This is a question that is frequently asked in the embroidery community. The sewing industry generally recommends changing needles every 6-8 hours of use. However, for multi-needle, multi-head machines, adhering to this guideline can be challenging.
If you only change your needle when it breaks, you’re waiting far too long. So, when should you change your needle? Here are a few noticeable signs that indicate it’s time for a change:
- Poor quality stitching or skipped stitches
- Fabric puckering
- Snags or runs in the fabric
- Frequent thread breakage
- Audible clicking or popping sounds
- Visible wear on the needle
- Frequent changes in fabric types
Keep in mind that heavy or hard fabrics will wear out your needle more quickly than knitted fabrics, requiring more frequent needle changes.
It’s wise to pre-empt potential problems by changing your needles regularly. Considering the average cost of a high-quality needle is only 20 pence, replacing needles is far cheaper than dealing with damaged goods or poor-quality embroidery.
So, our suggestion, regardless of the number of embroidery heads you have, is to implement a basic policy of changing needles weekly.
Example:
If you have an eight-head, ten-needle embroidery machine, and you change one needle of the same number on each head every week, it will only cost you £1.60. If you also change the black and white colour needles every week, that adds up to just £4.80 a week over a ten-week period. This is a small investment to keep your machine running smoothly, prevent downtime due to thread breakages, and improve the quality of your embroidery.
Embroidery needle information
Regarding embroidery needles, when speaking with customers, they often do not know what needle point they use. The customer just keeps using the same needle point and size that came with the machine.
Embroidery companies will specialise in different types of garments and fabrics, so they should use the correct needle for their application.
The most common system used in embroidery needles is DBxK5. The properties of the SCHMETZ DBxK5 enable the machine to create the best possible embroidered designs and protect the components involved in the embroidery process.
- Precise penetration for accurate embroidery contours
- Low deflection of the needle, even in very dense embroidery designs
- Less needle breakage Optimized hump scarf
- Ideal distance between the scarf and yarn due to the formation of larger loops
- Avoidance of skipped stitches Special embroidery eye
- Extra-large eye, 2 NM larger in relation to the needle size, for effortless, gentle sliding of embroidery and sewing threads without any tearing Chemical polish on the eye and groove
- Completely smooth and burr-free needle surface
- Thread glides easily through the eye with less thread breakage, even with special and effect embroidery thread
Choosing the right needle
To achieve the best possible embroidery results, needle features such as the point shape, needle size and coating must be tailored to the respective application.
