| Well, in a perfect world needle breakage is almost always avoidable. There are many causes of needle breakage, some of which are included on the table entitled ?Causes of needle breakage.? Needle alignment can be difficult on older looms. If the needle board is not aligned so the needles locate in the middle of the bed plate hole, breakage is likely. The fiber quality can often cause needle breakage, especially when needlepunching waste and regenerated fibers. Unopened fiber particles can often break the needles or build up in the bed plate holes of the needle loom. The needling condition is often a cause of needle breakage. This is especially true if the material advance per stroke of the needle loom is too high. If the advance of the fabric is too great, the fabric will pull the needle out of alignment with the bed plate and can cause needle breakage. Sometimes the needle is too aggressive and causes needle breakage. If needles had no barbs they would rarely break because there would not be any load on the blade section. If the barbs are too deep the load on the needle's blade can be too great and break the needles. Old needle looms often cause vibration and or poor alignment that can lead to needle breakage, especially with fine gauge needles. The needle loom may also have bed plate holes which are not properly designed (the hole size may be too small) for the product being needlepunched. Worn needle boards and worn inserts can cause the needles to be too loose in the needle boards. This can cause the needle to enter the fabric at an angle and break the felting needle and cause defects on the surface of the needled fabric.
The Foster Sales Team considers all these elements when making needle recommendations. Do you feel your needles break too often? Perhaps we can recommend an alternative needle or needlepunching condition.
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