Cowboy 3200 Thread Getting Wrapped Around The Check Spring...

[jackd942]

I have a fairly new (3 month) old Cowboy 3200. I haven't sewn very much with it, but I have ruined 2 pieces this week. I've been having some flagging issues and I've been experimenting on scrap trying to figure out what the problem could be. I think I finally got all the tensions set right and it sews beautifully forward, but when I try to back stitch, it'll sew 1 or 2 of the stitches fine, but then on the other 1 or 2, I have the flagging issues again. I finally determined that when this happens, the thread is wrapped twice around the check spring causing a huge amount of tension on the top. Just curious if anyone has any ideas on how to correct this as I'm sure I have something out of adjustment.

[Wizcrafts]

This happened to me several times on my CB4500 and my friends Cobra Class 4. Both times the thread was black and so heavily dyed, it was like a coil spring. What I did to fix this was simply to pass the thread down the right (forward) side of the little spring loaded clip under the take-up lever. Instructions always show the thread being fed through the left or rear side of the little spring loaded screw in the middle of the guide.

This is addition to ensuring that the thread patch was as good as I could get it. Some spring-like threads need to be fed through a hole in a post on top of the machine, then wrapped around and fed through a second hole. This helps remove kinks in the thread that cause it to flip over. This more than doubles the upper tension, so you'll need to back off the upper tension nut if you had a straight feed through the post before.

The thread feeding through the forward side of the lower thread guide helped reduce or eliminate coiling over on my machine. Hopefully, it works for you too.

Edited July 12, 2014 by Wizcrafts

[jackd942]

Thanks for the reply Wiz...I believe I understand what you are saying, but I don't believe the 3200 has the same little spring clip you are talking about on the 4500. it goes from the check spring to the take up and then from there down, it just goes through a guide and then needle bar. the guide under the take up lever is just a guide...no tension. I'll give Bob a call Monday if I cant figure it out. It dawned on me after reading your reply that this only happens with the black thread...I didn't have these problems with the same size white thread.

Thanks again!

[Chief31794]

My check spring on the 3200 was catching the thread so I closed the loop with a pair of pliers so that I had to thread it through the eye of the check spring instead of wrapping it in, that solved some problems for me, don't know if that's what you're talking about, but my take up spring would catch the thread and then it would loop over the spring when it loosened as I remember. There were several little things I did to make mine run smooth, didn't take long just tweaks.

Chief

[jackd942]

My check spring on the 3200 was catching the thread so I closed the loop with a pair of pliers so that I had to thread it through the eye of the check spring instead of wrapping it in, that solved some problems for me, don't know if that's what you're talking about, but my take up spring would catch the thread and then it would loop over the spring when it loosened as I remember. There were several little things I did to make mine run smooth, didn't take long just tweaks.

Chief

That sounds exactly what I'm talking about...Once it loops over, the tension increases a bunch, it starts flagging and thus skipping stitches. I'll take a closer look at my check spring. Out of curiosity, what other tweaks did you do Chief?

Thanks

[Chief31794]

That sounds exactly what I'm talking about...Once it loops over, the tension increases a bunch, it starts flagging and thus skipping stitches. I'll take a closer look at my check spring. Out of curiosity, what other tweaks did you do Chief?

Thanks

My feed dog was loose and when I put it in right, the feed dog rubbed against the side of the throat plate, I filed the side of the feed dog so that it cleared well. The arm that relases the thread tension when you raise the foot was loose so I thightened that up. Generally I removed that linkage, and some of the other components and cleaned them, made sure they fit well and put them back on the machine corrrectly. I think my machine was shipped before Bob or Bobby got a good look at it because I had asked them to delay shipping while I was out of town and when the time got close I called and they had forgotten about my order, I understood, but I think they then rushed one out the door. I worked in a Sewing Factory for 10 years and although I wasn't the mechanic, I am pretty savvy about industrial machines so it wasn't a big deal to me. One thing I found that I still don't particularly like although Bob and Bobby told me that this is the way the 3200 is shipped is that the bottom tension wheel shows two felt washers in the books but mine didn't have any. It hasn't caused any problems yet but I think it might later on. Not sure where I could get those, I don't think Toledo carries parts like that, they carry the accessories and could probably get the parts but since they told me it was normal I think I'll get them somewhere else and try them out. The tension wheels should be the same on all 441 clones in my opinion.

Not complaining, I consider most of this to be operator maintenance and care.

Chief

[jackd942]

My feed dog was loose and when I put it in right, the feed dog rubbed against the side of the throat plate, I filed the side of the feed dog so that it cleared well. The arm that relases the thread tension when you raise the foot was loose so I thightened that up. Generally I removed that linkage, and some of the other components and cleaned them, made sure they fit well and put them back on the machine corrrectly. I think my machine was shipped before Bob or Bobby got a good look at it because I had asked them to delay shipping while I was out of town and when the time got close I called and they had forgotten about my order, I understood, but I think they then rushed one out the door. I worked in a Sewing Factory for 10 years and although I wasn't the mechanic, I am pretty savvy about industrial machines so it wasn't a big deal to me. One thing I found that I still don't particularly like although Bob and Bobby told me that this is the way the 3200 is shipped is that the bottom tension wheel shows two felt washers in the books but mine didn't have any. It hasn't caused any problems yet but I think it might later on. Not sure where I could get those, I don't think Toledo carries parts like that, they carry the accessories and could probably get the parts but since they told me it was normal I think I'll get them somewhere else and try them out. The tension wheels should be the same on all 441 clones in my opinion.

Not complaining, I consider most of this to be operator maintenance and care.

Chief

Thanks for the tips Chief...

I finally got the thing straightened out I believe. I went back to the shop and started testing some more. When I slowed it way down and stopped when I had the problem, I noticed that the wrapped check spring problem was just a symptom of something else...it didn't happen 100% of the time. So I started checking everything thoroughly. I realized that the hook wasn't picking up the bottom thread when the problem appeared...so I checked the hook to needle alignment and it was advanced at least 5mm too far at bottom dead center. I got out the allen wrenches, made an adjustment and voila...nice stitches with no flagging and no skips. Guess I should've checked the obvious first, but I just assumed that the hook would've been set right upon arrival.

I do think I'll take your advice and give a bunch of the components a thorough cleaning...

Edited July 13, 2014 by jackd942