Thread Breaks On All Needles

[levelbest]

I hear you Ed! Just going back to what we were taught in tech class - though definately can see broadcloth helping! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Ben,
Needles are to embroidery like tires are to race cars. Change them every so many laps. Even if the needle is not bent, it's possible for the tip or point of the needle to be compromised or "flattened" head on or even on a strange angle. You won't see this with the naked eye but it is visible with a very strong magnifying glass. If one is not available, you could feel for a worn point by removing the needle from the machine, grasp it in one hand and slide the needle backwards against your the skin on your other hand's finger. Rotate the needle slightly while doing this to feel all around the needle.
If this is not super smooth or you feel a scratchy side, then your point is damaged.
Of course, for all the time spent investigating this one needle, this is only for your own satisfaction as you probably could have replaced this needle with a new one in half the time and moved on. Some folks on the list claim they can "feel" the points of the needles while they are actually on the machine. To that I say,.. "Please". Just change your needles on a regular basis and all will be good. Also understand that one needle has the possibility of lasting for years depending on how you are sewing and what you are sewing on OR you can make one stitch and damage a needle instantly.
In short, keep up with your needles' condition.

As for the red pinch rollers, it has been said that you can remove the red pinch rollers and inspect them and scrub them with warm soapy water, let them dry and then lubricate and replace. Personally, I say for under $10 you can replace all 16 with brand new pinch rollers, lubricate them and you are on your way sewing again. Depending on what and how you are sewing, you might consider doing this every 6 - 12 months. You might also only sew on 6 of your needles all the time so you may only consider updating just these 6 rollers. Every shop will be different.
Ed

[Rod or Sharon]

Ben,

You said...........

3. Presser foot height is set according to the garment.

8. Machine Lubrication: Machine was just lubricated except for the Red and Yellow Rollers since I need to replace a few and waiting for parts. (However, there are no noticeable cuts or grooves on the rollers.)

Chef coats with tear-a-way backing.....set according to the garment.....what setting do you have? All the way down, up 1 click, up two clicks, 3, 4...? Probably with this type of garment and tear-a-way backing I probably would not go more than 1 click up and maybe, if having any issues with the design, all the way down....that is unless the presser foot showed signs of pounding the cloth and leaving a footprint. Garments like sweatshirts, sweaters, etc...need to have the presser foot compressing the garment and just not touching the top of the material..

If the rollers are not nicked, grooved or damaged, or the hubs have not been damaged from lack of lubrication, why are you replacing them? Some get discolored from the thread but this does not hurt them. If they are dirty, wash them in warm soapy water and relube them but also clean out the recess pockets on the machine ....as ED mentioned, the new V9 software has a counter for each roller/needle combination now. Much better, but still not fool proof, but 1000% better in most regards...my understanding is that the timer is still set to 4 million stitches, but if one ever makes it that far and a pop-up timer is triggered, then any others that have exceeded 2.5 million stitches will also be triggered for lubrication...much better.

A clue here is #5...you said....
5. The design in question that this started with was digitized by someone other then my digitizer and I have some problems with the smaller font but not always. The design is not dense.


I have some problems with the smaller font....how big...what font? Is this an OFM design, EXP? Wireframed EXP? What are the column widths in the lettering we are dealing with. What densities? Any pull comps added, if so how much?

If this is a sensitive design, as far as the lettering to begin with, then anything that affects the operation of the machine will compound the problems, sometimes dramatially. As you said, (quote)....

"After that isssue I did a needle calibration and things worked good. Just in the past couple of days this started. I did another needle calibration today and had a few issues but not as bad as the other day."

Small changes in the machine appear to be affecting the design sewout....It would pobably be in your best interest to edit the problem issues out of the lettering so the machine can run more efficiently. 1100 to 1200, like John said, is the norm for these machines and they will run very well there, as long as the design is properly digitized and the machine is well cared for. Caps will sew at 1200 just as well using the same criteria.....

Yea...I know, you are thinking ...Gheesh! This guy sure asks a lot of questions!! But that is just the way my mind works...gotta know the facts man, the more the better.

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Wishes]

I would like someone from Melco to chim in about oiling the machine more often if you live in a Super Dry Area. I ask because we live in southern Arizona and we oil when the timers tell us to. If we begin to hear a rubbing noise we add oil. We have very few issues. We also have been to a shop in Las Vegas where the operator was oiling the hook every morning becasue he did this on a previous brand of machine. The bobbin cardboard was soaked to the point of turing darkand the whole bobbin holder was coated in oil. The thread was getting soaked in oil. I hesitate to put in more oil than recommended in that the engineers who designed these machines have taken this into account. We don't oil our cars anymore than recommened by the manufacturer. Just don't want to create a mess with too much oil.
Margaret

[Rod or Sharon]

Hi Margaret,

Rod and I are Melco trained techs and trainers and have been out in the field since the Amaya was released. We have seen and worked on the Amayas through all the upgrades and have seen firsthand lubrication, or lack thereof, problems. We own Amayas. So hopefully, my counsel will be taken to heart.

The 09 software now is going to tell you, by each roller, when it needs greased--along with any other roller that is getting close to needing greased. That is a great new feature. However, the older software doesn't. It assumes all needles are being used equally--and, as you know, they aren't. Therefore, we advise those we train--and all of you on the group--if you are going to do a large run, clean and grease the rollers that are going to be used. Drop a few extra drops of oil in the reciprocator keyslot and put a drop of oil on the needlebars being used. We put one drop of oil on the hook every morning when we start up the machines and an additional drop every 4 hours of sewing.

If you don't use your machines often, still do this when you do sew. The oil will evaporate. We recommend a full PMI when you get a brand new machine--you don't know how long the machine has been sitting or in what temperatures.

We also teach removing the needlecase cover to do the overall maintenance so you can see what you are doing and can get in there and clean everything as well as see the condition of all parts. This includes taking a paper towel and flat blade screwdriver and sopping up any excess oil in the oil sop pad to allow room for more.

Perhaps we should post a few photos of machines that have not had proper lubrication so you can see what can happen. That mistake results in poor sewing quality and can become costly.

I will tell a story on myself--I had about 700 shirts to do and was running the store alone. Rod was off doing tech work and our sons were at archery camp. I was trying to meet an impossible deadline without staying up sewing around the clock--which is what I chose to do. Late the second night I started having threadbreaks (we very seldom have threadbreaks so this was annoying). I finally gave in and called Rod. His first question was, "Sharon, have you oiled the needlebars or put any grease on the rollers?" I snapped back, "No, you did that just before you left!" (I was very tired and not thinking clearly) He laughed and said, "Sharon, how many garments have you sewn since I left! You teach this stuff! You know better."

I gave in, went home and went to bed. The next morning I went to the store, tore the machines apart, did the lubrications, and sewed the remainder of the day without a threadbreak. He loves to tell this story on me so I will tell it to all of you before he gets the chance.

By the way, the run consisted of 9 different designs and up to 15 colors. Four of the designs over 12,000 stitches.

Engineers are trying to give us a "baseline" to go by, but cannot cover all the variables that the machines can be exposed to. Obviously, the person you were referring to on the hook oiling was using more than one drop of oil on the hook resulting in over-oiling. We recommend a drop in the morning and another one at each 4 hours of sewing.

If you wait to hear "rubbing", then you have waited too long. As an example, on the take-up lever cam disk lubrication is supposed to be done at 20,000,000 stitches. We have had to replace take-up lever cams at 8,000,000 stitches that were ground down because the grease had either rubbed off, evaporated, or dried up and the cam basically destroyed itself. That is 12,000,000 stitches before the timer was supposed to come up and this was on a brand new machine.

I hope this helps.

Sharon Springer

[Greenwing]

In the original training that Melco gives to Owners they STRESSED that the rotary hook NEEDs to be oiled on a min of a daily basis and about every 4 hours of operation. this is just with 1 drop of Oil applied to the area of the hook that is indicated in the regular hook maintenance.
This is to Extend the hook life.
This was also the message that was passed along in the Technicians training that I took with Melco.
The Timers are ONLY the Minimum. that MUST be done to up hold your warranty.

as far as extra oil making a mess. Use a Pin point/Needle point oiler Not the plastic tip on some oil bottles they deliver too much oil.

If your using Melco's oil you should not have an issue. I have not noticed Any build up of oil. and there are a lot of times I oil and stitch one small sample and then nothing every day for a week and I have no excess oil. that is 7 oilings a week and no sign of excess oil.

You must remember there is no resivour for the oil in your hook like there is in a car. so that example does not actually work in this case.

[levelbest]

Sharon:

Absolutely fantastic advice - well put and much appreciated!

John

[Wishes]

Dear Sharon,
Thank you for your explaination. During training for two machines from Melco, we have never been given such a detailed explaination. So much is done in training that I think Melco is scimming some of the details. We will be even more vigilant with oil in the hook than we have been. Thank you again for taking the time.
Margaret

[Rod or Sharon]

As a footnote to add more information to what Sharon has already said about the rotary hook lubrication....

Think of it like this...varibles....if we were sewing on broadcloth all day, waiting for the 200,000 stitch timer to come up wouldn't be so bad. But, then consider sewing on fleece or caps with buckram linings and the dust and lint that is generated from sewing on these garments...it gets into the bobbin case area and soaks up the oil, drying it up...well you get the idea.

A story...I put a brand new hook on a customers machine, oiled it and instructed them to oil it every morning or every four hours, just as Sharon has mentioned in her post. Six weeks later, the customer called and said their machine would not work..would not move, could't turn the Z-axis over by hand, etc. The customer lived 7 hours from us....so away we go on a tech call.

We find that since we had left, this customer had let the machine sit idle, it was in the middle of the summer and the machine had not not been used. The oil had evaporated. Strike one. The rotary hook was frozen solid. They did not oil the hook on startup...when asked why...well the "timer" had not popped up yet. Strike two.

They were sewing on fleece that was creating lint and dust. Strike three,and if there were a Strike four, it would have been the fact that it was a brand new, nice tight rotary hook.

When looking at the total number of stitches that this rotary hook had on it since we left and it's last oiling, we saw that it was in the 170,000 stitch range. This is only one story.

This same issue with dust and lint, dry heat and all the other varibles that come into play applies to the needle bars, reciprocator shaft,takeup lever cam disk or any other areas that are open to collect lint and dust and is open to the air. Auto lubrication was mentioned in a post above, the difference with that comparrision is that in an automobile, for the most part, we are dealing with sealed bearings and a crankcase that is sealed off from direct contact with the external environment. If they weren"t, they wouldn't last very long.....anyway...thought I would give just a couple of reasons why we do and say what we do.....they say experience is the best teacher, but in the embroidery world there are some things better off not having experienced....they are just too costly! But on the other hand, it may be good for us techs....gee....maybe giving out all this advice isn't such a good idea....hummmmm....

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Vegas Embroidery]

This all great information. I will run the ampass test tomorrow and lube the rollers, oil the hook and check all needles.

[Vegas Embroidery]

I came in the store over the weekend to finish an order on some hats. The logo which was digitzied sewed out great with out issues.

Today I'm back and working on other order of different hats. I have to put some small words on the back of flexfit hat and there are thread breaks, too much bobin showing etc.

I am using the slim line 5.5 circle hoop with cap backing on my 65-9 sharp needle which I just replaced. I also oiled the hook as recommended before starting work. The lettering is melco block at .35" high. I adjusted material thickness and checked the pressor foot. No luck.

[Juli in Kona]

If you look at it logically, the top thread is pulling up the bobbin thread.

Are you using Auto or Standard Actifeed? I'd increase that number just a bit (more thread will feed) if it is on standard. If it is on Auto, then I think the only thing you can do is to change it to Standard and keep upping the number until the problems go away.

Of course, there my be other problems, but I'd do the above first.

Juli in Kona

[Vegas Embroidery]

I'm using auto acti feed. I'm currently running AMPASS test. 3 thread breaks so far and I'm only 15min into the test.

[Vegas Embroidery]

Ok AMPASS test finished. 6 total thread breaks. I used two pieces of cutaway on the wood hoop and speed was set at 1200. Acti Feed was on auto.
Thread Break:
1. Color 32 Needle 1 during fill. Needle one has a 65-9 sharp.
2. Color 32 Needle 1 during fill.
3. Color 35 Needle 4 during the letter H.
4. Color 54 Needle 7 during triangle fill.
5. Color 70 Needle 7 during circle.
6. Color 74 Needle 11 during Flower.

Needles 4,7 and 11 have not been replace in a few months. Needle 3-15 are 75-11BP. Needle 16 is 65-9BP.

[Rod or Sharon]

Are you using the "Auto lower limit" tool with auto acti-feed and if so what is your setting.

For .35 lettering on this style of cap a 75/11 or 75/10 would work...maybe better.. there can be no flop or loose material present in the hooping.

Same with the Ampass and the large hoop. Must be tight.....what are you sewing Ampass on? Presser foot all the way down? Speed? Bobbin tension?

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer