new guy about to knock XT over

[Patdome]

My XT seems to have figured out that my trainer is gone and that I'm on my own. I'm in the middle of a design and the thread breaks... and now it seems like the thread and bobbin aren't connecting. Presser foot is down, new needle, swapped out bobbin casing, talked nice to it, etc. Suggestions?

[Body Cover]

make sure your "new" needle isn't in backwards.
the scarf (indented section) needs to be towards the back of the machine, away from you.
if not the two threads won't mesh and you won't sew.

As far as thread breaks, learn to fix them fast and start watching for patterns so you know what you can fix.
sometimes they happen, its part of the biz.

Good Luck

Ron

[Patdome]

OK, I'll put my pride to the side and admit that the needle was in backwards. Now the thread is only breaking every 10 seconds (litteraly).

[Judy]

Hi Mike. Check your tension setting, and look at the new needle. Is the eye dead ahead, or ever so slightly to the right? Did your trainer show you the easy way to check that? I love this trick: find a long, skinny needle or pin that will fit into the eye of the needle on the Amaya. wiggle it in gently, then take your finger off of it. the direction the pin points is the direction your needles' eye is pointed. AND, you can use the pin in the eye to set it straight; holding the pin, loosen the needle set screw, and turn the pin to where the eye should be pointed. Tighten set screw. YAHOO!

Sometimes, the bobbin case has a problem. Swap for a spare one.

Sometimes, thread breaks are due to not tight enough hooping, or not enough backing. Add another layer.

Sometimes, she has a 'tude. Shut everything down - machine first, then programs, then computer. Take a break and go get a glass of water. DO NOT bring it into the room and abuse the machine!

Restart everything. Computer, wait at least two minutes for everything to boot up. OS; wait another 30 seconds at least. Then machine. Treat Amaya to a nice hook cleaning and oiling.

Poly thread or rayon? Rayon can get old and tempermental.

Is the thread being fed correctly out the groove in between the rollers?

Is the thread catching on the bottom of the cone up top?

Is the silver spindle too far up over the top of the cone? Should be no more than half an inch, and every single machine likes it at a different height in there.....

Black thread? It's more tempermental than any other color.

Just breaks on that one needle, or on lots of 'em?

Swapped out the bobbin too?

Tried a new spool of thread?

Wondered what the hey got got into here?

Welcome to the club!

[Patdome]

What a great reply. Made me smile. So, it turns out that it was the acti-feed not being high enough. SO frustrating. Is there any kind of resource out there online for reference? or is it all trial and error. Thanks so much everyone for getting to me late at night (EST).

[levelbest]

This is your online reference - welcome to it

[Judy]

Wait until the Christmas rush hits...we have lots of interesting things to say then...!! Welcome to funland! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Five Point Emb]

I guess I'm just old-fashioned, but I would love a written reference for the Amaya and Design Shop 9. My old EMC and the EMT that I still have came with notebooks of operating directions, maintenance references, and error message solutions, etc. The idea of going to the computer to TRY to find the answer to a problem is frustrating. I found I could download and print out most of it, but for what you pay for the machine, MELCO should give us a printed copy. Just my opinion.
Darlene Duseberg
Five Point Embroidery
Perrysburg, OH

[Rod or Sharon]

Up until a couple of years ago Melco did provide a 3-ring binder notebook both for OS and Design Shop. I am sure it was a budget issue when they decided to discontinue them.

I am afraid I have to agree, I like having a manual--good reading material when we travel.
Sharon

[Rod or Sharon]

Hi Judy,
I'm gonna suggest that we not use a needle or pin to orient the needle. The reason is because sewing at 1200 spm the thread passes through the eye of the needle 40 times before it is laid onto the fabric. By putting another needle into the eye, you risk scratching inside the eye and creating a small burr inside the eye of the needle and that can cause thread breaks.

When we train our people, we use a small lighted magnifying glass and look at the groove that runs down the face of the shank of the needle. Line that up straight forward or 5 to 10 degrees to the right. By turning the needle to the right it causes the little "bubble" of thread created under the fabric (when the machine is on a 1 degree rise) to open a little wider for the hook to pass through (as long as the hook is properly timed).

One thing you can do safely is break a pencil with a good eraser to 3 or 4 inches in length. Insert the point of your new needle in the eraser and use that to insert and orient the needle.

Sharon

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Mike,
You really should have your Acti-feed set to "Auto". This way you let the machine/software determine what the appropriate setting should be.
Especially if you are new to the industry!!
Your trainer should have advised you of this.

Judy,
If you must stick something in the eye of the needle, try a toothpick. I've never done this myself as I just use my sight to set the needle's orientation but I've heard of others doing this.

Ed Orantes

[namingit4u]

Hey Mike and all,
As a newbie , learned by trial and error, I have a suggestion on the printed manual.
Find a local printer that you can trade work with or that will give you a great deal.
On the help menu, you can pdf all the pages and you will have a nice printed color manual.
Ok, did I have my guy print the whole manual. No but after going to my 2 day class and being very frustrated at "Rose" I printed all the info that I needed everytime. I did call Melco and say, Are you kidding, no manual, I speak how much and you said the class would teach me everything? That did not happen.
When I went to the class our instructor, Cynthia, taught us to put a needle(old one) in the eye to turn to right 5 degrees, or else you will get thread breaks. But after reading the posts from the masters... of information. That makes perfect sense of why you dont want to do that. So now added to my must have kit: toothpicks...

Must have kit(taken from all your posts)
Fabric softener ( for the carpet)
Patience, Cover for thread, Humidifier ( if needed), Patience, Lots of Coffee... and oh did I say Patience.

Mike it does get easier... We started cold turkey in October, never Embroidered ever and now we actually do orders every week.

Just remember to bookmark this group, it is the best ever... Thank you everyone for all the great information

Naming It 4 U
www.namingit4u.com
"U Pitch It, We Stitch It"

[Laurie]

these post are great!! I love this board and it has been a big help! I was muself having serious thread break issues jsut last week... mine was due to teh humidity... where do you live??


Laurie in Nebraska
(where it is still VERY cold!) :/

[Herb Reeser]

The following works for ME and may not be the way YOU all like to do it.

As far as acti-feed, what I do is when I find the right setting I save it as a preset. I seem to stitch the same products over and over. When I go to stitch a Pure Country throw, I just use the preset labeled "Pure Country". If I am doing a insulated lunch tote, I use "Fresh Pac Lunchpak" a Hanes P170 I use "P170" and so on.

I know this is not fullproof for all designs but it's a great start. I use the design note feature to list variables on some designs such as when stitching over a fill or some small lettering.

I always start at a higher setting and work down, it's just easier to see when the stitching is laying right. The only time I use Auto is when I have no idea where to start. I watch the numbers and change to manual when I have a good idea where I like it. I don't know why, I just hardly ever use Auto.

My 2 cents, keep the change.

[Wishes]

I have to respond to Darlene about manuals. I totally agree. We just got new phones and I have had a terrible time getting a manual. The phone company doesn't supply but the maker of the phone supplies some. They all say the manuel is online. Hope this board helps. At least I feel like I can get an answer.
Margaret