We have our eyes on a one head machine and a heat press to do cheap shirts with as well.
Oh I hope you aren't selling embroidery as a way to do cheap shirts.
Be careful as to the sources that you go for to learn. Even in the t-shirt forums, I see a lot of bad digitizing practices. Mistakes that should not be made. I don't know if it's a limitation in the software that they use or a lack of knowledge in the process.
I know there were a lot of machines at the NBM show in Indy last month - and we were really impressed with the Tajima. They have a model with an integrated laser to do reverse appliques, but there are other manufactures that sell a stand alone laser sytem - so that you theoretically you're not tying up your embroidery machine while doing the laser process... anyway -
I would actually do the attachments within the machine. Your sequin attachments etc. Main reason is less registration issues if you have to set it up on another machine.
Plus I know with the software I have when it comes to doing sequins, I can have all that information all in one file when I send it to the machine.
There is a lot of crossover between sign work and embroidery - if you can run Corel or Illustrator, they now have plugins to add stitch effects right in the software.
Mistake to think along those lines. Things that work great in signage do not translate well into embroidery. Unless you know certain "tricks", ways to use running stitches, stitch angles, blends etc.
I know Pulse has a plugin for Ai and Corel. Not a fan of it. A couple of reasons.
1. You can't take just any design and get it to work right away in embroidery, plugins like that give you that false sense. Plus they don't have all the digitizing tools available. Where to place start/end points on an object and the stitch angle relative to those points. A biggie for fill stitches as I see most mistakes done in relation to fill stitches, although it does apply to all.
2. People really need to learn digitizing separate from vector programs. Even though the native EMB files that I deal with are vectors in a sense. You scale them down or up to a certain degree, depending on type of stitch, angle etc, it won't render that object correctly. People need to learn what will and won't work in regard to digitizing.
Digitizing is much more involved then people want to think that it is. It is not the same as running a vector program. You have to think what can I do to keep the needle on the fabric, but yet hide all the connector stitches to minimize either jumps and/or trims.
I just got done with the NNEP show here in town. I saw a couple of places that down played what it's like to learn to digitize and made it seem simple. It isn't. It has quite a learning curve to it that isn't quite the same as just general design/signage work.
Stick with any of the brand names and you should be good. I'm a fan of Brother machines. Tajima is good, SWF is good. All three have options for attachments.
Most people for production would say get multi-head units. I'm a firm believer in networking single heads. I can get someone to look at my machines 5 miles down the road because I have single heads. If I had a multi-head setup that amount to the 8 single heads that I had, I would have to get someone out of Atlanta to work on them, a good 3.5 hrs away. Also torsional vibrations can get multi-head machines with timing issues. There are a lot of reasons why I would go single versus multi head.
