Cebwrd

I understand that Toledo Sewing is a preferred vendor here. But i"m looking for small quantities (8oz spools) of various colors beyond black, white & brown. I've tried the thread exchange and various ebay vendors. What a nightmare. I've ordered bonded nylon and gotten cotton, mislabeled wrong sizes and lot's of other headaches. Local vendors are useless. Can anyone share where I can get red, cardinal, grey ect in sizes 92, 138, 207 and actually left hand thread? Is that even available anymore? My manual says the thread must be "left hand twist" and I understand how to check it. But most of what I received in right handed.

I realize this is an old thread, and I'm a newb. But maybe this will help someone else decide. I also have a Consew Servo Model CSM550 and like Ferg no problems. I went to a local Consew dealer to check it out and was not impressed. I could not start into leather at lower rpm settings below 1000. He tried setting it to 600 and 900 rpm for slow control but it wouldn't move. I found later that the trick is to set it to the machine max like 3000 and just use the pedal as if it had a clutch. There must be a pot associated with the pedal control and the knob only caps the max. So the torque with the pedal slightly depressed at 900 rpm is not able to move the needle. But the torque with the same small pedal movement with the rpm set to max is greatly multiplied. I plowed through 3/8 of various quality leathers making French seems slow enough to keep control. This is not an On/Off only pedal as the older ones seemed to be. The interesting thing is that no matter what max sped I set, I could move the needle at the same slow speed regardless. Of course lower RPM max requires lighter fabric. Hope that helps someone.

Thanks Colt, I wasn't aware of the larger bobbin and that it could go to 207. Getting closer.

Greetings All: I'm new to this and could use some help deciding on this upgrade. I restore cars and do woodworking as a hobby/side business. Recently decided to add upholstery work to my game. So, I'm looking at leather interiors for cars and cloth/leather furniture and cushions. After much research I felt the Consew 206 Rb-5 would be a good machine for this. But I didn't want to jump into spending $1,500 without knowing if I could do it or stick with it. So I bought a old Consew 225 for a few hundred bucks to learn on with the intention of turning around and selling it again on Ebay or Craiglist, then getting the 206. My dilemma is that I've become quite enamored with the 225. The most obvious feature difference between these two machines to me is the reverse. But I've become quite comfortable turning 180, or backing up to lockstitch, even hand tying for a very clean lock. So that feature alone is not worth the extra $1,000 to me. I'm sure you'll all agree the available documentation from Consew if pretty lacking. So my question is, what other features and capabilities does the 206 have over the 225? What made you decide to upgrade? I'm assuming needle size and thread size are both capped at 23 needle and 138 thread. I'm hoping the 206 is still made of metal not plastic on the outside. I find the 225 is built like a tank, rock solid. It has held up to my learning curve abuse and recovered from multiple nasty nests that I've created without even being knocked out of time. Would the 206 be as robust being that it's now made in China? I guess another feature I find appealing is the ability to set stitch length with a dial on the fly without having to remove my thread from the needle. The 225 chokes on it's thread and makes a nest if you change length with the needle threaded. Any other significant feature differences? I also considered keeping the 225 for a spare and getting the 206. That's a lot of $$ but if the newer Chinese made product is prone to breaking down, it may make sense. I chose the 225 over the 226 because I like the much longer stitch length 3 1/2 vs 5 per inch and the 226s around here are double the price of the 225 so might as well go brand new at that point. Thanks,