Richpeace, Feyia, Richrui and other chineese brands

Hi Julianne,
I have worked with Ricoma and Richrui Single head in the last two years. Yes they have improved since the early years but they are not even close to Tajima and Barudan. Biggest Problem is the tensioning. The use of cheap material and missing precision in production result in an inconsistent tension. So you will have to adjust the tension more often than on a Tajima. And you will still have more thread breaks than on other machines. But it isn't as bad as it sounds right now. After you have figured out how to run the machine best, you can produce nice embroidery for a cheap price. I would recommend to change the tension springs, this helps a lot....
If you go with Chinese machines you should choose a big one. A 6 or 8 head directly from china costs 10-15k plus shipping. And you will need a big one because you have to run this machines a lot slower than Japanese. With 650-750 St/min on flat and 550-650 St/min on caps I would suggest. Richrui is not producing for them self. Zhuji Fuwei is producing for them and labeling it richrui.
http://zjfuwei.en.alibaba.com/
You might get a good deal from them.

I haven’t worked with them yet. But the differents between the Chinese machines are very small. They all use the same parts. None of them are producing pressure foots, needle bars, rotary hooks or the electronics. All of them are buying the parts somewhere else and just build the together. It is a little bit like building a house. You get the furniture from company A, the electronics from B and the Windows from Company C. The embroidery Computers come from Dahao or Topwisdom, the main embroidery machine parts (pressure foot, needle bar...) from another company and some parts are usually imported (rotary hook, belt....).

Maybe you should go to trade show or exhibition. Normally there are some Chinese manufacturers presenting their product. If you are early you can buy on of their machines from the show. You can save the shipping costs to the USA and they can save the shipping costs back to china. And you know that the machine is running smoothly, because they only take the best built machines to the show.

You can improve the machine by using good springs. This is what the distributors of Ricoma and KSM are doing in Germany. The Results are better but it is still not the same like Tajima. The people assembling these machines in china are no engineers and they are working with very simple tools. If they drill a hole a few mm left or right from the correct spot or if a bearing is sitting to tight or lose it will influence the performance of the machine. Lower quality plastic and metal materials used for the parts will have an influence too. The machine will function correctly but any mistake will have an effect on the tension. I have seen machines running for several hours without breaks and I have seen machines where you had thread breaks every 20-30.000 Stitches...
You might consider buying a machine from good distributor in your Country. If he knows what he is doing he has tested the machine for one or two days before selling it. In Germany you could go to our Barudan distributor because they are selling machines from China (CTC-Brand) too. And you can expect a good service and people who know what they doing. But the price will be a totally different one than in china.

quotes like "quality not even close", "more thread breaks", "run machines slower" and "change the springs" would make me RUN away from those machines,, not even consider them! What about a pre-owned Tajima? you already have them, so you already know what they can do... nothing new to learn. Are your current machines running 24/7? three shifts plus weekends? if not then there is an opportunity without buying a machine until they are running as much as possible?

Thread breaks.... to me the quality of the thread is the main issue... then needles, then operator ability to have proper tensions. Similar question.... do you go cheaper and spend more in TIME? (Tajima vs lesser, or quality thread vs not so much). Pay up front and enjoy years of quality without second guessing yourself.

ah, sorry about that, very few tend to put WHERE they are, so it can be hard to provide regional experiences that make sense. I have experienced Richpeace a couple of years ago and it was not pretty for the client that owned them... now maybe they have improved a lot in 2 years, but I tend to bet probably not. sorry. Still think your answer is a resounding NOOOO... lol use the current machines as many hours a week as possible and then buy a new Tajima if is is nearly the same as a preowned one.

maybe this link will help? http://www.ajstitch.com/index.php/ajst-faqs/embroidery-machine-faqs/151-neo-chinese-and-chinese-embroidery-machines

but it kinda sounds like you are just looking for a positive review to justify a decision you have already made?

Julianne, so what part of the world are you in? 30 percent increase in price of machine yet half of ability to charge and only a little reduction in payroll to me would mean finding a "niche" that you could charge more for and become a "specialist" in.... several of my clients have done this... and after a few years in a particular "niche" they are working less but earning more. maybe this is the answer to your problem? so you can earn more with the machines you have and Not buy any more for now?

Julianne, There is always going to be customers looking for cheap, just like there are always customers that are more concerned about quality and service.
We fight that in the USA as well but maybe with different variables.

Buying cheap machines is not always a real savings and I think that is what many people here are trying to caution you about. The savings up front could end up costing you more in the long run and it will surely effect the efficiency of your production as well as the quality of the work you produce.

Personally I would never want to save money on a machine and that savings simply end up causing me headaches and more cost in the long run.

Move forward with caution. It seems that many people here are trying to give you a word of caution and I personally think they are giving you good advice.

I work on a lot of the Chinese machines and the main issue with most of them is quality control. You can get two identical machines off the same shipment and one may sew like a champ. The other may never sew a lick.

Ricoma, Pantograms, and Datastitch, are turning out a new single head machine that is head over hills better than the Chinese norm that we are all familiar with and that generate most of the negative views in the forums. These new machines, I unofficially named them Neo-Chinese machines, have better components, better electric boards, and are put together with better quality control than the normal Chinese machines. These new machines are still not as good as a Tajima, Barudan, or ZSK but they are half the price.

If you do decide to buy a multi-head Chinese machine I would strongly encourage you to buy from a distributor in the states. Most of the Distributors that I have worked with are very willing to work with you when you have an issue with your machine, they speak American most of the time, and they honor their warranties. Changing out the tension springs and knobs does help with the tension issues.

The time difference, distance, and language barriers work against you when you buy direct from overseas. Email correspondence takes about 24 hours, components and parts takes about 3 weeks to ship from overseas, and a overseas phone call to a person that may or may not speak engliss is expensive.

Re-sale value is another consideration. Do a Google search for used machines and compare a 10 year old Tajima verses a 10 year old Feiya. On the other hand, these used Chinese machines do make fantastic boat anchors.

I read over the part where you are not in the states. I would assume that most of what I wrote would apply to where you live, specifically the part where I suggest buy from a local distributor if available.

Good luck.