embroidery machine prices

Which Type of Embroidery Machine Should I Buy?

   

Someone used to say: "Never ask a life insurance salesman if you need more life insurance". We mention this because your first visit to an embroidery machine dealer could be an expensive mistake! Here's some information you will want before you start visiting dealers.

There are three questions you need to know the answers of before you decide on which embroidery machine to buy:

1.  Is This to be used as a hobby or business?
If it is for hobby use, there are lots of options, starting rock bottom and going up... way up!  For a business, you will need a machine that can embroider pretty quickly.  A home machine does not need to be as fast or heavy-duty as a business machine.

2.  What size embroidery do you want to sew?
The more expensive or industrial machines (mainly for business use) will stitch designs larger than 4"x4" without needing to re-hoop your design to continue. While re-hooping is an option, it is another step and another opportunity for error. Almost all the designs we make, fit in a 4"x4" hoop, but there are plenty of designs available that won't .  Home machines can manage an area of up to 10"x16". Industrial machines can do the back of a jacket with one hooping. If you are happy with a 4"x4" hoop, you can save quite a bit of money on the cost of the machine.

3.  How much are you willing/able to spend?
You can consider purchasing second-hand, but beware! First do your homework on prices of new embroidery machines and different models, before looking for a used machine. Or contact us if you are rather looking for a second-hand embroidery machine. As we are in the business, we come across good deals quite often!


BESIDES THE EMBROIDERY MACHINE,
YOU ALSO NEED...

An Embroidery Memory Card

Along with the machine, you will need a way to get designs from your computer onto the embroidery machine. You can buy pre-programmed. These cards usually have 10 or 20 designs on each. You just buy the card, insert it into a slot on your machine and then pick the design you want to stitch.

Next, the number one accessory you should budget for, is a card-writer. It's a small box that plugs into your PC and allows you to write designs from your computer to a blank memory card. After you've stitched that design, it can be erased and another design can be written onto the card. It's re-usable. The most popular card-writers are the "Magic Box" and the "Ultimate Box". Either is well worth the investment. A card-writer box will soon pay for itself by saving you money on pre-programmed cards.


A Machine Embroidery Digitizing Software

You cannot operate your embroidery machine without digitizing software. Though almost every major brand has it's accompaning digitizing software, it can be limited as most can only digitize one format... the specific brand's. Also, most digitizing software are costly, ranging between R15 000 - R50 000.

The only embroidery software compatible vir CorelDRAW, Creative DRAWings will allow you to easily convert any format at half the price. For example: designs made for a Brother can be converted to a Husqvarna machine.

The exception is Bernina machines which use .ART format. The only way to convert to .ART format is with a "Magic Box" or with Bernina proprietary software. While some Berninas makes great machines, the .ART format is proprietary to Bernina and they do not allow other companies to make software convertable to the .ART format. If you want to access other design formats, you must use their software.

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