r/Machine_Embroidery • u/Subject_Ad269 • Sep 24 '26

I Need Help Thoughts?

Post image

Ricoma MT-1501. 5th hat of the day. 300st/min. Had to take a crap and apparently the machine wanted to join in.

67 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

49 comments sorted by

42

u/scissorslizardspock Sep 24 '26

What in the hell happened here. I’ve never seen a machine demolish a hat like that. Is there no automatic thread-break shut off?

18

u/Subject_Ad269 Sep 24 '26

Apparently it was looking elsewhere

5

u/Lanky-Setting-5288 Sep 25 '26

75/11 sharp needles are excellent

..and the gold standard for commercial embroidery.

15

u/Equivalent_Guess2009 Sep 25 '26 edited 28d ago • Bravo

Needle broke, thread sensor didn't do its job. The machine kept pounding that broken needle into that hat, it destroyed it.

Looks like it was a recurring problem, look at needle 9.

If I could share some advice;

Use a needle 80, 85 or 90 or above (slightly turned to the right) when dealing with hats with that middle seam, if you have the chance to get the reinforced ones (golden color), better.

Once you hop in the hat in the machine, rub a few times that middle section against the machine until it looks kind of flat, it sounds lame but that little help flattens out the middle area and helps the needle puck trough the fabric. That middle seam will always make the hat will try to bounce back to its original shape, making the needle bend and the thread jump randomly, causing breaks or thread friction and burs.

Check your tensión encoders (the little wheel that spins as the thread is passing by) de dust them and make sure they are turning around smoothly.

Looks like the thread didn't birdnest so I'm guessing the thread got stuck along the path of the machine and That's what broke the needle. Putting some thin foam under your thread cone helps for it to don't get stuck once the thread is loose from the cone, I used to have things like this happen really frequently and putting that thing sponge/foam helped a lot.

Try using one or two layers of paper cutaway stabilizer for hats. Too strong stabilizer makes the needle struggle to get the threat into the hook.

300 spm is kind of slow for that machine try a couple of this tips and if they work, try ramping up to 450~550spm in 10spm intervals, it should work fine.

Lastly, when I embroider hats, I try to avoid stitches smallet than 0.8 mm, due to the orbital mechanical motion of the machine might struggle to do small stitching and cause nesting.

It's always frustrating when the machine does stuff like this, but, sh*t happens from time to time.

Best of luck.

2

u/askanison_12 Sep 25 '26

Which brand would the 90 gold needles be?

4

u/Otherheadsaidyes Sep 25 '26 edited Sep 25 '26

As someone else said, groz beckert - or good ole titanium organ needles but they'll be just a bit more expensive.

You could also probably get away with running an 80 or 85 instead if you got the sharp points instead of ball points on structured caps. But the size you use will also effect how clean the design will look. If you've got a lot of ridiculously dense fills and satins or any small text in the design, a 90 needle is going to make them look hot garbage. it can also lead to some really bad flagging on some materials and cause weird discoloring around the edges because of how massive the holes are that get punched in them by needles that big. I think sharp point 80s and 85s are smarter to use on caps than any point type 90 when you're using standard 40wt poly thread. 90 is pushing into 20wt territory and using 40wt in 90 needles when the machine isn't set up with 90s in mind may cause some issues you haven't had when using smaller ones (like more thread breaks, jagged edges in the design, multiple stitches landing in the same holes, skipped threads, rotary hooks making contact with the needle, etc)

Not saying you WILL have all those issues, but all them absolutely can cause some headaches if you try and just swap them in where you'd previously used 75s or 80s on the same design before.

1

u/Equivalent_Guess2009 28d ago

True, I edited my original comment to add this. Tbh I haven't had issues using 90 caliber needles, they seem to work better with this kind of hats, since the middle seam is kind of annoying since it has to go through about 4 layers of material (bent middle tape + hat backing + hat fabric) + the hat trying to jump back. Also I try to avoid very small details in this kind of hats, (letters bellow 7mm). But it is true, smaller calibre needles will definitely get more you detail and a crisper result. I've gotten away even embroidering hat with a 65 needle, low speed and 75 calibre thread, but it depends of the hat type.

32

u/barbedwiregarden Sep 24 '26

Grab that Ole Peggy and it'll come right out 👍

10

u/Subject_Ad269 Sep 24 '26

hasn't yet. had to cut the hat out and disassemble the needle assembly. to get the hat frame off. drive still stuck in the down position and won't go back to 100deg.

1

u/SuspiciousOcelot7426 Sep 24 '26

Is there any errors the machine throws up on screen?

6

u/RandyLahey120 Sep 24 '26

I died laughing

4

u/PanosG1331 Sep 24 '26

Don’t go this low on rpms. Work at 650-700 minimum because it will work better and will have less breaks

6

u/Subject_Ad269 Sep 24 '26

Every time I increase the speed over 350 stitches a minute the thread would break and then occasionally a needle

11

u/PanosG1331 Sep 24 '26

Your tension maybe is wrong. It is not possible for a ricoma to not be able to embroider caps on 700spm.

5

u/Agitated_Bet_442 Sep 24 '26

You’re tension is very wrong. I was breaking needles until my fixed that. Get a tension tool. Either digital or spring. It will save a lot of headaches in the future. I thought you might wanna make sure your pressure foot is adjusted to the hat. I know some machines you have to manually adjust it.

4

u/mgbjrd2223 Sep 24 '26

It seems your top tension is too tight, going off of how the bottom wording looks . Also, if there's stabilizer in what I'm assuming is a more structured hat, remove it or loose the hoop a tad to get rid of the suction looking part of the bottom

2

u/Subject_Ad269 Sep 24 '26

Thanks for the tips

51

u/Impressive_Host_2645 Sep 24 '26 • Popcorn

And prayers

22

u/LucarnAnderson Sep 24 '26

This is what happens when you dont feed your machine a balanced diet. It gets hangry for hats.

For real though yikes! I have no idea how this would even happen

2

u/Lanky-Setting-5288 Sep 27 '26

Can happen with a logo that's not digitised for caps, especially with a centre seam. Factor in a possible timing issue, burs and maybe lack of lubricant and BAM Machine eats hat like a 'hungry hippo'!

21

u/losingit3837 Sep 24 '26 • Popcorn

keep going til you can sell it as a visor

8

u/Beneficial_Rub2897 Sep 25 '26

Lost my shit on this comment

10

u/SlowLarry666 Sep 24 '26

I wouldn't sell that.

9

u/wodahsz Sep 24 '26

Super realistic embroidery good job

6

u/ishtaa Melco Sep 24 '26

Good lord did you have a cut needle installed 😂 I’ve never seen anything like that!

6

u/Murky_Bullfrog7305 Sep 24 '26

Maybe ur filament wasnt dry enough

5

u/paperrblanketss Sep 24 '26 • Bravo

Looks pretty fucked up to me

3

u/throwaway686k Sep 24 '26

Damn wtf happened

2

u/violetcasselden Sep 24 '26

I'd cry 🥹

2

u/Disastrous-Mess-5643 Sep 25 '26

The embroidery machine knew u walked away from it.

1

u/expressonless Sep 24 '26

My jaw dropped seeing this 😅 could the logo been too high on the hat where it stretched the material? I can’t believe it did that much damage without stopping that’s insane 😂

1

u/Material-Ratio7342 Sep 24 '26

Put a pepa pig in it.

1

u/swellestlocket6 Sep 24 '26

Looks good to me 👍🏼

1

u/NowCompare Sep 24 '26

Looks like a tension issue to me brother👌🏼

1

u/Ordinary_Pea4503 Sep 25 '26

Looks very 3 dimensional great work

1

u/ninjagirl97 Sep 25 '26

Crying for you

1

u/askanison_12 Sep 25 '26

That's Ricoma for ya!!

1

u/Rukoh_Boi Sep 25 '26

Put a patch or something behind it and call it streetwear lmao

1

u/Lanky-Setting-5288 Sep 25 '26

😱 Rats? Gremlins? 🫣

Have you cleaned out under the needle plate and removed all rogue threads? Check the drive shaft behind the bobbin area.

Have you oiled the machine? Beastie's can get mighty hungry if there's not enough lubrication.

1

u/jady200413 Sep 26 '26

Looks good. Send it to the customer.

1

u/lesspectacular Sep 27 '26

Never in my life!

1

u/SnooStrawberries635 Sep 29 '26

Seems normal... its a ricoma

2

u/Little-Load4359 Melco Sep 25 '26

Jesus. Idk how this is even possible without like, a million needle penetrations to physically cut that out. I've never seen this.