now you can gently push and pull the X-Carriage back and forth (left & right )to see if the solid black bar stays in contact with the top of the rotating cylinder as it travels from one side to the other. As these machines are built to a certain spec, it should be extremely close if not right on and will not need any adjustments.

Also check to see if the cylinder is rotating smoothly and is not binding or rubbing against the sewing arm or any other part of the machine.

Always select the proper hoop designation and center the hoop to the machine before installing the cap driver as the driver has a more restricted travel area than some of the jacket back hoops , as an example...

Once you are satisfied that the cap driver stays in contact with the solid black mounting bar and nothing is rubbing or binding, you should have no trouble with the new driver...

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[integrity]

I wondered where that errant BB came from, and that might explain the somewhat erratic jerky behavior of my cap frame. I will be on the phone with Melco tomorrow!

Dave

[sschroed2]

Rod, Thank you again for your always quick responsive support. I spoke to Brad from Avalon on the phone today and he was also helpful. I will follow your instructions.

Also, Brad suggested you might be able to help on another subject. I have the Hooptech 270 cap hoop and have been using it with the CCF/WAD hoop selected. But noticed that I cannot get very close to the edge of the frame (trying to go seam to seam on a flexfit hat). Is there a setup for the actual Hooptech hoop that would work better? I noticed in the edit hoop list that there are selections for Hooptech square and round hoops but nothing for the cap hoop.
Sue

[Rod or Sharon]

Sue,
The CCF/WAD cap hoop designation would be the one to use with the CCF style hoop....have you removed the "wings" that are used with the 270 degree WACF hoops?

You could revert back to the 270 cap frames if you need this kind of sewing area.....how old is your machine....standard Amaya or XT now?
Rod

[sschroed2]

I've had my XT 1 year this week. (major milestone). What are these "wings" I don't find them. I just figured it was another one of those things where the manual wasn't updated for the later machines. Mine is all black. No red on it except for the pinch rollers. AS for the WACF, just couldn't ever manage to get the hats straight on it. Had given up on hats entirely until I got the Hooptech hoops.
Sue

[Rod or Sharon]

The "wings" were attachment pads that were primarily used on the older Amaya cap driver in conjunction with a raised needle plate. They also helped to stretch out the cap and give it a level surface to help prevent flagging.

The XT design no longer uses a raised needle plate or "wings" and with the new design of the 270 degree cap frames, the caps are kept flat on top of the sewing arm from the bill seam to the top the crown. This allows you to use your presser foot in the same manner as when sewing flats to prevent flagging. The new 270 frames have an angled stand-off that you push the bill of the cap up to and a single strap/band that fits into the bill seam.

With the first Amayas (non-XT's)and the first 270 style cap frames I really did not like to use them. I preferred the CCF/WAD and it did the job quite well. To use the CCF/WAD, you needed to remove the "wings" as they would impact the sides of the CCF/WAD frame as it rotated from side to side.

With the XT Amaya I have found the CCF/WAD to not work as well as the newer 270 degree frames. This is because the CCF/WAD will not alow the cap to sit "flat" on the sewing arm and creats a kind of sloped bubble from the bill seam to the crown that the presser foot now has to beat down. The "newer" style 270 cap frame works much better for most styles of caps. They are also "much" eaiser to use than the first 270 cap frame style....learn how to use them and you won't be sorry. Using these newer 270 frames with a properly digitized design and hooping the cap tightly will allow you to sew at 1200 stitches a minute on a cap....

Altho I am not an advocate of using sticky spray on a regular basis, it does have its uses. I have found on the low profile unconstructed caps, I will use two pieces of cap backing. I lightly spray the backing and stick them together and then spray the top side of the backing. this allows me to tightly hoop the cap, smooth out the wrinkles and rub the cap down flat sticking it to the backing. This has turned out to work pretty well. It more or less simulates a structured cap to sew on......

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Aaron]

You can take your hoop limits off to get down closer to the bill. We normally do this cause the hoop limit is a little too high for where some of our hats need to go.

Be aware however that you could sew too low or high and ruin caps or even worse mess up your machine if you go too far out of the hoop limits so be very careful if you take the hoop limits off.