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.

The display is a touch screen. Please use either your finger or a simple plastic stylus and be gentle! This is an older machine so it sometimes takes longer to respond than you would like.

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 50 mm x 130 mm (2" x 5 1/8").

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 Operations Manual and Quick Reference Manual are located in the plastic box labeled "Baby Lock 6-Needle". You can download PDFs of the Brother equivalents here:

• PR600 Operations Manual
• PR600 Quick Reference
• PR600 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. Check/change thread colors for each needle and press "Unlock" when ready to sew

There is an overview of this basic operation flow on page 22 in the Operations Manual.

(1) Selecting Built-In Designs

From top to bottom, left to right:

• Row 1
  • Built in designs (last design on last page is a tension test design)
  • Built in decorative frames
  • Letters (from which you can create words in 3 different sizes)
• Row 2 (different from what is shown above)
  • Fancy script letters
  • Multi-colored fancy letters
  • Monograms
• Row 3
  • Retrieve patterns from built-in memory (i.e. the "pocket")
  • Retrieve patterns from Compact Flash card
  • Retrieve patterns from floppy disk
• Row 4
  • Retrieve pattern from connected PC
  • Retrieve pattern from Brother Embroidery Card

There are several pages of built-in designs. You can page through them by selecting the "hands" buttons. Once you have a pattern selected, press "Set".

Importing Designs from PC or External Media

You have three options:

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

PC Transfer

Make sure the embroidery machine is connected to the Textiles PC. On the PC, there should be a USB Drive with either no files or only embroidery files on it. If the SE400 is also on, there may be two USB Drives available. You can copy embroidery files to the USB Drive. These will be accessible from the embroidery machine.

From the embroidery machine, select the PC/USB button. In the next window, choose your embroidery file to sew.

2HD Floppy Disk

To transfer via floppy disk, copy your embroidery files (PES, PHC, or DST format) to a 2HD Windows formatted floppy disk. Files saved in folders will NOT be displayed on the embroidery machine. Only insert or remove floppy disks while the floppy disk icon is in the display or while the embroidery machine is OFF. Once the floppy disk has been inserted, you can choose designs from your disk to embroider. See pages 117-118 in the BabyLock Manual. As of this writing (7/2019), the floppy disk drive has not been recently tested.

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. This will be covered in the PE Design training.

Embroidery

Managing Threads

Threading the Needle

Needles can be threaded by hand with a good eye and steady hand. You can also use the automatic needle threader. This is described starting on page 39 in the Operations Manual.

Generally speaking, you need to select the needle to thread. The machine should reposition itself so that the needle is in the sewing position (over the embroidery arm). Pull out a good length of thread from the bottom, maybe 8" or so. Press the needle threading button on the display (this is a physical button just below the touch screen). Then lay the thread across the needle under the forks from right to left. Pull the remaining tail up and over the thread cutter and cut the thread. Then press the needle threader button one more time. The thread should be pulled through the eye and up into the thread catch behind the needles. If the thread tail is hanging loose, just pull it up and over the thread cutter and let it rest there.

INSERT PHOTO HERE

Changing Needles

If you need to change any of the needles, you will need to use two tools that are in the small toolbox. One holds the needle in place and the other loosens the screw holding the needle in. Loosen this screw only as much as you need, otherwise a small piece will fall out and likely be lost. Instructions are on page 61 in the BabyLock Operations Manual. You will need to have the hoop OFF in order to change the needle.

Extra needles are in the small toolbox. Please record in the Maintenance Records the date you changed the needle and the needle number.

Recommended needle types are Organ HAX 130 EBBR or Schmetz 130/705 H-E.

Hooping

Clear the sewing area under the hoop!

Sewing Speed

The machine can stitch from 600 to 1000 rpm when using the embroidery frames. However, it will do a better job stitching at slower speeds and will cause less wear and tear on the machine. Please keep it set at 600 rpm.

If you are using the cap frame, the suggested sewing speed is 400 rpm. Cap frame embroidery requires separate certification.

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.