Cobra Class 4 Premium

[Hags]

I have a class 3. I run primarily 277 top and bottom. Lots of oil, every time I wind/change a bobbin and sooner if I haven't used it in a while. Place a towel over the foot controls. These drip oil onto the pedals and will loosen the rubber. Wetting and tapping down the stitches helps reduce the needle hole size and marks from presser feet. Too bad they don't ship a bucket full of patience with these things. If anyone has helpful tips for sewing lightweight materials I'm all ears. 

[DieselTech]

18 minutes ago, Hags said:

I have a class 3. I run primarily 277 top and bottom. Lots of oil, every time I wind/change a bobbin and sooner if I haven't used it in a while. Place a towel over the foot controls. These drip oil onto the pedals and will loosen the rubber. Wetting and tapping down the stitches helps reduce the needle hole size and marks from presser feet. Too bad they don't ship a bucket full of patience with these things. If anyone has helpful tips for sewing lightweight materials I'm all ears. 

Thanks for the info. Yeah I was watching a guy use his Cobra Class 4 & got oil on his gun belt he was making. Needless to say he was pissed. He forgot to wipe the machine down before using it.

Yeah the reason I keep inquiring about the narrow throat plate & such, so I have the ability to sew the thinner stuff on a bigger sewing machine if the occasion arises. 

[TomE]

10 hours ago, DieselTech said:

Thanks. I appreciate the help. What differences or features does these plates & feet have over each other. 

What's the differences from RockyAussie accessories versus Patrick1 accessories? What does 1 offer over the other? If any?

I'm new to machines & trying to figure out what I all need to purchase for the projects that might come up. 

I'm willing to buy both them guys/manufacturers accessories if both are needed. 

Thanks for the help. 

My advice would be to gain experience using your new machine for heavier leathers before buying additional plates to extend the range to lighter weight projects.  You'll have a better feel for what you want/need with respect to thread size and leather thickness.  You can do a lot of good work with the stock accessories.  I have 2 machines and still do a lot of hand sewing because for some projects it's easier than setting up on a machine, and I like the look of a saddle stitch for certain projects.

[DieselTech]

11 minutes ago, TomE said:

My advice would be to gain experience using your new machine for heavier leathers before buying additional plates to extend the range to lighter weight projects.  You'll have a better feel for what you want/need with respect to thread size and leather thickness.  You can do a lot of good work with the stock accessories.  I have 2 machines and still do a lot of hand sewing because for some projects it's easier than setting up on a machine, and I like the look of a saddle stitch for certain projects.

Yeah there is nothing that will replace a saddle stitch. It looks soo good when you nail it perfectly. Lol I still have a hiccup every once in a while saddle stitching. Lmao sometimes my stitch will have 1 or 2 stitches that change direction. 

I've read in a few places the Cobra class 4 likes to break a foot off of the presser feet occasionally. Idk how often or what caused it. 

Thanks I got time to think about things & research. As soon as  New Year day gets over with. I'll be ordering the machine. 

[bladegrinder]

I've never heard of the feet breaking off but that's another thing you'll want to play with is foot pressure, you want to adjust it so you don't get heavy marks on the leather.

[DieselTech]

33 minutes ago, bladegrinder said:

I've never heard of the feet breaking off but that's another thing you'll want to play with is foot pressure, you want to adjust it so you don't get heavy marks on the leather.

Yeah I'm glad I got a big pile of scrap leather, glad I did not toss my scraps. I'm sure I'm going to need lots of practice with the cobra class 4. 

 

[Burkhardt]

1 hour ago, DieselTech said:

Yeah I'm glad I got a big pile of scrap leather, glad I did not toss my scraps. I'm sure I'm going to need lots of practice with the cobra class 4. 

 

I've never heard about breaking off feet either as @bladegrinder said. Keep a bunch of scrap by the machine because the thicker or thinner material will change the stitch length. This is the site. https://heprecision.com/shop/ols/products

[DieselTech]

54 minutes ago, Burkhardt said:

I've never heard about breaking off feet either as @bladegrinder said. Keep a bunch of scrap by the machine because the thicker or thinner material will change the stitch length. This is the site. https://heprecision.com/shop/ols/products

Thanks a bunch. Lol more stuff to buy. But that looks like high quality accessories. 

Yeah I'm going to buy all the aftermarket accessories that company offers. 

Their stuff looks better quality than what's ships with the machine. 

[dikman]

I broke a needle on my 4500 once, so it can be done  BUT, I was sewing a holster that was just under 1" so was pushing things slightly and it deflected the needle so it hit the needle plate. My fault entirely, and about the only way you'll break a needle on these machines. As for breaking feet, first time I've heard of that happening, these class 4 machines are built tough!

[HoltFamilyHardwoods]

On 12/6/2023 at 12:10 AM, bladegrinder said:

I have the Cowboy 4500 version I bought from Bob at Toledo industrial a while back and I'm loving it. I would recommend the narrow plate for one thing, that's about all I've added to my machine.

As for threads, all I've run so far is 277 but Pretty much all I make so far is knife sheaths and holsters. I keep it oiled up good and wipe the feet and needle area before running it. the bobbin holds a lot

of thread, no worries there.  I don't know if you have experience with sewing machines, I never touched one before I got mine so there was quite a learning curve but I feel comfortable running it now.

I just glued up a LOT of scrap leather and got to it. I put 3/4" of glued up leather under this thing and it stitched it right up.

Probably the thing I kept messing up most was not double checking the forward-reverse lever position before I got to stitching, but thinking about it now I normally start and finish both in reverse so I don't have a problem there anymore but I make sure to look first anyway! that and turning corners before the bobbin thread was picked up. now I go really slow turning or even use the hand wheel at that point.

Speaking of the hand wheel...my machine came with a brake, looks like a Kia brake pad inside the motor, when you step on the pedal it releases the brake, a little more pressure and the motor starts running.

I took the brake pad out, it's easy, otherwise you can't turn the hand wheel with out stepping on the pedal.

you can do a search here for 441 machines and find a ton of info. I wish I'd have bought mine years ago I hand stitched thick leather for over 30 years, I recently retired, moved to the woods,,built a new shop and decided it was time for a machine.

 

Where did you order the narrow plate for this machine.  I have had a hard time finding them.