Bringing embroidery in house

[ebscreen]

Looking again at getting a machine in house. Currently sub everything out, and we don't even
advertise for embroidery. Some general questions:


Single head is out, but how many heads is enough to begin with?
I'd figure average order to be in the 50 piece range, and probably %95
of the work to be 3,000 stitches or less. But we all know how quickly
that changes.

Looking at Toyota and Tajima. Any other brands I should add to the list?

Will continue to send out digitizing to begin with, but would like to bring
that in eventually as well, if only for edits or whatnot. Any recommended
software?

And lastly, no offense to theshirtboard, but is there a place that maybe has
a bunch of general information on embroidery, a forum to search back posts, etc?
So much of the process seems to be on the computer and machine side that
it's hard for me to wrap my head around controlling quality. Whereas when
I started screen printing much of the quality control was literally at my fingertips.

[Denis Kolar]

Tajima, Barudan, SWF.........................................................Happy, Brother
As fas as how many heads, I have a single head, and I wish that I have more. But as far as 50 piece order, you can do it on single, especially with the low stitch count, not recommended, but you could do it regularly (it gets old after 50). I would be looking for a 4 head soon, but I have to figure out where to put it, I can not fit anything bigger than a single head into my basement (narrow staircase and doors).
As far as the software, Wilcom seems to be a king. I have pulse that I got with my Tajima and I like it. With it, you can direct connect to your Tajima and be able to send digitized files from your comp to the macine. Other software can not do that with Tajima.

[ebscreen]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it.

I know there are a lot of variables, but can you give me an estimated
time to sew (sewing only) a 3500 stitch design? That would help with
estimating how many heads would be appropriate.

Thanks again.

[Frog]

And, Dennis (and others) do have any other specific forum recommendations?

[squeegee]

We started out with a used 6 head Tajima, still have it, and another, they've been good solid machines, AND, I'd like to add that service from Hirsch has been extremely good on them.  Looked at Barudans, they seemed really good too, highly recommended by other owners but at the time they didn't have anything as compact as Tajima (I'm sure that's different now).  Get as many heads as you can afford, there are lots of 4 and 6 head machines out there used. 

3.5K stitches *should take* less than 7 minutes on average, but every file is different and some have multiple trims/color changes or whatnot and take longer.  You will be asked for huge designs, it's only a matter of time...more heads means less total run time per order.  I think our average is more in the 5-8K range and about 50 pcs.

We have Wilcom, and we overpaid for it, you need software but you don't need all the bells and whistles that cost major bucks.  Wilcom is good software, tech service is okay.  Learning to do edits yourself will payoff big time when your digitizer can't get back to quickly enough, but I'd recommend you keep outsourcing the digitizing as a whole unless you have mega orders and time.

I never look at forums for Embroidery, guess I should but couldn't begin to tell you where.  I took seminars at trade shows, took digitizing training, but most of what I know has come from experience and day to day operations.

If you take a seminar or 2 you can find out what Software package will suit you. 

[bimmridder]

I had a ZSK. Was great for flats, not so good on caps. Had an 8 head.

[Denis Kolar]

3500 stitches, that depends on how many heads. e, with a single head, I can not afford to run optimal speed of 600-650 stitches/minute that you could run on multi head. I run mine around 800-850, and machine will max out at 1200. Also, like squeegee said, it depends on the number of trims and color changes.

As far as the forums, I'm not member of any "embro specific forums" but I am member of two Yahoo groups for Tajima and Pulse owners.  A lot of good info if you can stand Marv's rumblings and crying (I guess he is one of the big shot digitizers in the US).

[ebscreen]

Thanks guys, I'm starting to get a better idea of what's involved.

Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and ask specifics here. Things like trims and backings and
stitch speed and hooping procedures and post stitch steaming (they do that right?) are still a mystery to
me. I'll be learning along with the employees so hopefully I don't look like
a total jackwagon.

[royster13]

Wow that is a low stitch count......I looked back over the past year and I did not have anything under 10k.....Wat does a 3K logo look like?....

[Nation03]

Don't know much about embroidery, but I do know Barudan is a great machine. My boss has one that is like a 1975 model that still runs. It has no technology whatsoever, but it runs. Newer ones look a lot nicer then the one he uses and I'm sure they're just as reliable. I would personally go with 4-6 heads minimum.

[ebscreen]

Single lines of text across the left chest. Seriously almost all of our
embroidery has been like that.


Had forgotten about Hirsch being support for Tajima. Glad to hear
they do a better job on that than the MHM side.

Barudan used Tajima heads at one point?

[Denis Kolar]

No, Toyota machines USE Tajima heads now and are made in the same facility.

[mooseman]

E you are way low on stitch count you really should revise that for an absolute minimum of 7K to 8K stitches minimum. Typically we see 12000 to 15000  and you need to figure in trims and color changes.
Realistically if you use 600 SPM you will actually run slightly higher but with trims etc the 600SPM is pretty accurate for real elapsed time when actually running 700- 750 ish.
mooseman

[ebscreen]

Tell me of these trims. Manually cutting thread between elements of a design?

[Denis Kolar]

Tell me of these trims. Manually cutting thread between elements of a design?

LOL
Most of the never machines have automatic trimmers. Then stop and start on their own.