Embroidery 6Needle

Introduction

This Wiki describes the Baby Lock EMP6 on loan to TinkerMill. Its sister machine is the Brother PR600. They have different built-in designs. Otherwise, they are functionally equivalent.

You can embroider designs with multiple colors. Designs with 6 or fewer colors will not require any thread changes once the machine has been set up. Designs with more than 6 colors will require re-threading the machine as needed.

Available Hoop Sizes

Supported hoop sizes are:

• 40 mm x 60 mm (1-1/2" x 2-3/8") - good for small monograms
• 100 mm x 100 mm (4" x 4") - good for many logos
• 130 mm x 180 mm (5-1/8" x 7-1/8")
• 200 mm x 300 mm (7-7/8" x 11-3/4")

There is also a cap frame for designs that are about 2" tall x 5" wide (CHECK THIS).

Supported Embroidery Thread Types

The manufacturer suggests the use of 40 weight polyester or rayon embroidery threads. These are the only types of threads you are allowed to use on this machine.

Many different brands of thread have been used successfully on this machine. However not all threads will perform well. Please pay attention to the machine during embroidery in case the machine runs into any problems.

Supported Stitch File Types

The machine will read PES, PHC (less common), and DST formats. PES files must be version XXX or earlier. If the embroidery design is larger than will fit in the largest supported hoop size, it will NOT be recognized by the machine.

And as a note, DST formats carry no color information in them.

Certification

You will need to be certified on the 6-needle before you can use it with the standard hoops. An additional certification will be required to use the cap frame.

Manuals from Brother

The original Baby Lock manuals for the machine are located in XXX. You can download PDFs of the Brother equivalents here:

• Operation's Manual
• the other manual
• Service Manual (to be used by shop captains only)

Steps Before Embroidery

Turn on Machine and Oil the Raceway

The power switch for the machine is on the base on the right hand side towards the back.

After the machine is on, you will be reminded to put a drop of oil on the raceway before embroidery. Please do this.

You will be warned that the embroidery arms will move. Press OK and let the machine do its thing.

You will then be shown the opening screen. From here, you can import your design(s) and start setting things up for embroidery.

Operations Flow

There are several steps you will go through before you can actually start sewing:

1. Select / create a single design (import from media or choose from built-in) followed by selecting "Set"
2. Merge other designs (if desired) followed by selecting "Edit End"
3. Edit the combined designs (if desired) followed by selecting "Sewing"
4. last step XXX

(1) Selecting Built-In Designs

Importing designs from external media is discussed in a separate section below.

Importing Designs from External Media

You have two options:

• transfer from floppy disk (2HD PC Formatted only)
• transfer using the Brother Embroidery Card (there is only one so don't lose it!)

Using the Embroidery Card

To use the Embroidery Card, you will need to use the PE Design NEXT Software and its "dongle" on the Textiles PC to compute. Run XXX program and do XXX. Once the file is transferred to the card, take the card to the embroidery machine and do XXX.

2HD Floppy Disk

To transfer via floppy disk, you will need to use the XXX PC and copy your embroidery file (PES, PHC, or DST format) to a floppy disk. It must be a 2HD PC formatted disk. On the embroidery machine, do XXX.

Embroidery

Hooping

Clear the sewing area under the hoop!

Troubleshooting

It's easy to stop the machine while it is sewing - just press on the XXX button. At this point you can just continue start it up again. Or you can cut the threads by pressing XXX, going back a few stitches using the XXX buttons, and starting up again.

If there happens to be a power outage during stitching, the machine will remember what it was doing. The next time it is powered on, you will be asked if you want to resume sewing. If you choose to, you might want to cut the threads, go back about 20 stitches, and start up again. This gives the machine a chance to catch the bobbin thread.

Thread Nests

This is the most common sort of error you may run into. You may end up with a big wad of tangled threads under your hoop. The machine will detect that it can no longer move freely and will usually stop.

Taking care of this problem usually involves carefully lifting up the hoop to peer underneath it. There is no need to remove the hoop yet (and you probably can't anyway). You will need a nice sharp, flat blade to slice through the thread nest. (We really need a hook and knife set XXX!!!) Once you have the threads detached, remove the hoop from the machine and clean up all of those loose threads. You will also need to clean out the bobbin area of all loose threads. If you can't get to all of them from the bobbin area, you may need to remove the needle plate and clean it out from the top.

Once everything is cleaned out, re-insert the bobbin, reattach the hoop to the embroidery arm, go back a few stitches (or more), and start over again.

Needle Breaks

If the needle breaks, you will need to insert a new one. But first, snip the thread and pull through a long tail. Remove the broken needle. If part of the needle appears to have been lost under the needle plate, you will need to locate the errant piece and remove it.

Remove the broken needle by XXX, locate a new one in XXX, and replace it in the machine by doing XXX.