Maintaining Your Embroidery Machine

Keep Your Embroidery Machine operating At Peak Performance.

Are you one of the elite, one of the special few, who enjoy doing embroidery?

Today there are many brands of both commercial and home embroidery sewing machines. On the commercial side names like Melco and SWF are well known. On the home front, Janome, Baby Lock, and Brother dominate the market.

Many home embroidery machines combine computerized sewing machines with advanced embroidery features. Others are stand alone models that use one, two, or six needles. This poses some new challenges for sewing machine repair and embroidery machine repair.

Commercial embroidery equipment may have twelve to sixteen needles and thread assemblies. Janome and Brother offer smaller multi-needle and single needle stand alone embroidery machines or cottage industry and home use. Combo embroidery machines are single needle machines.

Computer generated designs are used by the computer to control the embroidery head. The signals control the movement of the needle and hoop to produce the design one stitch at a time. Groups of stitches sew through one needle. This constitutes one threaded color. Then the next needle threaded with the next color sews its portion of the design.

At first glance, the embroidery machine can look really complicated. It is wondrous what they can do. Machines with multiple needles can be a bit foreboding for the user and the novice technician.

Another look at the embroidery machine, reveals that it is essentially a single stitch sewing machine with a moving hoop assembly. Each time another needle assembly engages, it forms another single stitch sewing machine.

To properly care for your embroidery machine, treat it like a series of single stitch sewing machines.

The number one cause of malfunction and problems in your embroidery machine is dirt. More precisely, the problem is neglect. When dirt, gunk, and lint are permitted to collect, they cause problems. When you fail to remove dried out and crystallized lubricants, they cause problems. When you fail to keep your machine clean and properly lubricated, it will eventually fail.
There are three crucial areas of the concern to the user. The bobbin area, the needle bar area (for each needle), and the hoop assembly are those three key areas.

Use a small brush and probe as needed to loosen debris. Use an air compressor, canned air, or a vacuum with special attachments to properly remove loose debris. Every three to four hours of sewing, clean these areas of your machine. Once clean place one drop of pure clean sewing machine oil wherever metal parts touch metal.

It is important to replace your embroidery needles frequently. Special titanium needles may last up to ten or twelve hours of use, but ordinary embroidery needles should be replaced every three to four hours. Avoid dull, bent, or needles with burrs.

When push comes to shove, rely on the experts. It is vital that you maintain your equipment in peak condition at all times, but at least once a year or ever 10,000,000 stitches have the experts provide thorough service. If the machine just wont work, rely on the pros.

What if I want to do sewing machine repair myself?

Why not start out with the free beginner's course: 7 Steps To Peak Performance For Your Sewing Machine. Then if you want to know more grab hold of the great sewing machine repair manuals too.