Needle kept breaking
 

This is one of those FYI posts : I am working on a fusible applique wall quilt. When i started it 3 years ago, i did not know about the window technique for fusing therefore there is Seams Light 2 behind every piece. the store sample was heavily thread painted so i decided to do that as well. I gave up for a while because the threads kept breaking or needles broke. I thought it was the thread so i quit until i got some Aurifil.

Go forward in time: so i pulled it out this weekend. Thread didn't break and tangle anymore. But i broke Schmitz needles in short order. So then i moved to the Superior Thread folks titanium needles. They didn't break but did bend within 5 minutes. Shut the machine off, search the internet for Pfaff Quilt 4.0 issues.
Even thought it might be the timing. Cleaned machine, put in a new needle and tried out the decorative stitch on double fabric. Absolutely no issues, beautiful stitching. switched back to rayon thread, Superior needle and wall quilt; needle bent in short order. so i tried a #16 needle, no idea what brand, since i bought it at a sewing show from those sewing gadget guys. So far so good, i haven't worked on it for long, but it isn't breaking within same time frame and i can't hear it anymore.

When using the #12 s Schmitz needle and the #14 Superior Topstitching needle, you could hear a "popping" sound as the needle penetrated the fusible backed fabric. The #16 needle no sound.

My homily: when you can hear the needle popping, try a bigger needle.

The breakage could also have something to do with the gumminess of the Steam-a-Seam Lite2 grabbing at the needle with every stroke up and down. I frequently sew through multiple layers of fully fused Wonder Under (Pellon 805) using Schmetz 90/14 Microtex needles and 40wt thread with no breakage of either. Glad to hear you found a solution; breaking needles is no fun at all. :)

Interesting - I supposed with all the layers that must be what it needed!! Good to keep in mind.