...SCREENPRINTERS: how did you expand into embroidery?

[Denis Kolar]

Here is my little set-up with a new (used) Toyota machine. I picked it up on Saturday. I have Tajima Neo2 from 2009 (One on the left)
This gives me opportunity to do sizable orders in house, but anything bigger that 70-80 pieces with a decent size logo will be sent out.

[JBLUE]

Damn Dennis you were right about that Toyota being clean.

[tonypep]

We started with both. Heres part of what it looks like. 42 heads

[ebscreen]

Is what they say about servo vs. stepper motors true?

And if so, what brands have servo? I'd wager you can tell by the price tag?
(Barudan, Tajima vs SWF, Happy, etc.)

[Denis Kolar]

Damn Dennis you were right about that Toyota being clean.

I used the machine for the first time last night. WOW, that was a steal.
I'll have a tech check both of the machines in a few days, just to make sure everything is OK. Mine is due for a PM anyhow.

[shellyky]

i think no one has really hit on the fact that if you currently do not offer embroidery, then you are going to have NO IDEA how to digitize anything...its truly an artform.  ...we outsourced our digitizing at first...it was coming back 95% right.  I'd have to change the 5%, 3 times, myself to get it looking like something i'd want to produce (i had to do this because my guy was slow and foreign, my US guy was too pricey lol.  (It wasnt that he wasn't going to fix it, but i could finish the whole order before the revision was sent).  So after fixing and fixing and fixing, i knew what to look for that was causing sewout issues to begin with.  so then i started doing it from scratch everytime....quality was really great and i didnt have to rely on anyone else.  HOWEVER, i was WASTING HALF A DAY SOMETIMES on intricate pieces.  Now that I have Wilcom that has all changed, its pretty much click and done but not every starter has $15,000 to throw at software...after a while you'll get sick at the money you're throwing to your digitizer as well and still be at their mercy when you're the one with the embroidery machine....

so for me, i think i'd spend less time on which machine i was going to buy, and more on how the crap am i going to find time to learn to digitize/do it myself or how am i going to afford to pay someone else to digitize and LOSE TIME WAITING....got to factor those in.

[bj]

I think that now compared to when I first started, digitizing prices have gone down, mainly due to competition overseas.   In order to compete we have to keep the prices reasonable.   When I first started the price was three times as what is is now.  I started back in 1995 and I can remember getting $365 for a full back that wasn't very complex.  I can't see anyone nowadays who would even think of spending that much. 

[Audifox]

Damn Dennis you were right about that Toyota being clean.

I used the machine for the first time last night. WOW, that was a steal.
I'll have a tech check both of the machines in a few days, just to make sure everything is OK. Mine is due for a PM anyhow.

Dennis,
you might want to stock up on replacement parts. Toyota is no longer making embroidery machines. The 9000 was the last.

[Denis Kolar]

Damn Dennis you were right about that Toyota being clean.

I used the machine for the first time last night. WOW, that was a steal.
I'll have a tech check both of the machines in a few days, just to make sure everything is OK. Mine is due for a PM anyhow.

Dennis,
you might want to stock up on replacement parts. Toyota is no longer making embroidery machines. The 9000 was the last.

Actually, 9100 is the last model and it is still sold by Pantograms. The machine is pretty much the clone of my Tajima Neo2 and uses the same parts (95% of them on both 9000 and 9100).
The biggest issue is with models like 820, 830, 850, 860