Opinion on Brother BAS 423

By Gilligan on Jan. 18, 2012
Forums: 
Embroidery and Digitizing

I have a local guy that has one of these guys (late 90's) sitting under some Visqueen in his warehouse. The workers thought there was something wrong with one or two of the three heads but couldn't remember and I didn't get to ask him (owner) while he was there.

He said, make an offer and he would make me a great deal.

What is everyone's opinion on this unit? I currently run a Brother PR-650 (obviously nothing to compare in either direction, new features nor true commercial vs prosumer).

Location: 
United States
—

"you don't need a hook for the worms to dance."

Submitted by Lizanne on Mon, 07/18/2016 - 02:55

Hello! I am brand new to embroidery and have been gifted a BAS 415. I don't have any software though. What software did you use or would you suggest? Thanks!!

Screen Printer's picture
Submitted by Screen Printer on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 22:27

When I first got interested in embroidery I almost bought a brother multi head.

the people that sold them told me they had some problems....they told me to get single heads..........so I looked at other brands.

I know a tech in Crowley...I can send you his email address and you could message him and get details...maybe even get him to check it out before you buy.

My tech is a Barudan tech...but I am sure he knows them all

Submitted by Gilligan on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 22:44

I'd appreciate that Ted.

We are talking about a 15 year old machine... I'd imagine they go through different phases just like cars... Late 60's ford mustang was pretty sweet... mid 90's was junk. ;)

"you don't need a hook for the worms to dance."

Submitted by Gilligan on Wed, 01/18/2012 - 23:18

Thanks, I should have more info on what might be wrong with it tomorrow.

After I get that info I'll hit him up.

What an odd day... delivering some unrelated products to a florist shop and I hear that tell tell sound of an auto running and the closer I get I smell the screen print chemicals. Next door to the florist shop was a screen printing shop with a purple Anatol 6 color. So I spent about 3 hours hanging out with those guys talking shop. LOL

"you don't need a hook for the worms to dance."

Submitted by drdoct on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 08:09

I've got the single head version (BAS 416a). If I were you I would ask to turn it on and see what happens. If it turns on and loads up and shows you the design numbers (1-16) then it should be ok. Then I'd push enter and then after the design loads... start. That will get it loaded up and then you can use the arrow keys to move the pantagraph (whatever that bar's called) around. If all that works then I'd offer them 3,000 for it. If any of those fails then I'd offer $500 and part it out. These machines are very basic and pretty much the same as tajima parts.

Screen Printer's picture
Submitted by Screen Printer on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 09:39

drdoct wrote:
I've got the single head version (BAS 416a). If I were you I would ask to turn it on and see what happens. If it turns on and loads up and shows you the design numbers (1-16) then it should be ok. Then I'd push enter and then after the design loads... start. That will get it loaded up and then you can use the arrow keys to move the pantagraph (whatever that bar's called) around. If all that works then I'd offer them 3,000 for it. If any of those fails then I'd offer $500 and part it out. These machines are very basic and pretty much the same as tajima parts.

Just offer $500 from the beginning

It is more trouble for him to keep it...it depreciates every day.

Explain to him... the worst thing you can do is let it sit.

Submitted by Gilligan on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 10:10

That's exactly where I'm going to be starting. The guy may just want to not feel like he "gave it away".

Thanks for the info Dr!

"you don't need a hook for the worms to dance."

Submitted by Gilligan on Thu, 01/19/2012 - 21:42

Does anyone know if one of those floppy emulator usb port doomy-flicky works in this guy?

The guy said that basically nothing is wrong with it but it would break threads and the timing would get off and they would get the tech in about twice a year to get it back on track.

He also gave me Ray Parker's name as their tech.

He then said I could take it for $1500... I told him that was fine if it all works as you suggested DR.

"you don't need a hook for the worms to dance."

Submitted by drdoct on Sat, 01/21/2012 - 14:39

I wouldn't mess with the usb thing. Floppies work great with it. If you don't have a floppy drive (like me) you can get an external usb floppy drive and then there is nothing to worry about. It's the same thing with using usb. You still have to put it on the stick and then into the machine and load it. Not sure what the advantage over floppies would be honestly. Shoot, I'd pay at least 3 sight unseen as long as it worked. I need to get a multi head machine but am not in the position to buy one right now.

Robert Young's picture
Submitted by Robert Young on Mon, 01/23/2012 - 16:15

drdoct wrote:
. Not sure what the advantage over floppies would be honestly.

Hi, I have found that any design over 200,000 stitches can be a problem with a floppy. so large jacket backs for example had to be split into mulitple pcs?

Of course we still run into the issue with machine memory itself... as many of our designs are in the millions of stitches, so I guess it really doesn't matter as we are still splitting designs into multiple pcs.

Modern Embroidery Designer
volant-tech.com
volantfineart.com

Submitted by Gilligan on Sat, 01/21/2012 - 18:17

drdoct,

I'm a computer repair/consultant... I just can't stand floppies... I have just never found them reliable. Last couple of times I needed one (sata drivers for win 2k or xp) I went through almost an entire box of new or barely used floppies and barely found one that would work.

If you look for usb/floppy emulators that aren't "industry specific" then you will find them at a 10th of the price! Seriously, $25 bucks... that's worth it... especially if you are going to get a usb floppy drive (those are even more).

I was just hoping someone had a make or model that they KNEW worked with it so I didn't have to fight with different ones.

I'm probably going to pick it up next week. "pick it up"... that gets me to my next hurdle. I don't even have a clue how to get this thing on a trailer and off when I get back to wherever I plan on putting it (still undecided).

"you don't need a hook for the worms to dance."

Submitted by drdoct on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 10:34

Yeah I guess over 200k stitches which is something I wouldn't or haven't ever done I guess. You must do some awesome designs at a million stitches. I'm pretty sure the Brother 423 (and 416a) is limited to like 200K anyway. I just use my floppy like a temporary drive and don't ever just store things on it. It's a one or 2 designs and then delete. I use HDD with network backups for storage. I've found there really isn't anything 'reliable' anymore except redundancy. In the end though... if you upgrade to a usb from floppy you still are taking the risk of messing around with the board. I myself, am not ready to even open up the case even though I've built tons of computers but the thought of frying the board and having to scrounge around for a replacement while paying 20x the actual cost isn't really worth upgrading to me.

Submitted by Gilligan on Tue, 01/24/2012 - 13:30

Well, you know how a floppy is installed then... ridiculously simple.

I'm not concerned about storing them... like I said, last time I needed to USE a floppy I had problems finding one that would actually work, RIGHT OUT OF THE BOX in some cases... Some barely used.

Maybe my drive was dirty or something but it seems that's always the case when I NEED a floppy.

"you don't need a hook for the worms to dance."

Submitted by jthompson on Tue, 03/13/2012 - 14:05

I have owned 3 different BAS 423 Brothers, just know that Brother no longer produces any industrial type embroidery machines. My first was purchased in 1995 and second in 1996 and my last one in 1998. I loved them all, but the last one did have a different thread break sensor that I thought worked much better. I bought all these brand new and never had any problem with them. I just needed more production and when they came out with a new 6 head, I bought those....

Submitted by Gilligan on Tue, 03/13/2012 - 14:18

It is hard to swallow taking up 13' of room for 3 heads when you can take up the same amount of space with a more modern 6 head.

Then again, we are talking at LEAST 10x the cost too (at least for this specific machine to me).

"you don't need a hook for the worms to dance."

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