Just Got My Cobra 4 Home And It Does Not Work At All

[Aycrith]

Hey guys im new to the forum,

I just purchased a Cobra 4 sewing machine and one thing I noticed is the top of the fake wood was smashed and damaged. The second thing I am noticing when I press the pedal... Nothing... no reaction at all the speed indicator is cycling in circles it looks like but no response at all. Im having some major buying remorse and am thinking on returning the whole machine and going back to hand sewing. packing this up would be a pain in the ass.

Aycrith

[Averya]

I have a Cobra 4, and love it. However, there is a leaning curve. Steve is wonderful....call him and he will walk you through the setup. Did you attach your chain correctly? Don't give up....it takes time and practice (I'm still learning), but it is a wonderful machine and Steve will give you full support.

[horseplay]

Have you called the company yet? They will take care of you. I've had my Cobra 4 for a couple months and love it! The wrong belt was sent and they overnighted a new one. Then a couple weeks ago I had a couple questions and again had them answered perfectly.

[YOHOHO]

You probably won't get many responses in this sub forum, but I feel your pain. Take a deep breath and give them a call on monday. Sending it back will be a major pain, but they may offer other fixes.

They'll eventually get it right. I know droppin' this much cash is a heart stopper to begin with, but give it a chance.

[Aycrith]

Thanks guys. Happy to have found this forum. I am a small time leatherworker and I might have gone overboard by getting such a heavy duty model. Im hoping it will make me that money quick in return. Maybe he can just send me a motor in exchange.

[silverwingit]

My bet is that there is nothing defective, but that a motor setting somehow got reset or that there was a simple error in setting up the machine when you got it home. Steve sets up these machines before letting them go. Something is not quite right. Has the machine ever worked for you? Did you get the pulley on correctly (small pulley to the outside)? Can you hand-cycle the machine using the pulley (only move the pulley toward you, counterclockwise, never away)? If you take the belt off does the motor turn? Can you cycle the motor by manually pulling down on the lever where the chain is attached? Have you jammed the machine by failing to keep ahold of the threads for the first few stitches? These are a few things you can check before you get to Steve.

[Gregg From Keystone Sewing]

Thanks guys. Happy to have found this forum. I am a small time leatherworker and I might have gone overboard by getting such a heavy duty model. Im hoping it will make me that money quick in return. Maybe he can just send me a motor in exchange.

Like said already, Steve will take care of you. Always call or email him when a problem comes up 1st.

If the table top took a hit, the van line insures damage while in transit, and this must be noted at time of delivery. If it's not a problem for you, don't worry about it then.

As for the motor, it's possible the speed control lever is stuck in operation mode, and will not start. Or, maybe there is a synchronizer that needs to be installed. Or, maybe the motor was damaged in transit, but who knows without trouble shooting with Steve. He'll hook you up and get you started.

Getting a new machine is always going to involve a bit of frustration and a learning curve. And, most problems that can go wrong will go wrong when your new to your setup.

[Aycrith]

Thank you so much all the advice has helped. you know when you buy something so expensive it makes u feel a little un easy to begin with. I hope this will definitely

expand my capabilities of producing some cool stuff!!!!

[Trox]

You have to call Steve first before posting, thats a universal (unwritten) law, always give the seller a change to make things right first. And do not worry, you will not find better customer service anywhere. Its a lot of things that can happen during transport. He will help you up and sewing, rest assure.

Do not worry.

Good luck

Tor

[Massive]

I got mine put it together and it runs like a champ. There are now several videos on youtube that have major info. Ingnore the complany ones from a few years back. Apparently there were some problems with the early servo motors. Mine works great, though the EPS isn't working at all. The servo motor is not intuative. You have to program it, which is easy enough, but it is like setting the time on some watch with 1000 functions and only 2 buttons. The video shows how.

Don't waste time with email. I have had several problems that were acknowledged but never dealt with over email. That even extended to trying to send them money to buy stuff. Probably they are swamped with tire kickers or something, because that side of the business is hugely non-functional.

I think you will love the machine when you get it going. My second project looked like Bianchi did it. The first one should have been OK, but I tried to use a pattern that worked for hand sewing, which didn't work in this case. Having the machine takes sewing out of the equasion. It went from being the largest pain to something that doesn't last long enough.

The cool thing about a machine is that when you throw some stitching at a project it is like turning lead to gold. Most people can't sew leather nicely, so your product will stand out. You can turn a few scraps into a really useful product in just seconds. I am taking about you vs the public. Of course leather workers can sew leather, but you customers probably can't, and with the cobra you can make it effortless.

The first one is made by a user, and is outstanding.

[Dink]

Make sure the hand wheel is tight and the shaft is not just spinning inside it. This happened to me

[GrampaJoel]

I can't tell you how to fix your machine. Nor can I tell you why things don't work and appear the way they do.

What I can tell you is that I have three cobra machines. Two different sewing machines, and a skiving machine.

They all work great, and, the man named Steve is the reason why I have them. He is a man of his word, and knows the machines backwards and forwards.

If he can't tell you what is wrong he has a wonderful machine Machanix there name Tony who can fix it.

When I have a problem with my machine, ( and you will they are just machines) I just pick up the phone and call them.

I have never been disappointed.

Joel

[Chef niloc]

I ran into A similar problem the other day, the motor just stopped working? I have had the Machine for just over a year and like you experienced shipping nightmares! It looked ok all wrapped up when it was delivered, once unwrapped it was apparent it had had a rough ride. Plastic motor housing smashed few dings and dents, accessories missing, and the whole thing was all out of whack. Customer support (IMHO) does not quite living up to the hype this board creates for it, I gave up after about 6 months of never seeing the replacement motor housing and missing parts after numerous phone calls...was given a $100 Store credit but I've never tried to use it.

Anyway back to the motor issue.

Just like you explained in your post the motor was cycling so it was obviously getting power but when the pedal was pressed the machine didn't work. So today I took off the side plate ( the side with the springs and lever) and was surprised to see how simple the problem was. I must admit I was a little afraid that when I removed the place all sorts of springs wires parts etc. would come flying out, but I was surprised. the lever is connected to some sort of "laser scanner" (excuse the lack of technical terms here), there is a piece of paper with a printed gradation on it. As the paper divides the laserbeam, the less light that passes through the faster the machine goes, hence the darker part of the gradation causes the machine to operate the fastest. This piece of paper somehow got loose, bent up and damaged. It actually took me a few minutes to figure out if the laser was scanning the gradation or if it work by how much light passed through the piece of paper? It was fairly easy to figure out that it worked by the amount of light that passes through rather than a scanning action. So I played around with a few different pieces of material (paper, transparency film, vellum)and printed a gradation on useing my computers printer. To be honest not only that I fix the machine but by playing around with the gradation I've got the motor running smoother than it did it new! Extremely easy to control the speed now, smooth as can be. Here's a picture of the gradation square that I'm referring to. Note if anyone has a similar problem it might not be necessary to replace this piece but rather just secured back in place. However in my case replacing it was necessary and turned out to improve the performance of the machine.

Stock:

My replacement:

[Singermania]

Sorry to hear of your problems, I'd agree with the other guys and ring Steve, I'm over in Australia and even I've heard he's a good egg. Servo motors can be a little touchy, I'd be inclined to pull out the manual and go thru the setup steps....if its still dead after that then you can update Steve on what you've found. Yes the table should be covered by the carrier, get some good photos of the packaging as well as the table top. I have a saying here, hope no carriers are reading this.... 'if a carrier can break it they will'... In other words we over pack as much as poss.

[TwinOaks]

I think that after 18 months, the OP has probably found a solution.......please note the date of most of the posts....summer of 2013.

[Singermania]

pls note, like other people, I don't appreciate snooty replies, I give my time free of charge, if my reply is out of date it doesn't need your response.