15. Wildcard week

Hero Shot

Assignment :

• Design and produce something with a digital process (incorporating computer-aided design and manufacturing) not covered in another assignment, documenting the requirements that your assignment meets, and including everything necessary to reproduce it.

Embroidery machine

For this week, I decided to make a try at the embroidery machine. I’m quite familiar with sewing machine and overlocker and I’ve participated some demonstations of other embroidery machines but never used it.

For this week assignement, I wanted to use several color and I chose a design from my final project. At first, I read Agrilab Tutorial and check the Operation Manual (english & french).

With Pol Emile, we made a quick test using thread already prepared on the machine and letters from the machine library.

Design

For personnal design, one can use PE-Design software or Inkscape with Ink/stitch extension. I downloaded inkstitch and intalled it.

I first made an SVG of my design.

Then I opened Ink/stitch extensions Parameters that let you choose differnt parameters.

There’s a lot of parameters but essential ones are in the Stroke and the FillStitch tab. You can choose different pattern in the method and it opens specific options of each method in particular in Fillstitch. Other important parameters are Expand fill to overlap other part and avoid holes in the embroidery and Spacing between rows to change the density of the embroidery.

Here’s an overview of the different methods for stroke.

And for fills :

On the contour fill, I saw a part that wasn’t embroidered around an eye, I didn’t search further but it could be just a preview display bug as I hadn’t this problem everytime.

In the Inkstich parameters, I didn’t found out the size and the order of the different color and the preview showed non-pertinent order.

I decided to redefine the size and the order of the paths in the classic inkscape. I also change the white colr for a more visible one.

I also removed all the stroke as it wasn’t necessary for my design. I only had to manage the Fillstitch parmaters. Here’s my final parameters.

You can make a simulation and a more realistic preview.

There’s many format for embroidery files. The one for the Brother Machines are *.pes. You only have to go to File > Save As and choose the type of file.

Embroidery machine

The machine from Agrilab is a Brother VR as it is named in Europe and seemed similar to the PRS100 distributed in United States.

Needles should be HAX130 EBBR” (Organ) or Schmetz needles 130/705 H-E. Other needles may break.

The most commonly used threads for embroidery machining are synthetic one because they’re stronger and more resistant to the heat provoked by the machining. The documentation (page 50) recommend that rayon or polyester embroidery thread be used (120 den/2, 135 dtex/2, 40 [weight(https://nancysnotions.com/thread-weight-101/)] (in Americas and Europe), #50 (in Japan)).

Agrilab have an all set of thread spools.

Security

• Always pay close attention to the needle. Do not use bent or damaged needles.
• Keep fingers away from all moving parts. Special care is required around the machine needle.
• While the machine is in operation, keep your hands away from all the moving parts, otherwise injuries may result.
• Switch the machine to the symbol “O” position to turn it off when making any adjustments in the needle area, such as changing the needle.
• Do not use a damaged or incorrect needle plate, as it could cause the needle to break.

Hooping the fabric

I chose the 100mmx100mm frame to fit my design model. I cutted a piece of fabric a bit larger and ironed it. I put it on top of the outer frame then add the inner frame on top of it. (At first, I didn’t add a stabilizer to it because the fabrics looked stiff enough but when I had a jam, adding it was one of the solution I tested.) I stretched the fabric and tighten the screw. Once the fabric properly taut without wrinkles or misaligned patterns, I fixed it to the frame holder.

Preparing the threads

I chose the 3 colors I needed and place them in order on the thread guide.

I followed with the first thread the path indicated on the machine. You’ll see on the pictures I missed a line between step 2 and 3 that will provoke a jam later.

The thread tension could be adjusted using the dedicated knob but I didn’t touch it. I checked the bobbin and it seems there was enough threads in it for my embroidery. Making a new bobbin shoud not be too much different from a sewing machine and seeemed clearly explained in the documentation (page 34).

Embroidering

I imported my PES file in the machine using USB device and then push the “Regler” button (“Set”).

The configuration was made from inkstitch so I only had to run the process but on this inteface you can move, resize, turn the design among other possibilities. I had just pushed the “Broderie” button (“Embroidery”).

To launch the embroidery, I had to push the “Verrouillage” button (“locked”) then the mechanical button that just turned green.

Unfortunately after a little moment a jam of thread stopped the machining. I cleaned it and restarted getteing by a few stitches back using the right buttons. But the problem hapened again. I change the fabric and added a stabilizer. I checked the bobbin and the upper thread path and I found out I misplaced the upper thread.

After that the embroidery went well. I changed colors when needed payin attention at following the right path.

The result was quite good. I should have chosen to finish with the black thread for a better result.

Conductive thread

To fulfill my curiosity I made a quick test of conductive thread. The thread at my disposal was Sparkfun DEV-11791 - Steel Fiber Conductive Thread - 60 g.

The datasheet is very light so I read a bit everywhere about it before testing (her,here or here)

Most of them use hand sewing, and the few telling about sewing machine doesn’t precise if the the bobbin should be from the same type of thread. I decided to make a try with sewing machine Bernette Sew&Go 8.

Unfortunately I couldn’t fix the spool properly on the machine resulting in a bad tension on the thread.

I sewed 2 lines in order to connect a DC motor.

I powered it and it started to turn at around 2V.

Class Archive

• Smiley SVG File
• Smiley PES File

Impressions of the week

For a long time, I wanted to experiment with embroidery machine. I find the result very nice even if it needs some improvements. With lots of bank holidays this week, I’ve not made a lot of work with it. I should spend time later to more experiences with conductive thread because I have another project that could use it.

Embroidery from @hanecdote