XTS - Disillusioned

[OldJake]

Hi All

I started a small business embroidering towels about a year ago with a Brother Innovis 750e - single needle, 650stm, and PE-Design Next. I've probably done about 1000 towels on this machine and the quality is cracking even if it's very slow! I've even done quite a few complex designs for people and never really had a problem.

Fast forward to about 5 weeks ago. I decided to up the ante a bit and leased an XTS.

The speed is incredible but that's about the only advantage I'm seeing. The quality is pretty poor; to the point where I'm not 100% happy sending out the items that I'm embroidering.

The stitches just seem to be very slack and gappy. I'd use a fill stitch on a towel on the old machine with some water soluble stabiliser and it would be about as perfect as you can get on something like a towel with a deep pile.

On the XTS, it just looks all scrappy, like the stitches aren't close enough together and they're not being pulled tight enough.

On the Brother, I would set the stitch density to about 5.5 or 6 and the pull comp to about 3 or 6.

I thought I understood this but I'm feeling completely lost with the XTS.

Is there a '101' guide to at least setting everything to some good averages? I don't understand the acti-feed settings, for example, and leave it set to auto.

Any pointers would be really appreciated as I'm at the point where I'd like to push the thing in front of a train and go back to me faithful old Brother.

Best regards
Andy

[Rod or Sharon]

Andy,
The Amayas do have a learning curve to them. Running a fully computerized Amaya vs the old school tension knob style does take some understanding of how the machine functions. The auto acti-feed selects the proper material thickness for you. Standard acti-feed demands that you select the material thickness manually. Before auto active-feed existed, a 3 material thickness was the default for something like broadcloth .

When using auto acti-feed, you can go into Settings, Threadfeed and find the "Auto Lower Limit" tab box. This tab will allow you to program the auto acti-feed to never go below a specific material thickness. Default on this is usually 1, but if you select too high of a number, you may start experiencing false threadbreak issues because the machine will be throwing too much thread and is loosing contact with the thread break sensor.

Presserfoot height, for 99% of your sewing should be at its lowest position or up one or two clicks, depending on what you are sewing on. My rule of thumb is to run it as low as I can "as" long as the foot is not leaving a footprint on or damaging the fabric.....velour, velvet, leather, etc....

Properly digitized designs are a must. Learning to edit designs for densities pull comp, stitch lengths and column widths is also a must to be really successful.

For newbies, it is always best to acquire some training from a certified trainer on the Amayas. It can save you a lot of time and frustration. Not saying you cannot do it on your own, but either classroom training or better yet, bringing in an on-site trainer to give you focused one on one training will speed up the learning curve

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Judy]

No, Andy, nnnnnnoooooooo!!!!!

I started out on a Singer XL1000. I thought I knew it all. HA! The Amaya is one great piece of machinery and does take a learning curve.

There is a really great wash-away stabilizer that looks like paper. Are you using this? I use two layers under and one on top when doing towels.

I find that unless I'm using high quality towels,there is a lot of space between the threads under the loops, and that can make for some interesting results.

Is your bobbin set correctly? Is the thread feeding through the machine and through the groove under the roller correctly?

Try slowing the machine down from the normal 1200 per minute to 1000 per minute and see if that helps.

Be certain when you hoop the towel and stabilizer have the tension of a drum head. Hoop your towel without a top stabilizer and drag your finger across the top. If you come up with a wrinkle on the other side, it's not tight enough.

After hooping, is your outer hoop tight enough to hold the towel without allowing movement?

There are a lot of things to look at and check, and you will be SO GLAD you went through the learning curve. My Silver Surfer is a joy. We've been together for seven and a half years now, after my Big Red (original Amaya) decided she'd rather be back where she came from.

Devote one towel to repeated stitch outs, and play, play, play with different stabilizers, bobbin adjustments, hooping methods, stabilizer types. It will work!

[Greenwing]

I am sure your using a design you used before..

But about the density in the brother software the density of 5 or 4.5 means the # of threads per MM and 114 would mean the Same in inches.
in the Design shop software they use points that is 100th of an inch.
and the # has nothing to do with the thread. it represents the SPACE between the needle points so a density of 3.8 or 4 is a fill density.
and a 20 or 30 so would be an underlay.
It was very hard for me when I made the transition.
In Design shop a density of 1 will break needles
in PeDesign a density of 1 will be very light.

If you have any questions Please feel free to Call..

I have been through your transition.

[OldJake]

Thanks for the replies and encouragement everyone. I think I was just having one of those days!

I took a deep breath and went back to basics. I've read quite a few posts on here plus the documentation. After all, Rolls Royce use these machines to embroider the leather on their headrests! I'm sat here now with a towel that I've messed around a lot with. I've come down to 3 things...

1. Bobbin tension - I was shown how to do it but WITH the bobbin thread through the pig tail. That took my quality from 2 out of 10 to 6 out of 10 once I got that right.

2. Presser foot height. I had this way to high. Not sure of the clicks but probably 2mm above the stabiliser. I wound it down until I could see it pushing down and then backed off one. This took the quality to 8 out of 10

3. Density. Went from the default .40 on satin stitch to .30. This was the last change I made and this pretty much nailed it. I also tried .38 and .28 on a fill stitch and found that .38 is actually fine. I know fill stitch is a big hit on the number of stitches but I prefer the quality over satin stitch on towels. Nothing's ever perfect but I'm now on 9.5 out of 10 and more than happy with the results.

I tried playing with the acti-feed settings but it didn't improve the quality and I just got more thread breaks.

I tried different speeds but that didn't help and I read a post on here saying that you can go too slow. I've been running the machine at 800 - 900 but today I thought I'd just see what it could do. With the other changes I ran a towel at 1350. It varied the speed from 1200 - 1350 but the results are perfect.

All this was on 1" lettering using an internal font on DS Lite. I'm guessing I'll need to try some different fonts and different sizes to get settings for everything.

I think the XTS is like an F1 racing car over a production saloon. You have to tune and tweak everything. What works for one track might not work on another.

I think I'll persevere though!

Best regards
Andy

[Rod or Sharon]

Andy,

Just a couple of comments....good job on the experimenting by the way,,,,

Bobbin tension checked with thread out of the pigtail...

Presserfoot height...Run it as low as it will go as long as it is not leaving a footprint and/or damaging the fabric, leather, velvet, etc. 99% of you sewing will be done with the presserfoot from all the way down to up 1 or two clicks. Turn the cog wheel all the way to the left(counter-clockwise) and up 1 or 2....

Leave it on "Auto Activ-feed" as this works very, very well. Standard acti-feed would be used on things like puffy foam, etc...The Auto Lower Limit found in Settings, Thread Feed allows you to regulate the Auto Activ-feed and tell the machine to never go below your chosen material thickness.

Just because you have a sports car that will go 200 miles an hour doesn't mean you need to go that fast all the time ;-)) ...fun to play, but for the most part you will find better success if you run the machine 1000 to 1200 depending on the design and/or fabric .......some folks just gotta run fast tho.... :-))

Column width is a real biggie , narrow columns 10pts and below can/will be a PITA......

DS Lite doesn't allow you too much, other than add lettering properties and do some editing in that regards...sounds like you are catching on tho...enjoy!!

Rod Springer
Amaya Tech & Trainer

[Stitch station]

I am so over whelmed, I bought my Amaya May of a 10/1/. Which was probably a dumb idea what I was getting into. Then to top it off I leased it from pawnee. I am sinking fast. I cannot afford fancy equipment, and worst job of alignment. Any suggestions?

[Mama Kass]

Stitch Station, I don't understand what sort of information you are looking for. Perhaps you could start a new thread with questions about the specific problems you are experiencing.

[cmack]

I don't have an XTS, but I have a old red AMAYA and an XT.
When I first got them I thought they were the Fisher Price of embroidery machines.
Now after my learning curve, which was long. I have clients that change to me due to the embroidery looking better than where they got it before.

[Joanie]

I am new to the xts also, went thru training a week ago(thank you Rod & Sharon) , overwhelmed didn't begin to describe me.
I've embroidered every day since training, many pilot errors, but oh my gosh do I love what this machine can produce! Excellent quality!

[Etched In Thread]

The Amaya machine does it's job better than any other machine I've seen demo'ed to me. The stitchouts are amazing, not flat and "lifeless" like results from many others. And Design shop usually starts you out with good settings from the get-go, but you will have to occasionally change those settings depending on what you are stitching (fabric, thread, design). I think the main thing you have to remember is that most of the time, what you see on the screen IS what you get. Of course, there are many other settings to remember, such as presser foot height, correct needle, etc., but practice makes perfect.
Edna

I don't have an XTS, but I have a old red AMAYA and an XT.
When I first got them I thought they were the Fisher Price of embroidery machines.
Now after my learning curve, which was long. I have clients that change to me due to the embroidery looking better than where they got it before.