brodenny

I have the Cobra Class 4 for my leather work. My wife uses a Juki DU 1181 industrial walking foot which would be ideal for heavy fabric and vinyl- the presser feet are serated and does mark leather. We purchased it on eBay for $999 with the servo motor option. It was still pretty fast so I installed a speed reducer pulley. Works great on most but not for leather.

I have purchased several items from alibaba.com. Like you, I was not too sure about using it so I started with a very small order. So far I have no complaints, most orders for me have been shipped from China so shipping takes about 3-4 weeks.

I have several templates as well. I have to say that her customer service is superb. I didn't realize that she could custom make templates. I have been looking for a source for that. Thanks for the info!!

This is a late post....i wish that I would have come across this web site earlier. The Juki DU-1181 is a very good walking foot machine but it does mark leather. My wife was able to sew vinyl but veg tan and suede takes a beating. You will most definitely need a good servo motor, the clutch is too fast. I also ended up installing a pulley reducer kit to make speed control more manageable to sew purses and bags. Also note if you purchase on the web as I did, you have no product support. Juki has a Miami location but charges $700 per day for training on adjusting it!! One other problem is the foot height. 15mm (slightly over 1/2") is not sufficient for areas where you have several layers of fabric. I will try a teflon foot and see if it helps prevent marking veg tan leather.....If that doesn't work I think that I'll contact Steve at Leather Machine Co and order the Cobra 4.

Thanks for sharing. Great work!