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Avoiding Needle Breakage on Needle Felting Machines
(This topic applies to the following
needle felting machines: Babylock Embellisher, Janome XPression (FM-725),
Nancy's Notions Fab Felter, Huskystar ER-10, Pfaff Smart-350, Bernina needle
felting attachment, Brother needle felting attachment and potentially to other
machines as well.)
I hope this helps those of you who are new to the Embellisher to keep them from
breaking so many needles. Here are some pointers.
The first thing that I point out to my students when I am teaching is that they
should have "fast feet and slooooow hands." I want them to run
their machine at a medium to high rate of speed while then are slowly and gently
moving their project under the needles. I usually only use one or two
fingers to the left and the right of the project and move it with my
fingertips. It may take a bit of time to get used to it, but it is so much fun that it is worth the
startup time.
The Embellisher and other felting machines are not like sewing
machines. We need to realize the advantages that it gives us. If you
seem to be breaking needles close to the time that you are stopping the machine,
then here are two good techniques to use until you get more accustomed to how
the machine works. One is that we can run off the edge of the
fabric/project and there are no threads to show that we have done so. If you are
working with felt or roving, this is great. If you will just be needling through
your foundation fabric that will be covered later, this is not a problem either,
but on fabric which will not entirely be punched, you do have to be careful not to needle punch through an area of fabric that will not have anything
felted/punched to it or you may have unwanted needle holes that show.
Another equally effective technique is to move your hands away from your project
(so you are not moving it at all) and then stop putting pressure on the foot
pedal. Lift the needles, if they are in a down position, move the
fabric/project and then start felting/punching again. Another thing that I have noticed when I am teaching with the
Embellisher is that many people try to turn their work with the needles down.
Unless you are making a very slow and gentle curve, you might want to stop and
reposition your fabric/project before trying to pivot your project. These
techniques should help to keep you from breaking needles.
But, what if the unfortunate happens and you break a needle? How do
you know? When a needle is broken, you will hear a sound that is best
described as a thump or a clump. When you hear it (or even think you hear
it, you should stop moving the project and inspect your project. Check to
make sure that none of the needles are broken. If one or more is broken,
you will need to replace them. Also, make sure that you find and remove
and pieces of broken needle that are in your project. If you don't find
all of the pieces, you may end up breaking
a second and third needle. It is well worth removing the project from the
machine to feel around for the needle pieces. Also check the lint catcher
as they occasionally fall there. Only if you are satisfied that there are
no needle piece in your project should you replace the needle and resume
work. (From personal experience, it is not nice to break a needle and
think that you have found all of the pieces and then to start again and break 7
more needles because you missed a piece. It is definitely worth the time
to look for the broken needle piece.
Another factor is that can cause problems with broken needles is failing to
properly adjust the height of the presser foot. I always set the height when I
begin a new project and often make more adjustments while working on a project
and building up more layers. You want to needle presser foot/finger guard
to be close enough to the fabric that the fabric does not bounce, but high
enough from the fabric that you can move the fabric easily under the
needles. Needles are more likely to break if you have to push or pull
the fabric under the foot because the needle guard is too low, or if there is too much room for play because
the needle guard is too high.
Sometimes the problem with needle breakage comes from working with a very thick
fabric or multiple layers are felt or fabric. If you are using multiple
layers, you will get the best results and break fewer needles if you add the
layers one at a time. This helps to flatten the project, making it easier
for the machine. If you are using a single very thick layer (such as
washing machine felted/fulled old sweaters), then I suggest two things.
First, make sure that your needle guard is not too low to allow the fabric to
move. If it is, then raise it to its maximum height. The second
suggestion is to use a size 38 STAR needle. This needle is a very strong
needle and in my experience and based on feedback from customers seems to work
best with the thick fulled sweater pieces. I have on one occasion totally
removed the needle guard for a very thick piece to see if that would help.
I DO NOT recommend that you do this for two reasons. First, you may
puncture your finger without the needle guard; second, the fabric bounces a lot
without the needle guard to control the bounce.
The only time that I have had any real problems with breaking needles is when I was texturizing china silk. It is very tightly woven and silk threads
are VERY thin. After breaking 3 needles, I switched to size 42 needles and did not break another one. So, I do think that with some fabrics the size of
the needle will definitely affect the chances of breaking needles. Also,
remember that felting needles are numbered like wire, not like sewing machine
needles. So, the lower the number of a felting needles, the thicker the
needle. Using a needle that is too thick can give you larger holes on your
fabric/felt. You may want that look. If not, then switching to a
smaller size (higher number needle), may remedy that problem for you.
And one last point about breaking needles, well, actually about not breaking
needles. Just like a sewing machine, you should replace the needles occasionally,
even if they are not broken. Both the barbs and the points on the needles
wear out with time. When this happens, you are likely to see larger holes
and less of your fabric or fiber being punched through the foundation
fiber. I generally replace my needles after finishing a large project such
as a purse or a large pillow. You may want to change them more or less
often depending on what you are working with. But just like with your
sewing machine, when if starts to mess up and you can't understand why,
replacing the needles is a good starting point to solving the problem.
If you give these techniques a try, I sincerely hope that the rate of needle
breakage you are experiencing will decrease. If you have any other
questions about this topic, please submit them to tryourdesigns@aol.com.
We will do our best to answer them for you.
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