"He who marches out of step hears another drum." ~ Ken Kesey
I started with Tajima Neo2 about 2.5 years ago. I love the macine!!!I think it is time to get a few more heads. I thought about re-doing one of the rooms in the house and make it a office/embroidery room, but I decided against it.The reason was, I thought about buying an used 4 head Tajima or SWF. I have a big problem with my basement, I can not take down anything bigger than a single head, even the single head with a full size table/frame might be a problem.In the end, I will be looking for another single head soon, and hopefully, another one by the end of the year. Three single heads should be enough for my needs, if I overgrow that, that will tell me that it is time to get out of the basement and rent a warehouse or a retail space.I have heard that 3 single head machines could do more in 8 hours than a 4 head. That is because you can load one while the other two are running, on the 4 head, you have to be down while you are loading the shirts/hats.
Also, when you have a thread break, it doesn't stop the other heads. That is the other thing I like about the 3/3.We went from a 4 head and single head to a 3/3 and kept the single.There are so many singles out on the market right now that we'd be lucky to get $2k for ours. Might as well keep it.
Quote from: DKgrafix on February 22, 2012, 08:01:21 AMI started with Tajima Neo2 about 2.5 years ago. I love the macine!!!I think it is time to get a few more heads. I thought about re-doing one of the rooms in the house and make it a office/embroidery room, but I decided against it.The reason was, I thought about buying an used 4 head Tajima or SWF. I have a big problem with my basement, I can not take down anything bigger than a single head, even the single head with a full size table/frame might be a problem.In the end, I will be looking for another single head soon, and hopefully, another one by the end of the year. Three single heads should be enough for my needs, if I overgrow that, that will tell me that it is time to get out of the basement and rent a warehouse or a retail space.I have heard that 3 single head machines could do more in 8 hours than a 4 head. That is because you can load one while the other two are running, on the 4 head, you have to be down while you are loading the shirts/hats.I had a 2 head and a single head in a basement before moving to my shop.Built a ramp, tied them to my Diesel truck, backed it up with them strapped to the hitch. Worked out, took them out the same way.
Quote from: mk162 on February 22, 2012, 08:11:01 AMAlso, when you have a thread break, it doesn't stop the other heads. That is the other thing I like about the 3/3.We went from a 4 head and single head to a 3/3 and kept the single.There are so many singles out on the market right now that we'd be lucky to get $2k for ours. Might as well keep it.The Dual functions are decent, but correct me if I am wrong I thought they had a slightly smaller sewing field than the full size multiheads.My machines all have the 500x450mm sewing field.
Quote from: GraphicDisorder on February 22, 2012, 08:42:16 AMQuote from: mk162 on February 22, 2012, 08:11:01 AMAlso, when you have a thread break, it doesn't stop the other heads. That is the other thing I like about the 3/3.We went from a 4 head and single head to a 3/3 and kept the single.There are so many singles out on the market right now that we'd be lucky to get $2k for ours. Might as well keep it.The Dual functions are decent, but correct me if I am wrong I thought they had a slightly smaller sewing field than the full size multiheads.My machines all have the 500x450mm sewing field. Also, I have heard that there are some issues with the vibrations and machine movement. I guess when you are doing hats on one side and polos on the other, the different pantograph movements and vibrations mess up the machine.Brad, I guess you are a perfect person to dispute this.
What about the Melco Amayas? Anyone have one or a few? Seems like they have a different style machine more geared toward external computer control rather than hardware/software built into the machines? For some reason they look less durable, maybe because they look smaller?That's pretty cool that you can get a 3/3 split machine on one cart like that. I'm most definitely looking used when I do buy but would like expandable options.I like the idea of networked single head machines but obviously I have no experience using them so I have no way of forming an opinion. For that network reasoning I also like the esp9100's by Toyota.SWF and Happy seem to be the most affordable in the 15 needle machines.