Font issues

[crossthread]

I have 2 AMAYA XT machines and the Pro+ Design software. Many times when I stitch fonts they tend to seem really narrow. I do not want to make the letter larger just a little wider on the columns.
Does anyone know how to do this? I am thinking the density has something to do with it. I have adjusted it but I am still now getting the look I want. The columns seem to skinny.
What is a good standard block and script font to use. Thanks so much.
I have a project on tshirts and it just does not look good enough.

[Juli in Kona]

There are tow things that I do to thicken up columns. And I agree with you that, often, they are just not thick enough. And especially on a Pique shirt.

1, Use the Pull Compensation. I often set it at 130% or even more.

2. In the same screen as the pull comp, there is Col Width. You just have to play with that to get something that looks good to you. Frankly, I use the pull comp more. But if you have a font that has very think parts and also thick parts, the Col Width will fatten up the skinny parts without affecting the fat parts.

Try one, then the other and maybe even a combo of the two.

Good luck.

Juli in Kona

[Steve]

I agree with Pull Compensation. It may seem fine on your computer screen but when it sews, it pulls the fiber in the shirts so it really sews out thinner. Pull Compensation is important. I have mine set at 120 as default but you can manually change it for each design if you want. And stay away from Diane Script, you can set it at 200% and it still won't sew right! Melco should get rid of this font.

[GF]

Hi Steve,

Not sure why you don't like the Diane script font. That's my most popular font for seasonal embroidery. It comes out really crisp and pretty. I think with any font, one really has to play with their settings of stitch lenth, density, etc., and any of the fonts (even TT) will sew out nicely. BTW, I don't even know how to digitize so there isn't any skill there on my part but your default of 120 seems high to me.

GF

[crossthread]

Thank you, I will try this. I appreciate your fast response.
One quick question, what is a good density for stitching on tshirts. The Melco default is 4 but I think it is too dense. Does anyone have a "Magic" foumula? Thank you.

[Rod or Sharon]

Another thing that will help is to use solvy on top of the T shirt.

There is no real magic formula for the density figure. Small lettering , depending on the font usually will need the density to be opened up to say somewhere between 4.8 to even 6.....lets just say, as a rule of thumb, the smaller the lettering, the more important the higher density numbers become.....

120% on pull comp, for a default, is not all that bad for the most part. It depends on what fonts you use most often and whether this figure works for you . Obviously Steve has found this works for him.

I have found myself using the X and Y Pull Comp more and more in the last year or so. The X and Y allows me to regulate the expansion rate of the fat portions vs the skinny portions of a given font more effectively.

For the sake of an example, lets say that you have a coke bottle shaped column that is 100 pts wide in the fat sections and 10 pts wide in the skinny section. If we were to increase the percentage pull compensation by 100%, the fat portion would increase by 10 pts but the skinny portion would only expand by 1 pt. Even tho the percentage of expansion is proportionate, this kind of expansion in some fonts will quickly ruin the aesthetic look of a given font. Script fonts and fonts like Bookman-Dak, Garamond-Dak, etc are examples when trying to sew them small.

The X and Y pull comp will, on the other hand, let you regulate the expansion by adding points to each side of the column. If you entered a 2pt figure in the box, then 2pts of width, will be added to both sides of the column, along the entire column width regardless of whether it is the fat portion of the coke bottle example above or the skinny portion of it. You will get a total of 4 points of pull comp expansion in this example.

Lots of time, I will use both percentage and X,Y pull comp to get the look I want and definitly will use the Minimun Column Width to help control really skinny areas in a column. For the most part, most folks should not have this setting at less than 10 points until they thouroughly start to understand how column width is affecting their sewing and machine operation in relation to the type of material they are sewing on.

Enough for now.....

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Juli in Kona]

On Diane Script, don't use the %, use the mm sizing. Makes a big difference. 20 or 30% of very little is still very little. But making the min column width 1mm or 1.2 mm cna me the really skinny pointy parts thicker without affecting the fat parts at all. I learned about that on the cruise.

Juli in Kona

[The Embroidery Authority - OLD]

Factors to consider when choosing a desity:
- in no particular order -
Design (elements that make up the design)
also known as "column's width" or "stitch length"
Fabric type
Thread thickness and type
Underlay type and quantity
Needle size

**Remember that one density setting is not necessarily correct for the entire design. Some density setting will need to change "on the fly" as the machine sews. When in doubt, choose "auto density" (with Ver.9 default settings).

Ed