Howdy,
The Consew 277R is great little machine. I have used mine since 1994 and have made hundreds of chaps bags n belts. I run 138 and 92 thread and have no problem at all on rodeo chaps.
If you are doing tooled tops on rodeo chaps I use my Juki 441. With the 16" arm it works better for chaps anyway.
Love my Juki, Consew, Landis 3 and Singer 29K long arm.
Hate the Number 9 I used to have!