Wizcrafts

I have posted several replies to questions like yours in reference to Cobra and Cowboy 441 clones. One lengthy reply is in the topic asking if a Cobra 4 can use #69 thread. In a nutshell, a qualified yes. But, you will have to reconfigure the machine, remove the feed dog and install a flat slotted throat plate. All springs, including the check spring, will need to be backed way off and the machine re-threaded with #69 or #92 thread. You will need to buy #19 needles, which are the smallest available and then, only in round point, not leather point. The flat plate is an optional accessory that you may or may not have received with your used machine. I have performed this changeover on my Cowboy CB4500. It takes about 1/2 hour each way (downgrade/upgrade), then more time to balance the knots. Make sure you have plenty of small needles on hand, as they are very easily deflected by inconsistencies between layers or its feeding. You will probably have a few bent and broken #19 needles. Also, the stitch length will be shorter and forward and reverse will no longer match up.

The most you can hope for is that a shoe repair shop may offer to haul it away for the price you'd get at a scrap yard. But, you never know. Somebody, somewhere may be reading this and thinking: "I wish I had that machine!"

You are asking for old parts that appear to be made of unobtanium. A drill bit should take care of that problem. Be sure you use Emory cloth afterward to remove burrs. You may have to move the shuttle to allow a much larger needle to clear it on the downstroke.

Try a few different needle points on some scrap wood first. They might be tri-point, LR, LL, round, diamond. Use the best one for the final sewing. Also, if you are going to tape or glue the leather to the wood first, use Titanium coated needles. They seem to penetrate glue and tape better than standard steel needles. My Titaniums are tri-point.

My Father was a tailor and had his own shop for a half century. He couldn't play a musical instrument, but, he sure could play his NCR cash register! Cha-ching.

Let me describe my operation and how I use different machines to sew different parts of a project. Most members in this section of the LWN are very familiar with the concept of sewing heavy and thick leather on big stitchers with large needles and thread to match. But, not every job can be sewn on those machines, or with heavy thread. You cannot hide the lockstitch knots from #277 thread inside 6 ounces of leather or denim. Also, the big 441 and 205 type machines tend to eat thin and soft material inside the hole in the feed dog and stock throat plate. This is were we must obtain lesser machines to sew thinner materials with thinner needles and thread. These machines can be both walking foot and straight stitch machines for general sewing. You are going to have serious trouble sewing together a satin lining of a leather skirt, or jacket, or a vest, on a walking foot machine. The material is extremely thin and requires common household sized thread and a tiny needle with a round point. A tailoring machine is best suited to this work. I have a Singer 31-15 tailoring machine that I use for linings and cloth garment repairs. It can use the thinnest of threads, all the way up to #69 and sometimes #92. The feed dog and throat plate can be replaced with sets for light, medium and heavy materials. It can produce stitches up to 5 to the inch, or down to almost zero. Put in a #10 or #11 needle and #33 thread and a roller foot conversion and you can sew patterns onto cowboy boot uppers. Switch to a heavy feed set, a #18 needle and #69 thread and you can sew wallets. Change some springs and you can probably get it to sew chaps with #92 thread, using a #20 needle. With all that versitality, it still has trouble sewing over seams, like on denim jeans. That is where you need to cross over to a walking foot machine. It will have higher clearance under the alternating feet and will climb over and back down seams reaching 3/8 inch in thickness. Your straight stitch machine probably cannot do that. Further, the walking foot machine has a different shuttle and bobbin system that allows it to easily sew with #138 thread. Most can be adjusted to handle up to #207 on top, usually with #138 in the bobbin. You would use this machine for everything too heavy for the straight stitcher and too light for your harness grade machine. Big harness and holster sewing machines are not designed to be nice to thin materials. They often don't have leather point needles available in sizes under #23 (160). The feed dogs have large holes to clear huge needles and thick thread. GA1-5 type machines have a giant feed dog with serious teeth. It will eat thin material and seriously mark leather on the bottom, if the grain side is down ( as in double leather pouches, cases, belts and straps). When it comes to sewing thick leather, you need a more powerfully and strongly built 441 and 205 type machine. They have beefed up parts and springs, needed to hold down thick leather and tow straps that are sewn with needles the diameter of porch nails. While you might be able to dumb down these machines to sew with thin thread and needles, into thin material, the time spent readjusting them back and forth may not be worht it if you have a busy shop. Besides, it's fun to watch your customers' expressions when they see a shop full of big sewing machines!

I would contact some industrial sewing machine dealers and see if any of them have that model as a parts machine. I've done that in the past. Bob Kovar, owner of Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines, has tons of old Singer sewing machines in the back of his warehouse. Gregg from Keystone Sewing has been in business since the Ark landed on dry ground. Raphael Sewing has been in business in Quebec for decades and is known here as Techsew. Nick-O-Sew has lots of parts too and I suspect that Cobra Steve has accumulated a bunch too.

What serrations do you have on a Consew 206RB? It uses standard type 111 presser feet, most of which are totally smooth on the bottom. The feed dog on the 206RB always has teeth, used to grip and move the flesh side of the leather, or whatever material you have on the bottom.

Try looping the thread through all three guide holes. If the thread guide is currently set to horizontal, loosen its set screw and rotate it so the holes face down and re-tighten the set screw. Loop the thread around all 3 holes and come out the bottom. This increases the angle going to the tension disks and will help keep the thread inside them.

To be fair, I have managed to get a Cobra 4 to sew with #69 bonded nylon thread. I used a #19 needle, which was the smallest I could get at the time. I reduced all tensions, including the check spring. Finally, I had to remove the feed dog and throat plate and install the narrow slotted plate in its stead. With minimal top tension, I was able to sew a canvas bag and a zipper in a vinyl jacket. The time it takes to transform such a machine into a light duty stitcher is only worth it if you only do it once in a great while. It is simpler for those in business to acquire other medium and light duty machines for thin, soft materials.

Welcome back, Steve! I'm glad you survived the butchery.

The practical lower thread limit is really #92, top and bottom. Use a #20 needle with it As mentioned already, there are no leather point needles in stock below #23 in system 7x4/794. Getting smaller leather point needles would require placing a very large minimum order with the needle manufacturer. If your Cobra is already set up for #277 thread and sewing normally, you will have to reduce the tension to almost nil on the top disks and the check spring. Balance the knots using the bobbin tension spring. The travel of the check spring may also need to be dinked with to get a suitable loop at the eye of the needle on the upstroke. Of course, the top pressure spring will need to be adjusted almost all the way out. Sewing things that look best with #69 thread may indicate that some of the material if very soft and thin (4 ozs and under). Such materials tend to get shoved into the huge slot in the throat plate and feed dog. So, it is best to remove the feed dog and standard plate and replace it with the optional flat slotted plate (with a narrow slot).

Since you are now using a minimum needle size for the thread, I would reduce the bobbin tension first and increase the top second. Less tension on the bottom makes it easier to pull the knots up. Just make sure there is a little back tension on the thread.

My Family Sew motors have multi-position rotary switches, with resistors coming off the terminals. The highest 4 speed settings are all the same speed, having no further effect on the top speed. The remaining positions (5th and under) each have an obvious effect on the top speed. When I set them at the 350 RPM position and floor the pedal, the walking foot machine turns over at about 2 stitches per second (without a reducer) and the CB4500 at about 1/2 stitch per second, with a 3:1 reducer.

There is a spare cork brake in the bag of accessories. There is always one pre-installed. If you remove the brake cork, the motor will not stop on its own until it runs out of inertia. You would have to use your hand on the flywheel to halt the machine if the speed was over 2 or 3 stitches per second. At 5 sps, the machine might run on for an extra 2 or 3 stitches on its own. You can sand the brake a little thinner to get more free motion before it engages. One of my FS550s has virtually no free motion while another has over 1/2 inch on the pedal. Both turn on very gradually, with no jumps in the speed. My FS-550s have rotary switches, while the newer models have pots. You might want to buy a new model with a pot.

I bought one for my former Singer 15-91 and it enabled the machine to sew a Naugahyde bag that I couldn't keep aligned or feed without dragging with the regular flat foot.

This is valuable information. Thanks for posting it. Perhaps other manufacturers will eventually upgrade their self-oilers to pump at slow speeds. I guess it would be a good idea if the oil flow adjuster is external and labeled (more/less, or slow/fast), rather than hidden on the bottom. Is yours under or on the outside of the machine?

From my experience, those so-called walking foot attachments cause you to lose about 1/8" under the feet. If the machine only has 5/16" lift (pretty standard for old straight stitch machines) you would end up with only 3/16" with that attachment. Since the feet must alternate to move the material, you have to take away another 16th or so. This leaves you with no more than 8 ounces (1/8") of sewable clearance. A better option is to find a complete roller foot conversion kit and install all three parts: the roller foot, the slim feed dog and matching throat plate. You will keep the machine's full sewing clearance under the foot and see exactly where the needle is hitting.

It should not jerk on. Something is wrong with it. These motors have a cork brake that locks the motor when the actuator lever is all the way up. The brake can be adjusted a little for more free play. It requires opening the end of the casing to access the lever and brake pad. You asked about how to know if you have a speed reducer. It is an external device with three pulleys fused together. They are 2", 6" and 9" in diameter. It would be bolted under the table, along side of the belt slot.

The oversized awl might be from a Union Lockstitch machine. I still have some needles and awls left over from my last ULS. I never should have let that machine go...

Do an experiment to see if the motor is defective. Loosen the motor adjuster nuts and speed reducer until you are able to remover the belt from the motor. Set the dial to the slowest speed. Start applying pedal until it starts running. Does it come on gradually, very slow at first? Or, does it jerk on at a running rpm? Move the speed pedal all the way toe down, then let go. Does the motor cut out as the pedal moves, when it is supposed to be spinning? If it jerks on at the running speed, it is misaligned at the factory. If it cuts out as you try to change speed, it is defective. If it starts gradually, but lacks enough power to run the machine slowly at the 350 setting, you will either need a smaller motor pulley or a 3:1 speed reducer, if you don't already have one installed. Contact the dealer you bought the machine from about exchanging the motor, or getting a smaller pulley or speed reducer kit.

Nothing beats a transverse feed machine for sewing long seams on an bag. I lament not having one every time I repair a rifle bag. My hillbilly solution is to remove the feed dog and presser feet from my Cowboy CB4500. I install the flat slotted throat plate and set the stitch lever to the zero position. I draw or scribe the stitch line on the top of the seam (and sometimes use an overstitch marker to id where the needle should hit) and move the bag to the left or right as I sew. It is tricky and sometimes requires a helper to guide the bag.

If you have questions about the Able line of patchers, ask our member Darren Brosowski. He is the importer and distributor. Note, he lives down under.

Ferdinand used Juki TSC-441 bodies and made his own innards. The early Bull presser feet were change to a single jumping foot, with needle feed. This resulted in a bottom stitch close to a jump-foot needle and awl machine (e.g. Union Lockstitch, Campbell-Randall).

A Landis 12-K is a curved hook-needle and awl machine that has little depth of field bast the needle. It is basically built to sew along the outer seam of leather shoes and boots. It may allow an inch or two of penetration inside the needle and awl.