Dennis,
Good for you! Yes, two heads working together is great. I usually two heads at a time with most jobs, when I have more than a few. Then I keep my other machine open for 1-offs, or weird stuff. Test sew outs, whatever. My two matching heads are SWF Compacts, the other is a Brother 12 needle, compact as well.
Sometimes though, all 3 heads get run on the same job, if at all possible. Truthfully though, it is almost more than I can handle to load 3 machines and run them all together. I think most designs in our shop have about 6,000 to 12,000 stitches. So, they do sew out pretty quickly and by the time they do, you have re-hooped, run to the bathroom, filled up you drink glass, answered a phone call, whatever. LOL.
I visited a friend's shop a couple weeks ago. He had about 6 employees doing everything from screenprinting to embroidery. He had 3 muti-head machines. About 6 or more heads permachine. Maybe more. Anynow, they were all TAJIMAS. I noticed he was running a fairly large job and only had two employees running one of the multi heads. Seems to me a lot of wasted floor space if that is how they usually do things. He did tell me the other machines did not get run as often. But he got a steal of a deal on the machines and fixed them up, he is good mechanically. Don't know what he plans to do with them. But watching how they were loading the machines, I noticed they had quite a bit of down time while re-loading. Yes, they ran more heads than I do when they ran them, but I began to wonder if I get just as much done as they did with the machines I have. I just keep 'um running. If I have a thread break, I'll wait to re-thread if I have another that is almost finished and I just have to load a new hooped garment in. Then I go back to the machine that needs to be re-threaded or perhaps a needle? Point is, if you can keep one of them running while you are working on another, do it. In the end, you are done a whole lot faster than you would have been if both machines stopped running for a few minutes over a period of a couple of hours, or an entire day.
By the way, when you say "3D" do you mean puff? If so, yeah, that can be difficult to find somebody who can do it well. The one time I had contracted a Digitizing job out, I was not happy with the result and guess what? It was a Puff design! So, I paid for it, but went ahead and did it myself. Turned out much better, my file. It was just one letter, a big capital "T" in a Calligraphic style. The fill was puff and black. The outline was metallic, a wide satin stitch all around. Looked sharp, on a hat. One of the stiff hats/caps and to add to the difficulty, a seam smack down the middle. Yikes! That took some test sew outs, let me tell you! But I did get it right and just use the same file whenever they reorder.
Playing with a Puff design for a family member is how I learned how to do it. Also, buying a puff design, following instructions and sewing it out. Then, trying to improve on the process for a better outcome.
Keep the videos coming!
Keep up the great work too!
