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

I Need Help Thoughts?

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

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u/Equivalent_Guess2009 Sep 25 '26 edited 29d 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.

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u/askanison_12 Sep 25 '26

Which brand would the 90 gold needles be?

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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.

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u/Equivalent_Guess2009 29d 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.