Impressions - February 2014 - 23

The best way to oil your needle
bars, as well as control the quantity of oil
applied, is to use a cotton swab. Dip it in oil,
pull each of the needle bars on the sewing
head down individually and wipe them. By
doing it this way, you're simultaneously
cleaning and oiling the needle bars.

(the part you snap your bobbin case into)
is imperative to keep your machine humming along smoothly.
Watch the needles. The most
important part of the sewing process is the smallest part of the
machine: the needle. It pierces
the fabric and carries the thread
through. It is designed to create
the loop of thread that the hook catches to
make a stitch. Most importantly, the needle's eye allows the thread to pass through
it smoothly.
Any given spot on the thread will pass
back and forth through the needle's eye
30 or more times before it is laid down
on the fabric. Thus, the needle is critical
to making the machine run properly. Any
small burr or rough spot on the needle will
cause a thread break.
You may be wondering if there's a
standard for how often you should change
your needle. That is a tricky situation because embroidery machines have multiple
needles and they don't all get the same
amount of usage. So rather than replacing
all the needles at a set interval, I recommend replacing them as the performance
falls off for each particular needle.
You can measure this by the number
of thread breaks that occur. If a particular
needle begins to break thread consistently,
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then it's time to replace that needle. Another easy way to measure this is by using
the "three-strikes-and-you're-out" policy.
If a particular needle breaks thread three
times within a relatively short time period,
I replace it. Nearly every time the thread
breaks, stop immediately.
It's not always the machine's fault. Just because your
embroidery machine is not
running properly doesn't always mean there is something
wrong with it. Many times,
the problem can be the design you are attempting to sew. An improperly digitized
design can cause thread breaks and slower
production.
Stitches that are too close together also
will cause thread breaks. If a design has
tiny stitches - usually the result of too
much small detail in a design - thread
breaks also can result.
Sometimes, there may be no indication there are too many stitches other
than a longer sewout time. Longer stitch
lengths on fill areas can dramatically cut
down your stitch count. For instance,
changing the stitch length from the default value (usually about 3.5mm) to
about 5mm can decrease your stitch
count by 30% in some areas. That's a lot
of stitches saved, which transfers into a

lot of time saved on your machine. As an
added bonus, the design will appear flatter and softer on the garment.
Another design issue is the number of
trims. Design efficiency is critical to keeping your machine at its highest production
level. For one thing, every trim takes an
average of seven seconds. The way I look at
it, each trim eliminated equates to seven
seconds saved on the design. That may not
seem like a lot, but if you can save 10 trims
in a design, that is more than one minute
per run. During the course of a day, that
small amount of time saved can add up to
30-40 minutes.
Those seven seconds may not be the
only time savings you get from having
fewer trims. A thread trim is the most difficult thing your machine does. This means
there is a higher chance that the machine
will malfunction and stop. It may be that
it didn't cut and got hung up, or that it
unthreaded after the trim. Keeping the
number of trims to a minimum reduces
the chances of these malfunctions.
Get to know your machine. While keeping your
embroidery machine running
smoothly is critical to higher
productivity, it's just one important factor. Using the features built into your machine can help
you save setup time and overcome everyday challenges. There are many machine
brands available on the market, and each
one tries to set itself apart from the pack
with various features.
Did you know many machines have
February 2014 | Impressions

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Impressions - February 2014

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