Barbara, Is your needle plate centered with the needle? Is there any "play" in the needle case? Do you know how to inspect your hook timing? Any possible play in the hoop area - hoop arms or fabric flagging? Ed Orantes -----Original Message----- From: amayausers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:amayausers-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of Avalon Embroidery Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 11:22 AM To: amayausers@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [amayausers] Hi to All and Happy Holidays! I need help! I am attempting to sew on a jacket and am having the most unbelievable time. The jacket is a nylon wind breaker type material....just sewing letters...luckily, I have an old jacket of the same material to test on. I have had thread break after thread break and two needles broke as well. Bent the "you know what" out of the needles! I cannot figure out what the problem is! I first tried with a full block font, to the point of the "default" column width and a 4.5 density. The smallest of the letter size to be .40........but I don't really think it has anything to do with the font. What is odd is the way the needle is breaking. Like it is hitting something hard, but the material is so thin and I am using a cut-a-way backing. Any thoughts? from: "ready to give up and send out the job" Barbara, of Avalon Embroidery