Wizcrafts

No, it is and always will be a bartacker machine.

You must thread the top thread through whatever post or multi-hole guide comes before the upper tensioner. But, this is of little help if the thread is acting like a spring coming off the spool. Is the spool sitting on a thread stand cup and feeding straight up, through a guide eye, then on to the top of the machine? Is this black bonded nylon thread (he asked knowingly)?

I have the same type of machine, just a different name. My bobbin case is sometimes tricky to get back in. It is the moving feed dog bar that covers the opening where the bobbin case has to be pressed in that causes this issue. As mentioned by the previous responder, simply rotating the hand wheel will move that feed bar into a position where the bobbin case can be popped in with less effort.

The Singer 20U is a light duty, bottom feed zig zag machine, not suitable for leather. Is is great for light drapery and garment sewing.

You can get this kind of chain at Lowes, Home Depot or Menards.

My Cowboy CB4500 came with an add-on table attachment. It has four long bolts under it that go into matching holes in the pedestal table top, on the front and back side of the machine. It takes about two minutes to install or remove it. The table will support most flat work. I also got a drop-down roller edge guide that I find invaluable. It sews everything I put under the feet, from about 6 ounces to 3/4 inch.

I have a walking foot machine that is similar to your Juki. These are really upholstery machines, not built to penetrate and properly sew hard or thick leather, or to use heavy thread. So, I got a Cowboy CB4500 to handle the heavy work. It sews like a champ. I can go down to #138 thread, or even #92, by using smaller needles. Normally, it is threaded with #277 on top and either #207 or #277 in the bobbin, depending on what is being sewn. Cowboy machines are distributed and sold by Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines.

Sometimes, just raising or lowering the needle bar a fraction of an inch can help or hinder your timing and thread breakage problems. It is possible that after repeated pounding, the needle bar can get pushed up a little, which changes the timing position of the eye. You can test this by loosening the needle screw and lowering the needle in its mount, by 1/16 inch. Tighten it up and see if this makes matters better or worse. If lowering the needle improves the stitch reliability, the needle bar itself may need to be lowered to compensate for slippage. There are two Allen socket screws that secure the needle bar in its bracket. The faceplate needs to be removed to access them.

Search the Interwebs for a manual for the Consew 227R. They are very similar machines.

Singer of Japan made a blue body zig-zag industrial sewing machine: the 29U. It allows you to set the position of the needle for straight stitching, or to zig-zag, using two levers (needle position : zig-zag width). It should be adequate for marine upholstery, seat covers and even some light weight drapery. Do not attempt to sew leather on one of these machines! Pfaff also made/makes industrial zig-zag machines. Contact our dealers to see who has what in a zig-zag machine. with a motor and table.

The number after the RB- designates the generation of that machine. The current generation is RB-5

Right from the get-go I can see that not only is the top tensioner being doubled up un-necessarily, but the thread coming off the thread check spring is not going under the J-shaped thread-check bar, before going up to the take-up lever. This means that there is no slack in the top thread, which is going to cause skipped stitches and other tensioning problems.

This is very thin thread for a 30-70. Everything needs to be tweaked if you previously set it up with #138 thread. Start by moving the needle mount to the right. Loosen the upper screw in the oblong cutout and push the needle mount to the right, then tighten the set screw. This places the needle closer to the hook. Next, back off the forced lift setting, inside the left end of the trapeze. Loosen the thumb screw, move it down, from Dick (thick) to Dorf (thin), then tighten it in the lower position. Try some stitching. If you have any skipped stitches, look at the leather as the needle ascends. Is the leather lifting, or puckering under the foot? If so, increase the pressure spring thumb nut pressure. Your combination of a #18 needle and #69 thread is as good as it gets with 332LG needles. But, leather point LR needles work better than rounds and Schmetz needles work better than GB or Organ. Make sure that the foot has enough lift to allow a full-length stitch to form, at 5/inch setting on the sliding stitch regulator puck. When you load the bobbin into the case, make sure the thread is pulled through the tension spring and that it has enough tension to hold back the thread a bit. Then, feed it though the tiny hole, then through the hole in the center post of the bobbin case. This affects the stitching considerably. Finally, there is a paddle shaped spring inside the needle bar, just over the needle mounting bracket. Shine a flashlight on the spring and see if it is still making good contact with the flat area on the inside, where the thread passes on its way down to the needle. This is the check spring, and will cause skipped stitches if irt is broken, twisted, or bent away from the thread at the paddle end.

I used type 332-LG needles when I operated an Adler 30-70. They are considerably longer than standard industrial needles. If Bob says they are 2 1/8 inches long, I believe him (he probably has a pack of them in his office). My Singer patcher uses the same length needle as the type 135x16, which is just shy of 1 3/4 inches long. If your needles are closer to 1 3/4 than 2+ inches, they are the wrong ones for the 30-70.

Yes. It is the same as how my ULS works: punch a hole with a chisel pointed awl, then bring up a barbed needle through that hole. In your case, bring down a closed-eye needle through the same hole. If you intend to use your Cowboy 441 clone to sew holes into plastic, do tighten both needle bar screws first, as much as possible. Install a #26 or #27 diamond point needle, or make an awl out of a hard steel rod that has the same shank diameter as a 794 needle, by 2 3/4 inches long. Prepunch the holes with the awl in the machine, then install the correct needle and sew through them. If you are going to sew with a #25 needle, make the stabbing blade a little wider (like a #26 or @27 needle). Bob Kovar sells these huge needles and might be willing to build you an awl. It should be either a chisel or diamond shape at the blade, with a quick taper to round in about 1/8 to 3/16 inch. If you have a friend nearby with a Union Lockstitch or Campbell-Randall machine, ask him or her to sew the plastic for you. It would be safest to use a combination of a #4 needle and #5 awl, with #346 or #415 thread. The #5 awl pokes a big hole and is very strong. Smaller awls may bend. The size difference between the needle and awl allows the needle to cleanly enter the possibly ragged hole from the bottom, pushing its way into the hole. A #4 needle is also very hefty and less likely to get deflected by exit wounds on the bottom of the plastic.

My Union Lockstitch machine might be able to penetrate that plastic. But, it isn't worth it to find out otherwise. Use a drill.

You are most welcome!

That is a super-high-speed, bottom fed garment sewing machine. It could be useful in a dress shop, for making gowns and formal wear, or for hemming pants in 5 seconds. It sews a maximum of 6 stitches per inch and uses the standard garment machine needle system DBx1. The largest needle it takes is a #18, which is best used with #69 bonded nylon thread. It may possibly take and tension #92 thread, but that is pushing it. I has an automatic oiler system, which works best at higher speeds only. Are you planning on making cloth garments with this machine?

I prefer to sew with #277 and down on my Cowboy, and #277 and up on the Union Lockstitch. If I didn't have these two machines I would do it all on whichever machine I owned. The fact is that I had the Union Lockstitch first. It is my second ULS machine and I love them. I used to sew fishtails onto gunbelts on the ULS, which requires spinning the flywheel by hand, one stitch at a time, feathering the clutch to get 355 degrees of rotation, then hand-wheeling over the the last 5 degree hump. Now, I slow down my servo motor to 600 and sew fishtails using the Cowboy, at about 1 stitch per second, with my foot down; pedal to the metal. The Juki Pro 2000 is a jump-foot, needle feed machine, right? I like that feed system.

Those are the same thumbscrews that are used to secure edge guides. Every sewing machine dealer in the World sells them. I'm not sure, but think they are 5x40 pitch, or close to it.

Hi Trox! Right now, I use #277 in my Cowboy CB4500, using either a #24/180 or 25/200 type 794 Schmetz needle. Sometimes I have to crank the pressure spring all the way down to sew hard leather 3/8 inch (10mm) or thicker. When I need to sew really thick or tough material, with #346 or larger thread, I use my Union Lockstitch machine. The pressure spring on top of it resembles the old front fork spring used on Schwinn bicycles in the 1950s. I built a chopper out of a Triumph Terrier, using a Schwinn springer fork, when I was in my early teens. The spring on the ULS is very similar and can hold down the thickest leather and even plywood. I have some #346 bonded polyester thread, I bought from Campbell-Bosworth. It has a softer hand than any bonded nylon in similar sizes. I don't know if it has less tensile strength also. I just sewed a double 14-15 ounce weight lifter's belt on the ULS, using this Campbell thread and had no problems whatsoever. I used a #3 needle and #3.5 awl (tight fit; no slack). The knots were easily pulled well up into the layers. I used black on top and natural on the bottom. There was no springiness in the black polyester thread. I am thinking about trying some black in size 277.

I am/was, but nobody wants to pay what it's worth. I just used it last week to sew together two layers of 14 ounce saddle skirting, into a 4" wide power lifter's belt. The stitch lengths are even, across two parallel rows and the knots are well up into the bottom piece. The leather was stiff, but the ULS didn't care! She just chugged away, happily sewing stitch after stitch, at the astounding rate of about 4 or 5 per second.

Mark; Do you have any pre-lubricated thread on hand? It helps me sew into dry leather. I now get mine from Bob Kovar. He has most sizes and colors in stock and the price is nice. The only color that gives me trouble, in any brand, is black, #138 up. It appears that some thread companies redye other colored spools into black (double-dying), making them springy and harder to the pull knots into the leather. Are you using springy black thread?

I sometimes use staples on the edges before sewing them. Other times I use double-sided leather tape made by Venture Tape, sold by Wawak.

See the thread page on the Toledo Industrial Sewing Machines website. They sell pre-lubricated bonded nylon thread in about 6 colors. Natural (beige) is one of them. There is a contact form on the Contact Us page, where you can get Bob's attention by sending him an email from the website.