Embroidery machines are generally marked by number of heads and number of needles.
The number of needles indicate how many color threads you can have on the head at any particular machine. A 6 color machine usually means it's a single head 6 needle machine.
On a multi-head machine, it's common to see 2 up to I don't know how many. A 2 head machine, depending on the brand, can either do 2 of the same design at a time or 2 different designs at the same time. It all depends on the machine.
Yes. Up to 6 six colors without changing thread. Of course you can do more than six but you have to change threads in some of the needles after they have already sewn the previous color.
Imagine a home machine with one bobbin that locks the stitch, now imagine the top of the machine where the needle is, imagine there are 6 of those needles along a carrier and the carrier moves to align the needle on top of the bobbin, each on of those needle is threaded with a different color thread. The machine has a built-in computer that tells the carrier which needle has to move on top of the bobbin depending on which part of the design is being sewn at the time. So if your design has 6 colors, you actually set it up using the computer, hoop the garment , start the machine, and leave, the machine will finish the embroidry with out you having to change anything midway. Pretty interesting sight the first few embroidery you do...and unlike home machines that performs maybe 500 stitch per minute, commercial machines ca sew anywhere from from 700 to 1200 stiches per minute with a lot tighter stitches.
Toyotas are good machine, but if you but it from a private person, make sure you have the person do an embroidery design utilizing the full color capability (all 6 needles) at its max speed setting, this process will reveal any problem with the machine's operation. And have a technician do a tune up on it before you start using it for production (tune up is normally done once a year or 2 year depending on how much use the machine go through).
our 15 needle swf can do 99 color changes automatically. the number of needles just refers to the number of colors at any one time that can be on the machine. you can code a needle stop and change the spool. that is how one needle machines work.
I think that is a little too advance info for a beginner embroiderer. You'd have to program that in the design software...i'm not sure the old toyota can do that, i'm not even sure if my esp9100 can do that, never had a design that requires that much colors, be interesting the do one tho.
I have 2 Brother PR-600 6-needle machines, we run 10 color designs all the time. Most of my designs are 6 color or less so it's not a problem. I may upgrade to a bigger machine down the road but they've done us very well for the 2 years we've had them.
I have a SWF and I really like them. I think any commercial machine will work. The most important thing is to get trained on the machine and practice. .... JB
whats 6 needles? 
Thanks
