Thread Tensions Tutorial

Although experienced embroiderers know tensions as well or better than thier pets, new commercial embroidery machine owners are often just learning thread tensions.

The most common denominator involved is your bobbin tension, as theres only one bobbin and often several needles. When manually pulling thread from your bobbin case your bobbin tension should feel like it is running smoothly through the bobbin case, and you should feel a slight resistance, making little effort to pull the bobbin thread out yet feeling like something is holding it back by a only a slight amount. The bobbin tension is adjusted with the larger of the two flat head screws on the side of your bobbin case. Righty=Tighty, Lefty=Loosey.

Tip: Keep the "perfect small screwdriver" near the machine for changing needles and making the bobbin tension adjustments, as well as a tooth brush for cleaning the bobbin case.

The bobbin case collects dust and often a wax build up as the machine runs. You should clean the bobbin case when you see buildup starting to occur, that will assure you are running smoothly with no potential sewing problems or tension issues. Also like to hit it with a can of compressed air and blow out the hook area on the machine as well to clear the dust and thread.


TIP: When running caps most machines like to run better with a little more tension on the bobbin.

Some bobbin cases come with a spring inside which runs the bobbin nicely in some machines, but not all machines.

I have been told that removing the spring improves the bobbins runability in Tajima and ZSK.



When running a test design, try the bobbin case with and without to see if your machine likes to run it with that configuration.

To remove the spring, use the handy "perfect small screwdriver" you have for adjusting the tension.

Upper Thread Tension
Once you are fairly confident your bobbin tension is close to where it needs to be (alot of this you learn from experience), you can then check your upper thread tenions.

These are adjusted by the tension knobs located on the front of the sewing head, and often have one or more smaller pre-tensioners above those.
The first rule of thumb is to make sure your thread is pathed correctly for each needle, running through the machine very smoothly and wrapped around the tension wheel according to the specs your machine uses.
Usually this is one and one half times clockwise around the tension wheel, then over the check spring and down to the take up levers.

TIP: Clean the areas in and around your tension knobs, felt and check spring weekly for proper machine maintenance. If these areas collect too much dust they often start causing false thread break errors and tension issues. Also keep some small disposable nail files handy for cleaning the thread break sensors where the check spring contacts them.

Generally You have to pull the thread through the needle and out towards you, adjusting the tension to where it feels slightly tighter than the bobbin tension feels and making sure nothing is altering the path of the thread running through its course.
You can also get tension guages for both upper and lower threads by the way, Ill try to add a source to this article in the near future.
You might need to play with the pre-tensioners from time to time, they should just barely be slowing the thread down on its way to the larger tension wheel and simply acting as a guide, managing the slack or memory the thread may have.

Then run a little tension test file consisting of one column of satin stitches for each needle on the machine. Run this test every day before running the machine to assure that things are running properly. It only takes a few minutes to save hours of headaches. After running the tension test, have a look at the top stitching and look closely for any looping or any bobbin appearing on the sides if the column.

TIP: When running metallic thread you will often find that the thread has a little memory coming off of the spool, making a slight twisting shape as it runs through the machine.

You might find it runs well if you take the thread cone off of the machine and place it either on the back of the machines table top, or even further back hanging on a wall or sitting on a seperate table. This allows the thread more room to unwind itself before getting to the machine.

Then, flip the design over and look at the back. This is where we can get a visual on the actual tension settings and try to tune them in a bit.

What you are looking for on the back is about 1/3rd bobbin thread, right down the middle of each column.

If too much bobbin is showing, loosen the upper tension. Not enough bobbin showing, tighten the tension. Again, Righty=Tighty, Lefty=Loosey.

Front and Back
Repeat process as necessary until you have them adjusted nicely. Keep in mind, sometimes the issue is bobbin tension and sometimes it is upper tension. Smooth running, good tensions are a marriage between the two. With a little practice and a little experience, you will be able to tune up your tensions quickly before production every day.

Tips and Tricks Regarding Needles

Needles need to be changed frequently

It's recommended that you change your needles every 8 hours of sewing time. Needles wear down over time. As the needle length gets shorter, it will cause fraying, thread breaks, dropped stitches and or looping. Ragged stitching, fraying, or multiple thread breaks may be evidence of a bur on the needle tip. Changing a needle is a cheap first step in troubleshooting a problem. If you hit a hoop, frame, pin or other object, change your needle.

Another Point

Ball point needles are used on knit to prevent damage to the fabric. A ball point will push the fibers to the side and go between them, while a sharp point will go through the fibers which may cause a small whole to form in knits. Ball points work best on extremely delicate fabrics, jersey, pique, and most interlock fabrics. Sharp or normal point needles are typically used on wovens and are best for tight weaves, canvas, twill, denim, towels, caps, nylon, and satin.

Wedge point needles are used on heavy leather. Today's soft leather does not require the wedge point as it would leave a larger hole. Heating from friction causes needles to weaken and break.

Needles covered in Teflon have less friction and heating, therefore they will last longer, have fewer thread breaks and less gummy residue buildup.

Titanium needles are covered with a thin coating of titanium-nitride. This adds 40% more strength to the needle and a golden color. The titanium coating makes this needle more wear-resistant than regular needles. The tips do not wear down as fast. The point stays sharp longer and the needle can penetrate dense or tough materials.

Eye On Selection
DBXK5 needles have a slightly larger eye and has a small eye to point ratio. DBX7ST needles have an extra large eye. DBX9ST needles have a extra, extra large eye.

Sizing It Up
For small lettering or delicate fabrics and designs, try using a small 65/9 or 70/10 size needle. For caps, try using a larger size 80/12 sharp needle. Size 75/11 is a nice standard size needle for most embroidery work.

Needles are sized by two systems, European and American. The larger numbers such as 65, 70, 75, 80, 90 are the European size, while the smaller numbers such as 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 are the American system.

PET Training CDs

Q: Why is password supplied with my PET Training CD not being accepted during installation?


A: Some of the USA CD-ROMs have a digit missing from the installation password. If you are experiencing problems, there should be an extra "0" after the second hyphen to make 5 digits.

Backup and Recover Designs

Backing up and saving your designs is an important thing to consider when creating embroidery designs. There are Auto Backup and Auto Save features within your Wilcom Designer software that you can use while creating designs.

It is important to understand what these features do in order to utilize them properly. See page 729 in your V7 User Manual for more details on the Auto Save and Backup features.

The Auto Save Design feature allows you to set an interval of time at which the design you are working on will be automatically saved into the Recover folder as an .EMA file. This does not replace saving the design periodically, as the Auto Save feature is there as a design recovery feature in case you lose power or have a computer failure. Once you close the design you are working on, the .EMA file is automatically removed from the Recover folder. If Wilcom Designer aborts or your PC crashes, the .EMA file remains in the c:\eswin\recover folder.

The Always Create Backup Copy feature if selected, saves a backup copy of the embroidery file you are working on every time you Click Save from the File menu. If you have not saved the file at least once, there will not be a backup for you to access later.

Note: Using the Always Create Backup Copy feature is for emergency purposes. It is not a replacement for doing a full system backup or backing up all your designs and storing them off-site. I recommend you do a full backup of all your designs and embroidery related files on a regular basis and store them in a location other than your place of business, as a precaution.

Using the Backup Files: Following are the steps required to access the backup files (.BAK files) that are created when using the Create Backup Copy Feature:

Open Windows Explorer

Open the Backup folder which is located inside the ESWin folder. The default path is c:\eswin\backup.

• If you cannot see file extensions i.e. your files are displayed as design1, design2 rather than design1.ema, design2.ema, you will need to change the view settings in Windows Explorer to show file extensions:
  


• In Windows Explorer, click Tools Folder Options.
  
• Select the View tab
  
• Untick ”Hide File Extensions for known file types.

• Right click on the file that you need to access.

• Select Rename.

• Change the file extension from .BAK to .EMB (This is a very important step. If you do not change the file extension to .EMB, your Wilcom software will not be able to open the design).
  
  
  
• Move the file to the same folder your other design files are stored.
  
• The file is now ready to be used as a normal Wilcom EMB file. Open the file as you normally would in your Wilcom software.

Auto Recover Designs:

If you do have a system shutdown or power outage, the design you were working on may be recoverable. If you had the Auto Save feature selected and the specified amount of time had passed for at least one Auto Save to occur, then it is likely the design can be recovered. When you first open your Wilcom software after an emergency shutdown like a power failure, the software will try to open the design from the recover folder. You will see the design on the screen. To properly recover the design, click Save As… from the File menu and save the design into your Design folder. When the Design has been properly recovered (saved), purge the recover folder. This procedure is described below in the Clean Up section.

Cleaning Up:

You may have noticed upon opening the Backup folder that there are many designs in the folder taking up space. Occasionally you will want to clean out the backup folder to save space on your computer. Or you may want to delete designs in the Recover folder after an emergency recover from a power outage. To clean up both the Recover and Backup folders do the following:

• Click Programs from the Start menu in Windows
  
• Find the Wilcom ES program group and click Purge Recovery (See Figure 1-2)
  
• Select the option to Delete Backup files and click OK. This will remove designs from both the Backup and Recover folders.
  
• It is recommended that you purge the Recover and Backup folders on a regular basis in order to save space on the hard drive.

Back Up Essentials

Backing up and saving your designs is an important thing to consider when creating embroidery designs. There are Auto Backup and Auto Save features within your Wilcom Designer software that you can use while creating designs.

It is important to understand what these features do in order to utilize them properly. See page 729 in your V7 User Manual for more details on the Auto Save and Backup features.

The Auto Save Design feature allows you to set an interval of time at which the design you are working on will be automatically saved into the Recover folder as an .EMA file. This does not replace saving the design periodically, as the Auto Save feature is there as a design recovery feature in case you lose power or have a computer failure. Once you close the design you are working on, the .EMA file is automatically removed from the Recover folder. If Wilcom Designer aborts or your PC crashes, the .EMA file remains in the c:\eswin\recover folder.

The Always Create Backup Copy feature if selected, saves a backup copy of the embroidery file you are working on every time you Click Save from the File menu. If you have not saved the file at least once, there will not be a backup for you to access later.

Note: Using the Always Create Backup Copy feature is for emergency purposes. It is not a replacement for doing a full system backup or backing up all your designs and storing them off-site. I recommend you do a full backup of all your designs and embroidery related files on a regular basis and store them in a location other than your place of business, as a precaution.

Using the Backup Files: Following are the steps required to access the backup files (.BAK files) that are created when using the Create Backup Copy Feature:

• Open Windows Explorer
  

• Open the Backup folder which is located inside the ESWin folder. The default path is c:\eswin\backup.
  
  
  
  
  
  • If you cannot see file extensions i.e. your files are displayed as design1, design2 rather than design1.ema, design2.ema, you will need to change the view settings in Windows Explorer to show file extensions:
    
    
    
    1. In Windows Explorer, click Tools Folder Options.
       
    2. Select the View tab
       
    3. Untick ”Hide File Extensions for known file types‘.

Right click on the file that you need to access.

• Select Rename.
• Change the file extension from .BAK to .EMB (This is a very important step. If you do not change the file extension to .EMB, your Wilcom software will not be able to open the design).
• Move the file to the same folder your other design files are stored.
• The file is now ready to be used as a normal Wilcom EMB file. Open the file as you normally would in your Wilcom software.

Auto Recover Designs:

If you do have a system shutdown or power outage, the design you were working on may be recoverable. If you had the Auto Save feature selected and the specified amount of time had passed for at least one Auto Save to occur, then it is likely the design can be recovered. When you first open your Wilcom software after an emergency shutdown like a power failure, the software will try to open the design from the recover folder. You will see the design on the screen. To properly recover the design, click Save As… from the File menu and save the design into your Design folder. When the Design has been properly recovered (saved), purge the recover folder. This procedure is described below in the Clean Up section.

Cleaning Up:

You may have noticed upon opening the Backup folder that there are many designs in the folder taking up space. Occasionally you will want to clean out the backup folder to save space on your computer. Or you may want to delete designs in the Recover folder after an emergency recover from a power outage. To clean up both the Recover and Backup folders do the following:

Click Programs from the Start menu in Windows

• Find the Wilcom ES program group and click Purge Recovery (See Figure 1-2)
  Select the option to Delete Backup files and click OK. This will remove designs from both the Backup and Recover folders.
  

• It is recommended that you purge the Recover and Backup folders on a regular basis in order to save space on the hard drive.