Wizcrafts

I can't comment on the age of that particular sewing machine. But, I can show you what the authorized USA Cowboy cb4500 looks like since 2012.

This must certainly be a digital servo motor and probably an early design at that. When servos first appeared on industrial sewing machines, they either started rotating at 100 or 200 RPM. Cobra came up with a variable density transparency that replaced the existing light blocker attached to the control lever on the left side of the motor. Some folks made their own variable density filters with pencil strokes on clear plastic. I got the filters from Cobra and they worked well for about a year, then began to have a hiccup as the motor started up. About that time, the new style analog motors made their appearance and I bought one for every machine in my shop. These motors have a knob that is attached to a pot or a rotary switch that limits the top speed. I usually set mine about three steps up from the minimum setting. The startup from zero is totally smooth. I get my analog servo motors and speed reducers here.

The only Ritza thread suitable for sewing machines is Ritza 44. It is only available in black, white and one shade of brown (JK21). It is not waxed, but is lubricated with a silicon coating. It currently only comes in 0.6 and 0.8 mm widths and is a flat braided polyester thread. Some sellers in the World may have new old stock of the 0.4mm width, which is now discontinued. Ritza 25 Tiger thread is waxed for hand sewing. The wax will strip off as the thread goes through the eye of a standard sewing machine needle, clogging it up. If any of you are thinking about running Ritza 25 through a sewing machine, only do this on a hook and awl machine; not a closed eye needle machine. Examples of suitable machines include the Union Lockstitch, Campbell-Randall Lockstitch, Randall Lockstitch, Landis 3, Landis 16, Landis 12 series, the American Straight Needle sole stitcher, all Puritan chainstitch machines and most hook and awl sole stitchers, including most McKay insole stitchers. People on our forums have tried running Ritza 44 and 45 on their 441 clones and had numerous problems. One problem is that the spools are not designed to feed off the top like normal industrial spools do. The Ritza spool will fight all the way if you put it on a standard thread stand and try feeding its thread up to the loop above the spool. For consistent results, you should mount the spool so that it feeds directly inline with the spool. This can be by mounting it on a post on top of the machine, where it may struggle to rotate freely, or by constructing a horizontal mount behind the machine to let the thread spin the spool on the shaft with less resistance. Possible workarounds to use waxed thread in a closed eye machine. Use an oversize needle 2 sizes larger than you would normally use with that size of thread. You want to have as large an eye opening as possible in the hope that the wax will simply pull through it with the thread. However, the wax will still get stripped by the top guides and tensioner, as well as the check spring. Run the thread through liquid silicon or clear sewing machine oil in a lube pot on top of the machine. Do this before any thread guides if possible.

The Hightex 204-370 is a clone of the Adler 204-370 and -374 (smooth feed dog). Hightex and Cowboy have the same parent company. I don't know the price of a Hightex 204-370, but there is a page with pricing for the Cowboy CB243 that is basically the same machine.

I measured my ULS needles (hooks) and awls. The needles are 2.5" and the awls are 2 3/8" long. The older needles have longer shanks than the newer ones.

I held onto a few of my Union Lockstitch barbed needles after selling the machine. I use them in a stitching awl handle when I need to hand sew something with thick thread and don't want to use 2 needles to saddle stitch. I just hold down the bottom thread and form loops as I poke the needle through the leather. Are Union Lockstitch needles and awls the same length as the ones for the Champion that the OP needs?

You can start by removing your existing balance wheel and measuring the diameter of the shaft. Note if it uses a key to position the wheel. Then measure the diameter of the wheel and search online, or contact Adler or Weaver to see if they sell a larger balance wheel as an upgrade. If the shaft diameter is more or less standard, you might find a larger wheel for a Consew or Juki.

The 31-15 is a tailoring machine. I have one from the early 1920s, as did my Dad in his tailor shop.These machines aren't made to take a pounding from sewing anything heavier than a wool coat. They are meant for cotton or polycore thread, but I use #69 bonded nylon thread in mine. Some members have used a 31-15 to sew chaps with #92 thread. But, chap leather is soft temper. What you're up against with firehose and possibly canvas is that their density will force the take-up mechanism and needle bar to take more of a pounding than they can handle. The take-up lever might bend and the needle bar might slip, throwing off the timing. I recommend getting an upholstery class walking foot machine. Most can handle 3/8 inch under the feet. Most will tension up to #138 bonded thread, which as 22 pounds breaking strength. OTOH, #69 bonded thread only has 10 to 11 pounds breaking strength. Their take-up components are usually double the strength of a tailoring machine.

I call those knobs Barney Knobs, as in Barney Rubble.

I posted some instructions for reducing the file size of an image taken on an iPhone, here.

I sew on patches for about 1/3rd of my income. I use these main machines. A Singer 29k71 small bobbin patcher. It has a 1" wide and deep nose and gets into the tightest spots. An Adler 30-7 big bobbin, long arm patcher. It can sew with #138 thread and has a 1.25" wide nose. A Singer 168g101 post bed walking foot machine. It can sew patches onto hats. It can also be used to make hats. A Singer 111w103 walking foot machine. Any 111 type machine is a must have for a well equipped leather shop.

The second pulley is used to change the pulley ratio from the top and bottom. In your machine's case, the spare pulley is smaller. If you connect it to the treadle, the speed will increase as you pedal the machine. You will empty the tiny bobbins even faster with this small pulley.

I edited his post and removed the odd formatting. I also added missing periods and commas.

I just got a great tip from our sewing machine guru, @Uwe A simple “Samsung photo resize” search reveals these instructions: https://www.samsung.com/sg/support/mobile-devices/how-to-resize-photos-in-the-gallery-app-on-your-galaxy-phone/ To summarize the instructions, open your Gallery. Click on the image you need to resize. The image will open on-screen. Under the image, click on the pencil icon (Edit). On the Edit screen, click on the three dots to open an options menu. From the options, choose Resize. There are several radio button options starting at 20% on my Samsung Galaxy A53. Choose the amount of reduction you want, then click on Done. Now, click on Save on the upper right of the screen. Or, click Revert to unsave the resize. A text screen will popup asking if you really want to save the resized image over the original. If you don't need the large original, click on Save on the bottom right. But, if you want to save the original, follow the instruction in the text box to save the resized image as a copy. I found similar instructions for resizing photos on an iPhone... Open the Photos App, and scroll your screens to find the image you want to adjust image size. Tap the image and find the “Edit” icon on the upper-right corner of the screen. Tap it and select the third crop and rotate image icon on the bottom of the screen. Find the third gray rectangular icon on the top of the screen and tap it. You will see lots of options to resize images. You can customize the image size as you want, make square images, resize image wallpaper size, and other photo sizes. Choose one image size ratio you want, and apply it to your images. After you have resized images, tap “Done” to save your images to your iPhone.

Yes. Make sure that you install the needle/throat plate with the cutout facing the shuttle/bobbin case. Before you fully tighten the two screws, place the bobbin case tab under the detente, then tighten down the fore and aft screws.

Definitely, either repair or replace the take-up lever. I had problems on one of my patchers where it formed loops on top. After replacing the take-up lever and one internal spring, the problem went away.

This topic was from 2017. @alexitbe has not been active on our forum since March 25 of 2020. You might try sending him an email through the forum. But, we all know what happened in March of 2020.

Then your timing may be off. Slide open the needle plate, insert a good shuttle, then rotate the hand wheel to bring the needle down all the way, then stop when it rises up and halts. At this point in time, the tip of the shuttle should be just meeting the needle, above the eye, and in the scarf area. Your next movement of the wheel will bring the needle down and the hook should pass above the eye. If the hook is in any other position, in front of or behind the needle's eye, the timing is off.

Maybe the tension on the check spring is too strong. Loosen the set screw under the check spring housing, on the inside of the body. This lets you rotate the shaft to get more or less spring tension. Turning it ccw backs off the tension. Set it for less tension and lock down the set screw. The spring only needs enough tension to hold the thread taut during the end of the take-up cycle until the spring stops against the adjustable stop bracket. It should stop soon after the needle penetrates the work.

You might try installing Faststone Photo Resizer if you have a Windows computer. Otherwise, there are phone apps that do image resizing. Typically, cellphone cameras on let you change the resolution you shoot at. The smallest files are produced at the smallest length and width. If that's not enough, a resizer can take it a step farther. Faststone's resizer can reduce not only the dimensions, but also the quality. I usually reduce the quality of uploaded files by 15% with no noticeable degradation. This makes a huge difference in the file size. If you need a phone-only app, read the descriptions and user ratings first. Choose one that can reduce the quality, and other parameters. Use caution! Phone apps from individuals, or unknown companies are like the Wild West.

Move the check spring disk to the right to center the screw in the curved slot. This gives it more slack. You have it on the tightest setting now.

You are now in the correct forum to discuss and diagnose problems with industrial leather sewing machines. While you aren't sewing heavy leather, you have a machine that is capable of sewing almost 3/8 inch of soft to medium temper leather, or many layers of cloth or synthetics. I don't have a Consew, but all but one of my machines have walking foot mechanisms. Without having your machine in front of me, or seeing a video of it being turned over, my best guess is that the pressure foot may have too much pressure. This would reduce the rotational window where you can wheel to TDC before the pressure forces it to proceed downward. This is a shot in the dark, but try it anyway. Back off the foot pressure and see if the needle can be held up at TDC.

The top disks are your primary tension adjusters. The lower roller adds or subtracts a little tension. This roller was more effective in the distant past when the leather stitchers had liquid or melted wax in pots that the top thread ran through. Nowadays, with lubricated, bonded thread, the bottom roller does very little until you get into very large sizes of thread. It adds friction, rather than pinching the thread, as the top disks do. Those holes look way too big for the thread you are using. Try a size smaller needle. If the knots are still visible, add bobbin tension, or subtract top tension. If the knots are still a problem, move down one thread size in the bobbin. The needle holes are round. Are you using round point needles? You should use leather point needles in veg-tan leather. Schmetz sells them in System 794, as "S" point. They have an inline slicing point that actually partially submerges the ends of the stitches.

The free play I referred to is forward and backward. This affects the stitch length.Sideways motion affects the tracking, which you can adjust for as you sew. You want the least free play when you push or pull on the raised foot, forward and backward. Even 1/32 inch will cause a loss of maximum stitch length. Bear in mind that the stitches get shorted at greater thicknesses and, it is harder to move the stack. Slop in the presser foot will definitely lead to extra short stitches at 1/4 inch thickness.

Yep, that's acceptable. Now, test the play in the presser foot, with the stitch length regulator all the way down to the raised foot. A pristine machine will barely have any slop in the foot.