earla

What is the exact purpose of the index marks on a brand new Consew 206RB-5 sewing machine? From other forum posts, it seems that aligning these index marks is supposed to make the bobbin easy to remove. On this new machine, aligning the marks moves the needle down and blocks the bobbin removal as you can see from the take up arm position. The machine sews fine and the bobbin is easy to remove with the take up arm at it's highest position. Is it possible the hand wheel isn't in the correct position or are those index marks for something else? I'm mystified.

I purchased a Cobra Class 26 from Springfield Leather Company several months ago after several months of research. It was shipped directly from the Leather Machine Company via R&L Carriers - I received it well packaged and in perfect condition about one week after ordering. Professionalism and support from both Springfield Leather and the Leather Machine Company has been excellent with my only two questions answered in one phone call. The quoting and purchase process with Springfield Leather was super smooth and helpful too. Springfield has a nice free "Leather Machine Guide" that has lots of good information found here - https://www.springfieldleather.com/leather-machinery Similar to you, I make a variety of bags, small leather items, and items using heavy fabrics like canvas, waxed canvas and Cordura 1000. I have many hours of experience with heavy domestic machines like the Pfaff 130 - The Cobra Class 26 is my first industrial machine, however, the experience gained from the heavy domestic machines has been super helpful. My Cobra Class 26 sewed perfectly with size 138 nylon right out of the box. I use size 138 nylon and size 92 polyester. Fil-Tec 92 Polyester sews perfectly on this machine. The Cobra Class 26 machine is super smooth and quite - everything seems to be adjusted perfectly. No skipped stitches and back stitching is perfect. Sewing the edges of bags is super nice with the cylinder arm. Documentation supplied for the machine is OK if you have a little previous experience. The supplied instruction sheets for the bobbin / case were for a different type /older machine and the Schmetz needle size sticker on the front of the machine was not correct, so watch out for that if you purchase. Al Bane's YouTube channel has lots of good stuff on the Class 26 and some cool sewing tricks. The supplied one leg foot works great - you can get very close to the edge of your material. The servo motor supplied can sew very slowly. I gave it even smoother control by extending the control arm an inch or so. I very much like the compact heavy duty stand supplied with the machine. The removable table attachment works great and is quick to attach after you get it adjusted, however, I find myself using the machine more and more without it. I use various sizes of 135 X 17 needles for fabric and 135 X 16 diamond point needles for leather. I use Groz-Beckert and Schmetz needles. Needles and thread are very reasonably priced on The Thread Exchange - there is superb documentation on this site about thread types, strength, recommended needles, etc. I did purchase some cording feet for making cushions - these also work well and can be left on the machine for general sewing if you wish. Overall, I'm super happy with the Cobra Class 26 and the vendors involved.

I purchased a set of four piping / welting feet on eBay for $26. The foot set for the smaller piping sizes (3/16”) works great for piping as well as a regular double toe foot - I just leave it on my Cobra class 26 for most work. These smooth bottom feet are listed as “4 sets of welt / piping foot for Juki DNU-1541 industrial sewing walking foot” sold by seller supersewingman The feet I received were all high quality and fit perfectly. As Wizcrafts said these are Singer 111w155 compatible feet.

@Nate88 - you can also take a small traditional screw extractor and carefully grind a tapered square on the end for very small screws. Lightly tap in to hole while carefully turning. I have used this trick many times to remove small screws with good success.