# Embroidery Equipment



## marciesullivan (Sep 6, 2014)

Hi Y'all. Please tell me if I'm NUTS!!!

I have a print shop that is doing well, ready to expand to the next level and would like to add embroidery. 

I'm looking at 3 used Tajima machines.

Get in cheap and get my feet wet...won't be able to do anything but smaller jobs. '99 Tajima TMFX 2 head. $15,000 delivered set up, 1 day training, 1 year seller warranty.

2002 Tajima TFHX-IIC1504 $26,500 delivered, set up with 2 days of training and a year warranty.

2009 SWF-K-UH1508D $39,000 delivered, set up, 2 days of training. 2 year mfg warranty. This is the machine I really want. I am an established print business with requests for embroidery daily. I feel like if I have a dual then I can run a big job on the 8 heads or run two separate jobs. Would like to go after bigger accounts and not touch anything that is less than 24..am I dreaming.

Will only have a $400 monthly payment for 60 months if I finance.


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## binki (Jul 16, 2006)

I wouldn't touch the 99. The other two are ok but seem a little pricy for the Tajima for its age. See if you can squeeze a three year warranty out of them. 

You are right about the 8 head. With a 4 head you can turn out a lot of work but the eight head will make swiss cheese out of the 4 head. 

We have an SWF 4 head and even if I ran it solid 3 shifts 7 days a week we would still have 12-16 weeks of embroidery work backlogged. 

My vote is to get the 8 head, find a good digitizer (we use The Wicked Stitch of the East) and if you can learn the digitizing part you can do the easy stuff and job out the tough jobs. Digitizing software will cost you almost what you are paying for the machine. Also allocate another 10% to get all of your consumables, thread, bobbins, snips, backing, tack spray, etc. We use AllStitch Discount Embroidery Supplies for most of our supplies and Madeira (they are close by) when we need it in a hurry.


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## marciesullivan (Sep 6, 2014)

Thanks a bunch that is so helpful!! I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and information more than you can even imagine. Marcie


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## marciesullivan (Sep 6, 2014)

Not sure how I missed this, the machine is a SFW.

2009 SWF-K-UH1508D with 270 cap sash, tubular sash, three sets of tubular hoops, removable tables, and built in LCD screen monitor. $38,500 delivered and setup. This machine has 2 years worth of MFG. warranty left on it as well.

How do you feel about the SWF?


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## tfalk (Apr 3, 2008)

Choice of SWF or Tajima, take the Tajima every day and run... and yes, I have an SWF...

The bigger questions are, for the embroidery you requests you say you are getting daily:

1) where are they going now
2) What kind of volume are they REALLY looking for

Lots of people will walk in and look for pricing based on large orders but in reality, they are fishing and 'only starting with a couple for now'... The hard part is separating the fishers from the real buyers.

You might even consider a combination - get a 4 head for the larger jobs and a single head for one-off's or customs. You never know when the one-off will turn into the bigger jobs, that's how we picked up most of our larger orders. Just a thought...


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