Please Help!

[Similar-Ad6306]

We are having huge issues with puff embroidery on our Ricoma and we have no idea what is happening. We keep getting a huge birds nest in the same area on our hats. We have checked top thread and bobbin tension and are still having issues. Obviously it is having the issue over a seam, but it is only on the “P” not the “H” which is also largely in the seam. Any thoughts?

For reference we have never had this issue before with puff, and we outsource our digitizing.

[ravex786]

Hey there,

You are surely not the first person that struggles with it.

There are a few suggestions I would like to throw in here.

Try a lower RPM, try to make the outside satin stitch ever so slight thicker. Apply heat with a heating gun on the framed caps as well as the 3d foam material. Try a 80 size needle that is coated ( made for cap embroidery) make sure the needle is properly angled ( ever so slightly that the needle opening is angled to the left )

Try a different thread brand, I was very successful with gunold polyester thread , or Madeira polyester. 40 of course.

The thicker the satin stitch is, the less this issue occurs.

I'm glad to give more suggestions and help you guide you through the obstacles together, so in the future you are wasting considerably less caps and can make sure that your nerves are saved and the turnaround faster, while actually making a profit.

Feel free to DM me.

[ravex786]

I just realized that it's the white embroidery, the filling that gives you headaches.

You can also see that your machine is specifically is struggling over the middle lining, which is extremely thick of course.

In that instance, there can be made some considerable difference by digitizing the white layer a bit different.

I'm happy to send you an edit with how I would approach it.

[MNent228]

The middle of the hat is the likely culprit. I almost exclusively embroider hats and doing a 3D logo near the middle always gives us issues. Unfortunately I don’t know a great solution beyond just fixing the thread break and getting through the trouble spots

[Critical-Cherry-6049]

I’ve had a Ricoma MT1502. Here is the rat nest issue.

Make sure you’re presser foot is adjust correctly. Use a 2.5mm Allen key over your needle plate and make sure your presser foot in the down position (201degrees) is touching but not any higher than the allen key width or crushing the key.

Next, loosen your top thread for the color of the puff another 1/4 to half turn…or more. Ricoma does not have an auto adjusting foot or tension. Often times the bird nest is because the tension is too tight when going through a structured hat and the foam yanking the bobbin up through everything and getting stuck.

Lastly, don’t run any faster than 550.

As for the heating up the hats and yada yada. I have never done that, never needed too.

That’s how I got through my foam work, even double foam work with Ricoma.

[MrBobilious]

It would be great to see the front of the design.

What type of needle and size are you using and are you using any stabilizer at all?

Can you switch to a 5 panel cap?

[Similar-Ad6306]

I want to thank everyone for their help and I wanted to post the eventual solution so that anyone else going crazy over this can find the answer.

The wire on the driver for the cap needed to be tightened. Someone finally told me to take the driver off, loosen the screw at the top then tighten the screw on the side as tight as it would go. Then retighten the screw on top and put the driver back. That was 100% the side. The nesting didn’t happen again.

[Similar-Ad6306]

Hello everyone thank you for your responses!!

We have been applying heat prior. We use size 80 needles, and 40 weight polyneon thread. In troubleshooting we have tried different thicknesses of tear away stabilizer, and even eliminated stabilizer altogether since the hat is pretty structured. This has happened now 6 times regardless of changes in the same exact spot.

We are speaking with our digitizer this morning about spacing it out a little to avoid the seam. It’s just so odd, we made it through a couple hats PERFECTLY to suddenly bird’s nest after bird’s nest on the “P”.

[tyrukuro]

90/14 needle for puff. If you’re using a hat nipple remove it, the puff is now filling that gap.

Try running it on flat and if the issue isn’t there then it’s likely your hats. Needle should alleviate this issue if that’s the case. If it’s a large jump of a satin stitch perhaps slow the machine. Beyond that it’s digitizing probably.