Needle Basics

Discussions

1. Needle anatomy
2. Product wise needle recommendation
◦ T Shirts
◦ Needle related issues & Solutions

3. Product wise needle recommendation

◦ Men’s Shirts
◦ Needle related issues & Solutions

4. Puckering and Needles

5. CMHE Needles
 Significance of Needle in Sewing

• Productivity
• Quality

• Function of needle:
1. Creates passage in the material for the thread to pass through.
2. Carries the thread into the material
3. Gives a provision to form the loop for stitch formation
Needle Parts
Butt

Shank

Blade Long groove

Short groove

Scraf
eye
Point
Tip
 Needle Classification

 Point - type of fabric

 Size - no. of fabric plies
 System - machine type
 Needle Points

Round points Cutting points

Set Ball

Wedge Spear Triangular Square

Can Any one Guess as how many
days it takes for a Finished Needle?
FROM NEEDLE WIRE TO FINISHED NEEDLE

STRAIGHTENING

SWAGING
The process of needle production
With more than 30 stages of production
takes about 3 working months.
Critical Parts / Parameters

1. Size
2. Eye
3. Shank
4. Blade
5. Groove
6. Scarf
7. Point & Tip
 Needle Sizes

Singer -- 9 11 14 16 18

Metric (Nm) -- 65 75 90 100 110

65 = 0.65 mm x 100

 Finer needles are always required for minimum fabric disturbance

 However, the strength is less when it becomes fine leading to needle breakage
 Eye
• Important in carrying the thread underneath
• Highest stress is imparted in the eye
• High heat generation
 Shank

• Important part to set the needle in the needle bar

• Plays a crucial role in controlling needle vibration
• Three types of shank are
1. Flat : Domestic needles
2. Part flat : Industrial needles
3. Notched surfaces : Industrial needles
4. Round
 Blade

 Directly responsible for the strength of the needle.

 Three types of blades
1. Straight shape
Blade
2. Step reinforced blade
3. Tapered Blade (NY)

 Must have a proper balance between strength and thickness

 Groove

 Provision to guide the thread towards the needle’s

eye by giving space
 Two types of groove :
1. Grooves on face side – Lock stitch
2. Grooves on both the side – Chain stitch Groove
Long Grove

 provides a protective channel in which the thread is drawn through.

 A Correctly shaped long groove of a depth matched to the thread diameter, offers considerable
protection to the thread.

Short Groove

 It extends a little above and below the eye

 Its function is to assist in the formation of the loop in the needle thread.
 Scarf

 Critical controller of loop formation

 It facilitates loop formation, which is picked up by the bottom machine component to
form a proper stitch
 Two types are
1. General types
2. Cliff scarf – Long and deep scarf.
 Point & Tip

 Highly critical in quality sewing

 There are two types of needle point
1. Round point
1. Ball - Knits
2. Set - Wovens
2. Cut point
SPI/SET (R) POINT
KNITTED FABRIC
SPI/SET (R) POINT
KNITTED FABRIC
SPI/SET (R) POINT
KNITTED FABRIC
SPI/SET (R) POINT
KNITTED FABRIC
SPI/SET (R) POINT
KNITTED FABRIC
SPI/SET (R) POINT
KNITTED FABRIC
SPI/SET (R) POINT
KNITTED FABRIC
Round Points – Set
Round Points - Ball
 IF THE NEEDLE IS TOO SMALL FOR THE THREAD

• not pass freely through the eye

• not fit properly into the long groove.

•Thread will suffer from excessive abrasion.

•Can lead to costly thread breakages in production.

IF THE NEEDLE IS TOO LARGE FOR THE THREAD

•There will be poor control of the loop formation which may cause slip stitches.

•It will create holes in the fabric which are too big for the stitches and give an unattractive seam appearance.

•Tends to give rise to damaged fabric along the stitch line, and in closely woven fabrics, pucker along the seam line due to
fabric distortion.
 Needle & Thread Sizes

Thread sizes in synthetic Needle sizes in Needle sizes in

Ticket number Metric system Singer system

8 180 24

16 140 22

30 120 19

50 110 18

75 90 14

120 80 12

180 70 10

320 60 8
 Ball Point Needle Point - Selection
Symbol
Q　 ( EXTRA LIGHT BALL POINT )
S　 ( SLIM BALL POINT )
J　 ( LIGHT BALL POINT )
B　 ( MEDIUM BALL POINT )
U　 ( LARGE BALL POINT )
Y　 ( EXTRA LARGE BALL POINT )
Use
Suitable for chainstitch,cover stitches,embroidery stitch.
Suitable　 for　 high guage knit　 fabtics．
Suitable for general knit fabrics
Applicable on most of the standard materials.
Effective　 for middle/large guaged　 knit　 fabric.
for knit and power-net
Suitable for elastic materials such as rubber or spandex.

Q S J B U Y
Regular Slim taper Regular Regular Regular Regular
taper taper taper taper taper
& J-Ball

Relatively
New High-gauge
knit
General knit
large knit
Knit and
power-net
Elastic
materials

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