Unexplained cap sewing issues

[HIdden Treasures]

Hi everyone! I am experiencing some really weird cap issues. I am using the extended WACF hoop and stitching text on some regular profile ball caps. The problem is that I get irregular widths of column (satin) stitches as if the machine can't tell how wide the stitch should be. What I end up with is a variable width column that looks choppy and almost totem pole like instead of a nice smooth even edge. Melco techs say that they have never experienced this before - which I find very hard to believe since it is happening to BOTH of my machines. I had a tech come over to fix to no avail. I also replaced the thread feed gear and that did not fix it. The problem comes and goes but is ultimately frustrating since it ruins the garment when it happens. Oh yeah - this happens only on hats - never on flats!

[Hugo Torbidoni]

Are the irregular widths mostly in one Axis?
X Axis is any movement left or right.Y axis is any movement Forward or back.

You said it is happening on both machines,are the irregular stitches showing on the same point in the design on both machines?

You also said you changed the feeder gear, was it broken?

Was this a Melco tech and was he able to reproduce the problem while he was there?

More info would help in narrowing down the problem.

Hugo

[HIdden Treasures]

Hi Hugo,

This problem is intermittent and happens mostly in the X axis. It seems as if the machine has a hard time understanding just how wide the column should be. I have changed the feeder gear twice now and the first time it was horribly broken. The problem is not reproduced in the same spot on both machines so it is not in the design. But it can be in the same spot on one machine. If I load the design to the next machine and pick up where I left off, the problem is gone. Yes the Melco tech did reproduce the problem but could not solve it. Both techs Brad Costan and Steve Stephenson (Brad is the better of the two - we had a bad experience with Steve) tried. I noticed that I had a bad (smaller) bar on the second part of the WACF (was broken in two) on the one machine and the problem went away on it after changing the bar AND re-replacing the thread feed gear. It did not look broken but rather worn down and may have been slipping, so I adjusted the spacing between the two gears by loosening the pinch roller assembly and moving it the tiniest bit closer to the new feed gear. I'm hoping the problem stays at bay but that is just the last effort to fix this. Otherwise I am at wits end! I have been battling this for way too long and these machines are too expensive to not have working properly. Thanks for any help you can give!

[Hugo Torbidoni]

Have you checked whether the cap frame(s) are secure in the driver? Are the 3 latches that hold the frame to the driver secure? The driver has a steel cable that wraps around the outside of the round portion of the driver.Is it clamped securely?

Be careful when adjusting the feeder assembly. Any adjustment to this gear must be made so that the needle case can move from #1 to #16 with out interference.

Is the problem area close to the bottom or top of the design?

Hugo Torbidoni
Melco Tech
301-471-3157

[HIdden Treasures]

Yes the cap frames are ultimately secure with the tension bolts adjusted for optimum clamping. So far, the hats are doing fine so I think I may have fixed it. I tested the thread feed assembly for clearance by going through from needle one to sixteen and it cleared without clicks. It always varied . It could have been at any point in the design ranging from a singleline border to text but never in a fill.

[HIdden Treasures]

As it turns out the problem has returned. It's intermittent like it is slipping a tooth on a gear or something. Recently I stitched a capital letter "S" and upon turning the last bend of the "S" the column first shrunk from it's standard width then immediately doubled in width, then back to normal. Again, I only see this problem while stitching hats. Do you think that the gears in the feeder assembly could be slipping?

[levelbest]

Ok, try this and BE CAREFUL.

1) Load the design in AOS and make sure it's within the dimensions of the cap frame. Do a trace to double check. Make sure you are not pushing the limits of the frame.

2) Switch the type of frame in the software to 5.9" instead of a cap frame - to trick the software into thinking you are sewing a flat rather than a cap.

See what happens.

My guess is the problem you are having is on a wide column. I have a similar problem with one specific logo on caps and telling the machine it's a flat and slowing things down to 800-850 allows it to sew perfectly.

However - AGAIN - Make sure it fits using the cap frame in the software as a guide - BEFORE you switch to tell it you are using a flat. Don't want you hitting the edge of the frame or anything like that.

BTW, if a tech tells you they havn't experienced this before - then they probably don't do many caps. Herbie told me this trick a long time ago and he's our resident cap expert.

The only way around this is to do a split satin which I don't think looks as nice.

[HIdden Treasures]

Well so far so good. Thanks for the advice! I will certainly keep you informed as to if this happens again. The problem seems to have been solved again but it IS intermittent so we will see. I really appreciate your help! It seems to me that more people are having this problem than Melco will admit - or at least they haven't figured out a fix for it yet. Stitching on a cap frame as if it were a flat would indicate to me that the problem is in the software and not hardware.
I've noticed that the machine has a hard time understanding just how wide the column should be especially when transitioning from X to Y axis, but only on certain thicknesses of column. If I tell the machine to stitch a digitized version of the text with thicker or thinner columns than what the font would normally use, then the problem goes away. But that is not an acceptable method of solving this problem. Melco should not ignore issues like this and should get someone in research and development to figure it out!