Cobra 4 Problem

[Wizcrafts]

Thanks very much for all the responses

Got up today ready to do battle with the beast and it all seems to have gone surprisingly smoothly. I hadn't got the thread threaded through the eye on the spool holder, OH pointed this out and I do think it was not helping matters.

You absolutely must feed the thread off the top of the spool! Industrial spools are not designed to be fed sideways, such as home machine spools are. The way they are wound requires top feed. When you open a new spool of thread and begin to loosen the threads, make sure you completely free the end from being under any other thread. If the thread gets caught underneath previous rows binding will occur. Sometimes, I see top thread coming loose on the spool and getting caught under the spool mount. This always causes the top thread to jam up. This leads to knots on top of the leather and often, tiny stitches. This can even cause perforation of the leather.

A properly tensioned 441 or 205 stitcher will allow you to pull the threads will little effort, with the pressor feet lifted and top tension disks released. If you have to yank the top thread by hand, something is not right, or is less right than it could be.

It is a good idea to check on the action of the thread release crank and make sure it spreads the top disks, without capturing the thread in the process.

Note: if you remove the front cover plate to oil the machine, pay attention to the position of the pressure release crank as you reinstall the plate. It tends to drop down and out of position and may not work at all (to release tension). Make sure the release lever is up, into the upper disks, as you reinstall the face plate.