# Brother Embroidery Machine (BES 1240 BC) Thread Breaking Issues



## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

Hello everyone, 

My partner and I are fairly new to the production side of embroidery. When we started doing our own production back in February of this year (2016) we purchased a used Brother machine.

I knew the owner of the machine, and I knew that they took very good care of it, so I figured it was a good gamble. I even called the technician that does the annual maintenance on the machine and he vouched for it as well. I'm sure you see where this is going..

I watched the machine run in their shop and it ran like a charm, not a lot of issues. BUT.. As soon as we got it in our location we started having issues, mostly thread breaks and bobbin issues. It's obvious to me that the issues we're experiencing are human errors, as the machine works well mechanically. We've had two technicians come out (both of which have a great reputation around Texas) and say everything looks good for the most part. But, when we get in the middle of projects we will experience a lot of thread breaks, and a lot of "thread jammed in rotary hook" errors... Does anyone have experience with this machine or one like it that can help us out?

We got a bobbin tension gauge and keep the bobbins between a tension of 250-275 (not sure what the unit of measurement actually is there, just know it's between those numbers). and then we'll run a satin stitch test on all needles and adjust the individual needle tension as needed to get to the "1/3 bobbin rule". Even then though, we experience issues.. Am I missing something? I know that it's hard to diagnose things like this without seeing the machine, but I'll list some of the common issues we get below (in order of most to least frequent)


Threat Jammed in Rotary Hook
Thread Freying (A lot)th
Thread Comes out of needle occasionally after cuts
Thread doesn't cut (Doesn't seem to happen all the time, just on certain colors and in certain areas on a design)

Those are the most common ^

Thanks for the help guys, anything is better than nothing!
Regards,


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## LTPEMB (Jul 10, 2015)

Okay I have a fair amount of experiance with Brother embroidery machines and knowlidge that even brother support doesn't. (the industrial ones anyways). 

However most of your issues revolve around 1 you may need a tech to tune it up and B. 

READ THIS http://www.t-shirtforums.com/embroidery/t663601.html#post3579689 

It summarizes a fair amount of knowlidge. Along with the whole topic. If the answer isn't in there. Than ask again.


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## 539162 (Jun 12, 2015)

If you need a tech my friend Jim Jasperson who does Brother phone support is a Tech in your neck of the woods.


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## LTPEMB (Jul 10, 2015)

From what i read yeah most of your issues are file issues/running files on the wrong material. If your tech has already seen the machine. Read the post/topic i linked.


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

I suspect you are having more than one problem. Are you doing your own digitizing or are you running designs that were digitized by an experienced digitizer? If you're running your own designs at least some of the problems could be caused by inexperienced dgitizing. Are you using old thread? Poly thread can last a long time if its properly stored but old rayon can cause problems. Did you run "problem" designs when the techs visited? Have you cleaned out the entire thread (top and bottom) path?


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## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

SunEmbroidery said:


> I suspect you are having more than one problem. Are you doing your own digitizing or are you running designs that were digitized by an experienced digitizer? If you're running your own designs at least some of the problems could be caused by inexperienced dgitizing. Are you using old thread? Poly thread can last a long time if its properly stored but old rayon can cause problems. Did you run "problem" designs when the techs visited? Have you cleaned out the entire thread (top and bottom) path?


So we run new Isacord poly thread, shouldn't be any issues there. We sub our digitizing work out, our guy does a great job, but I'm about to switch because change requests take FOREVER to get back, and the language barrier is frustrating at times.. Any recommendations there?


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## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

EmbroidTek said:


> If you need a tech my friend Jim Jasperson who does Brother phone support is a Tech in your neck of the woods.


We use JJ currently, great guy. He's the one who came out and set the machine up for us.


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## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

LTPEMB said:


> From what i read yeah most of your issues are file issues/running files on the wrong material. If your tech has already seen the machine. Read the post/topic i linked.


Thanks for that, I'll look it over today. I am pretty uninformed when it comes to what weight backing to use, etc.. That might be part of our problem?


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

So your digitizing is done by one individual and not a group? In other words the quality level is consistent? I would use someone who speaks/writes in English, sends quick edits and can send files in your software format so you can make easy changes yourself so you don't have to wait for file edits.

Do your problem files embroider well when the tech is there?


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## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

SunEmbroidery said:


> So your digitizing is done by one individual and not a group? In other words the quality level is consistent? I would use someone who speaks/writes in English, sends quick edits and can send files in your software format so you can make easy changes yourself so you don't have to wait for file edits.
> 
> Do your problem files embroider well when the tech is there?


I don't think the problem is as much the file as it is other variables. Initially, I tried digitizing myself and that was a nightmare. Since then I've used two digitizers and the one I currently use does the best work (just not the best communicator). Do you know of someone who fits the criteria you just mentioned?


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

What software do you use?


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## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

SunEmbroidery said:


> What software do you use?


I have our digitizer (Go Digitizing) do all of our digitizing, but if I need to make small changes (color changes, missing cuts, etc) I use a software called EmBird.


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## SunEmbroidery (Oct 18, 2007)

I'm sorry, I can't recommend someone who uses Embird but I'm sure someone else can. Someone who can send the software file - not the machine file- would be best.


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## LTPEMB (Jul 10, 2015)

Do you have a control file to test against? If you run a test/control file and there are 100% no issues while running that file but you have issues later with other files, your problem is the embroidery file. 

Normal rule of thumb. 
1. if it is happening on more than 1 head, 95% of the time it is the file
2. if it is happening in the same place every run it is the file for sure
3. Is the material you are running it on the same every time? if not It is the file, (material matters)
4. Check tensions, replace needles (they wear out) 
5. Make sure to remove small stitches. any stitch bellow .5mm or in some cases .7mm will cause thread breaks and all kinds of havoc. <IE It is the file.


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## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

LTPEMB said:


> Do you have a control file to test against? If you run a test/control file and there are 100% no issues while running that file but you have issues later with other files, your problem is the embroidery file.
> 
> Normal rule of thumb.
> 1. if it is happening on more than 1 head, 95% of the time it is the file
> ...


Okay, so despite my initial judgement I'm definitely leaning towards all of your reasoning. We have a control file and it works damn near flawlessly.. And I'll admit, some of our designs run better than others, but I just figured that was the nature of the beast. Although It's looking like all signs point to our files being the common denominator.


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## 539162 (Jun 12, 2015)

I digitize and I speak English and I do good work for a very reasonable price


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## LTPEMB (Jul 10, 2015)

It took me a year and a half to two years of studying, $5000 in machine repairs, and trading in for Wilcom ES e3 digitizing software (not cheap) to learn this lesson to which is why i beat everyone over the head with it. 

While Brother Machines are touchy beasts and need a lot more tlc to run cleanly/smoothly/ect. than other machines. (or at least my early year models do) The #1 factor for smooth nearly perfect runs, is the file. (go back to my original response link and i summarized a lot of basic file settings that can help) 

Also is your machine a PC model or stand alone?


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## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

EmbroidTek said:


> I digitize and I speak English and I do good work for a very reasonable price


Please email me ([email protected]) so we can speak further.


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## collinsiegel (Apr 8, 2014)

LTPEMB said:


> It took me a year and a half to two years of studying, $5000 in machine repairs, and trading in for Wilcom ES e3 digitizing software (not cheap) to learn this lesson to which is why i beat everyone over the head with it.
> 
> While Brother Machines are touchy beasts and need a lot more tlc to run cleanly/smoothly/ect. than other machines. (or at least my early year models do) The #1 factor for smooth nearly perfect runs, is the file. (go back to my original response link and i summarized a lot of basic file settings that can help)
> 
> Also is your machine a PC model or stand alone?


I'm grateful for people like you on this forum, hopefully this saves me a lot of time/money. We run a standalone 4 head machine.


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## identitycpp (Nov 3, 2016)

I had the same issue with the bobbin errors. We took the rotary hook apart and there was major thread build up in behind. Once we cleaned that up the errors went away.

I also have a question for you about your machine. I purchased my BES1240 used and I seem to be missing a part to be able to do caps. There is a bracket that goes from the cap frame and ties into the underside of the rail. It is now discontinued and not available from Brother. I am looking to get my hands on one or even get a picture of one so that I can get a machinist to make them for me. Would you be able to help me out with that?


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## LTPEMB (Jul 10, 2015)

You also need the needle plates for that. You can check sewmanyparts.com and sometimes the parts come up. as a note all the hat driver pieces are $100s of dollars so make sure hats are somthing you want to invest time in (I have a BE-1204 and the only reason i do hats with it is they made it 100x easier to change over if i had a 1240 I'd have a 24 piece minimum on them and a 15 day turn around (cause I am only changing that thing once a month and doing allllll the hat orders at once)


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