User Manuals, Parts Books :

Rotary hooks rotate twice every time the needle comes down, so if you run your machine at 700 stitches per minute the hook spins at 1400 stitches per minute (SPM). The interior of the Hook has a rail that slides in a raceway and holds the hook together. There are no bearings, so the rail and raceway are metal on metal. This is the only point on the machine that most manufactures recommend you lubricate every four hours of use. ​Rotary hooks may need to be replaced at around 3 to 5 years, depending on use and maintenance of the machine.

Information on replacing your rotary hook and/or setting your hook timing. 

How can you tell if your embroidery machine timing is off?

Hook Timing is the point in the machines rotation that the needle, in an upward stroke, passes the point of the rotary hook and connects with the thread.

Timing usually goes out in your sewing machine after the Needle and thread gets jammed or you have a birds nest.  You can tell you sewing machine is out of time when you can no longer sew, your machine is missing stitches, fraying thread, and you stich-outs look horrible. 

Most brands of embroidery machines use the same methods for timing rotary hooks, the degree that the machine is set at may differ but the method is usually the same.

Nothing is worse than having a technician arrive at your business and after a brief look he tells you we must order parts. The repair is delayed, additional expenses of return service, and the lost use of the machine gets expensive. I have created a list of the most common parts and suggested things that may need to be replaced on a machine.

I call it an Emergency Repair Kit. I suggest you order one for each head, but you will probably not need everything in a set for each head. This list of parts is a suggested list. They cover the most common parts that may need replacing when you have a service on the machine. This is also a list of a good set of spare parts to have on hand.

You know your machine so if you don’t have issues with it trimming you may not need to order the knife sets. If you haven’t replaced the rotary hooks since you bought the machine you may want to order all four. If you don’t need a new set of needles you don’t need to order them.

​Consult your parts supplier and parts manual for the correct parts for your machine.

What are the boards and electronics in a commercial embroider machine, and how do they interact with each other?

I get quite a few questions about electronics and boards in embroidery machines. This is some basic information about the boards involved. Your commercial embroidery machine is basically a CNC Sewing machine. CNC stands for 'computer numerical control' which is a system that tells a machine to move to this coordinate and do something. then move tho this location and do something else.

You may use a CNC machine every day and not know it as a cnc machine. Your Printer is a CNC machine. Laser cutters, plasma cutters, 3d printers, and cnc routers are examples of other CNC machines.

Again basically the machine moves to a X - Y Coordinate and then does something. Your embroidery machine moves a shirt or cap to a specific location and does a stitch.

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