Colt W Knight

I used a size 25 needle in my consew 206 with #138 thread when I was sewing biothane/brahma webbing for GPS tracking collars and padding material. The smaller needles just wont do it. I now have a Cowboy 441 clone, so I don't do it anylonger

Ive seen those same pictures on Ebay - These are not leather machines, and wont sew anywhere near as nice as those pictures in real life leather applications.

I feel your pain. I use to be extremely active in the custom electric guitar market, and posted on the the guitar forums a lot. I finally quit the guitar forum because I was constantly getting asked questions from around the world about guitar building. I didn't mind the questions at all, but what really pissed me off is no one wanted to put the effort forth to make high quality stuff. I would lay out the labor intensive steps on how to apply a high gloss lacquer finish or build nice guitar necks, and people would always me to make up short cuts or easy ways out. If you can't afford the tools you need, you need to get creative. If you want to half ass it, it will come out half ass. Don't even get me started on famous guitar players or pickers who worked for famous people. Always wanting something for nothing. The worst ones were nobody bands that no one knew telling me I should give them a guitar because they are the next big thing in music, and me giving them a guitar will be good for me. I always told them I would give them the "artist" price, which to me was 30% more than I normally charge.

I bought the one Weaver sells. It does work well, but these are what I don't like: My brush bristles keep falling apart, and super heavy stopper/brush is inconvenient for me to use. Unless you use it steady, it sets up and becomes a pain.

I had this exact same problem making my GPS collars. I added the lube pot filled with silicone and the problem went away. Don't ask me what the problem was ( I suspect the thread was getting hot).

I was running great, and sewing my GPS collars without any troubles, at last. I decided to turn the speed up on the servo, so I could get through quicker. Now my silicon lube is sloshing out of the pot. Anyone have any remedies for this problem, besides slowing the speed down? I bought the machine to increase production efficiency, not slow it down.

Thanks

I start back 3 stitches

Bonded polyester thread?

I have a 4500 from Bob. Im impressed with the stitch quality of these 441 clones.

I wish I could grab some good used lab chairs from my school. They don't send them to surplus unless they are broken here.

I have a Consew 206rb-1 and it will sew anything less than 3/8" with #138 thread without any problems. Does great on light and medium leather. It starts struggling if I have to cram material under the presser foot or when I try to do longer stitch lengths.

I have a 206 rb-1 and that machine is a work horse. Ive sewn miles of leather with it at this point. I recently wore out the tension discs ( probably has 40 years of wear) and I was able to replace them within a few days with new parts that only cost a few bucks.

The 206 and 1206 will see best with #69-138 thread and with some extra setup might sew 207, but they can't handle #277. I have an older 206, and it's a great machine. Sews up to 3/8" leather and up to #138 thread. Never could get #207 to work The 206 and 1206 will see best with #69-138 thread and with some extra setup might sew 207, but they can't handle #277. I have an older 206, and it's a great machine. Sews up to 3/8" leather and up to #138 thread. Never could get #207 to work

Yes, I'm using #277 bonded nylon thread. I'll take a pic of the threading I had to run the machine a bit to get the lube in the tension discs, and adjusted the tension a little, but now it seems to run with less tension and I can pull the work item out easier and thread the machine easier with the lube on the thread. I don't think you'd need it sewing slow on thinner veg tan products. I do think it helps with thicker projects.

I have been using my Cowboy 4500 to make GPS Tracking Collars for livestock ( Goats - sheep - cattle) and sew a variety of heavy latigo, vegtan, biothane and closed cell foam. The needle and thread were getting quite hot sewing these heavy materials, and I was running into problems when I was doing larger production runs of collars with frayed thread, skipped stitches and not wanting to back stitch. Plus, I had to sew pretty slow or I would tear up my thread and needles. The more I thought about it, the more I figured I needed to use that lube pot that came with the machine. So I called up Cowboy Bob and he sent me some special needles to sew biothane and some silicone lube. Wow, this things runs so much smoother now. Its easier to pull the thread loose after I finish sewing to remove the work piece, it no longer frays thread, and I can sew 3-4x faster saving me a ton of time. No more back precarious backstitching. The machine always performed fine on straight veg tan leather, but when I started adding in latigo, glue seams, padding material and biothane, it got temperamental. Not anymore. Now I am trying to think of a way to rig up my Consew 206 for a thread lube pot.

Thanks Bob

Dang - I buy a lot from McMaster-Carr, and I have yet to receive a catalog

I have the one that came with my cowboy 4500, but I have never used it. I typically sew flatter stuff on my my Consew 206

Had this problem with my consew 206, turned out the tension discs had worn a groove. Took them apart and polished the groove away with s Drexel and buffing rouge . Problems went away. I ordered a replacement tension setup, and half the psrts were unusable (Didn't fit), so I ended up piecing stuff together to replace all the worn out parts

A friend in get school asked if I could make something to fit her scrubs pocket

Thanks