[amayausers] Re: Melco Amaya XT Purchase

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tsu55,
I am third party tech, meaning I am not on Melco payroll status, but I do work 
on Melco EMT, Amaya and Amaya XT's. Unlike Bob, I do own two Amaya's, one of 
which is an XT, the other is a 2004 version of the  Amaya.

First to answer your question about the auto-actifeed. There are a great number 
of Amaya's in the field right now. Lets just say that the auto-actifeed system 
has gone through a development stage of continuing improvement. It is my 
understnding that additional features are being worked on to make the 
auto-actifeed even more versital. These improvements have been contributed to 
mainly software improvements. The auto-actifeed system works superbly on both 
my XT and my standard Amaya.

 The system does not "tension" the thread as in other brands of machines using 
manual thread tensioning dials. It may be viewed as a matter of semantics,but 
this is not an auto tensioning system as Bob has stated. Hence the name "Auto 
Acti-feed." The Amaya and XT Amaya have a thread feed motor, controlled by the 
on-board computer system. A very simplfied version of what is happening, is 
this system feeds thread to the needle, the needle penetrates the material 
picking up the bobbin thread and the take-up levers pull the thread up tight in 
the material tieing the stitch. Enroute from the thread cone to the needle, the 
tread is wound around a thread break sensor tube and the friction caused by 
thread moving over it's surface causes static electricity. As the material gets 
thicker, the computer will sense a change in the static electrical charge from 
the thread being pulled tighter against the thread break sensor tube and 
automatically feeds more thread on the next down stroke o
 f the needle. It is because of this "thread feed system" the Amaya's can run 
the speeds that they do.

Why would we ever want sew without the acti-feed on? Well in the case of some 
ultra thin materials, shear linen hankerchiefs would be a good example, and 
using no backing other than Solvy of some sort on both sides, it may be 
benificial to have the thread feed at a constant rate and not rely on a 
computer to do it for you. It gives you just another tool to be more flexible 
in customizing your embroidery to your needs.

The only issues we have encountered with the yellow thread feed roller system 
is failure on the part of the operator to keep them properly lubricated and/or 
allowing oil, grease or other contaminates to get on the surface of the 
rollers. These rollers are a vast improvement over the old black roller 
material.

Thread breaks, pull-outs, fraying, unfortuately is a fact of embroidery, but if 
it is happening on a regular and consistant basis, then it becomes a matter of 
trouble shooting to find out "why." The one biggest problem area falls into the 
arena of a poorly digitized design with ultra thin columns and tiny lettering. 
Created lettering without proper tie-in and tie-offs, proper densities, column 
width adjustment and increased speed, etc, will lead to breaking, fraying and 
pull outs. Can it be a mechinical failure of the machine, yes, but my 
experience so far is that is is 99% operator failure and 1% machine error. 
Bobbins in backwards, needles in backwards, needles not oriented properly, 
using the wrong backing materials, hooping issues, burrs on the needles, old or 
bad thread, lack of lubrication on the machine....this list could go on, and 
on, and on......

Y motor axis proplem? The worst case senario would be an actual failure of the 
Y axis motor. Anytime the Y-axis motor senses binding in the Y-axis, as a 
failsafe, it will give you this error. This could be too heavy of a garment 
being placed on the machine and is dragging heavily on the tabletop. It could 
be lack of lubrication to the reciprocator shaft and needle bars that is now 
causing drag. One thing to remember, the higher the speed of any equipment, the 
more friction is being generated and this means more heat which immediately 
translates to "lubrication." This goes right back to the operator being 
dedicated to taking care of their machines. All machines need maintanance and 
the Amayas are no exception, they are machines and cannot totally take care of 
all the lubrication needs for themselves. It needs the operator to provide this 
care for them.......

Varible presser foot adjustment? As the speed of an embroidery machine 
increases, higher heat will be generated to the needle which will cause more 
flagging of the material and therefore it becomes more important to be able to 
adjust the presser foot height to hold this material down to prevent thread 
breaking issues from happening...it is certainly important when running caps at 
1200 stitches per minute on the XT with  properly digitized designs.

As a tech, my expeience with Melco support and them backing up their product 
has been second to none. Their technical support group has been very, very 
good. Do Sharon and I like our Amayas, yes we do. Is Bob giving you sound 
advice on doing your homework and finding the machine that best fits you, yes 
he is. But, I am sure when you look over the field, you will see the Amaya 
system offer many things that the others do not. Can the others get the job 
done, well some of them are better than others, but yes they can get the job 
done.

Find someone to give you a demonstration of the machine and software of several 
brands before you make your decision...it should be an easy decision after 
that...

Rod Springer 
Melco EMT & Amaya tech & trainer....
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