Hit the frame..

[Get Shirts]

I have a feeling this happens to everyone.. but let's say we were to hit a frame on accident (with the needle).. is there anything specific we should look for or be worried about as we continue to run?  I had two heads turned on so they both hit (and stuck to) a frame.  I replaced the needle and continued to run the job but I swear those two heads were not sewing as clean.. I'm possibly paranoid.

[ftembroidery]

Check rotary hook timing, be sure the presser foot is not off center (needle goes thru MIDDLE of opening).

[Doug B]

  If not that, worst case is a bent needle bar. The only option is to replace it.

[Get Shirts]

Thanks for the input!  We're sewing right now and everything seems to be in good working order.  This was the first time that this has happened and it was unsettling. 

[mk162]

generally speaking before you bend a needle bar you will break the reciprocator/needle bar driver.  These are designed to fail in order to save other parts.

it happens...sometimes you luck out and nothing is jacked.

[Denis Kolar]

generally speaking before you bend a needle bar you will break the reciprocator/needle bar driver.  These are designed to fail in order to save other parts.

it happens...sometimes you luck out and nothing is jacked.

He is right. Reciprocator will break.
Try to have one on hand at all times.

I've hit a frame few times (mostly a glitch in the file and machine just "walks out"), nothing bad happened. Maybe because I use Mighty Hoops and their plastic is much softer than a regular hoops. Needle went right in the hoop, about .25" in.

[Doug B]

  Yes, it's correct that it happens to ALL of us one time or another, even to the
best of us. Don't let it be unsettling. Usually it only bends the presser foot which
is easily put back in place with a pair of needlenose pliers (why do they call it a pair? That's
more unsettling to me).

[Itsa Little CrOoked]

Yup. Just like Brad and Dennis said, reciprocators are designed (on Tajimas anyway) to be a sacrificial part. MUCH better to break a plastic $20-ish piece than an VERY EXPENSIVE one.

Have an extra or two in your kit. You'll never miss the $$. It is a little hard to line up the needle case to reinstall after replacing them, but you'll only be down for a couple hours at the most, once you've done one or two.

When you hire a new embroiderer, order a couple more. You can thank me later.

[whitewater]

this just happened to my guy yesterday…

[ftembroidery]

I TRY, if I can remember (hmmmm...now what did I have for lunch today?), to run a TRACE on new designs.  Helps prevent sewing a hoop.

[Doug B]

  If you do your own digitizing or even send out for it you should have a printout of the
design. Just lay it in the frame to make sure it won't hit before you start sewing.

[ftembroidery]

The reason I trace is because sometimes there is a single stitch that "appears" in the digitizing way out somewhere in left field that is left over from the original creating of the design and gets missed in the process.

[Get Shirts]

We run a trace before every job, just not this one.  I just lost my mind for a minute and BAM! I hit the frame.

I'm ordering the reciprocators for my machine now just incase they are cracked and drop out on me next week during our (seemingly) endless run of hats that we will be sewing.

[GaryG]

Yeah like it was said, happens to pretty much everyone.

**Important to make sure you know the Needle position when watching trace.
If off even one needle, it can make for a very bad day.

A trace for everything, and everything in its trace!
(just came to me, ha!)