im a little late to the party...
did this problem just start happening or are you new to the embroidery world? If new, you may want to check how you're hooping the hats...you could have too much slack in them...are you flattening the bills before hooping? Are your hoops so tight that the hat isnt going anywhere when you pick it up by the bill and shake it? your cap hooping jig thing is mounted securely...if its wobbly, that doesnt help.
i tried titaniums and they broke far more often than regular ones, so i quit those and went back to regular 80/12 sharps...
Is the break happening in a certain location of the hat? if you're sewing too low (about a finger width up from the bill) they will break....same if sewing too high (anywhere near the curvature of the top of the hat). youre more likely to break a needle on the center seam because it's so much thicker than the rest of the hat...hats with very thick buckram (the structured material) will sometimes break more often if the needle hits just right on the weave of that stuff.
ALWAYS USE BACKING, EVEN TWO PIECES SOMETIMES.
make sure youre pushing the needle all the way up there when you replace it, you need to have the concave part toward the back of the machine...if it is in wrong, guaranteed break also.
