My New Cobra 4

[ThreeRivers]

I got my new machine on Monday last. After un packing and assembly,( had to enlist some help to get the head onto the stand), I set about to test drive it. Test drive went well and I put many, many stitch lines into some leather scraps. Then I decided to change thread and needle size. This definitely became a learning experience. The results are shown below. I say learning experience since the problem was operator error and nothing to do with the machine. After some trial and error and multiple reviews od Steve's instructional video I finally figured it out. All indications are that the love affair will continue for many years.

[GrampaJoel]

Yeah I've done that.

I have even broken a few.

It usually comes from me pulling the leather instead of letting the machine do the pulling .

You'll get it right pretty soon.

I have even managed to break the needle foot on one of my machines. I am still using it in it's broken condition because I am to embarrassed to tell Steve. Ha, ha!

Of course it was my fault for twisting a Hugh piece of leather in a spot where I shouldn't have.

Oh well, these things do happen.

[ThreeRivers]

Thanks for the reply, after using the machine since Tuesday, I finally got through a small project today. Still on the learning curve, I expect I will be for awhile yet, but at least I finished something. Some of he stitches are pretty ugly, but the vast majority are excellent. The more I learn the more I like the machine.....

[GrampaJoel]

Well, I've had my original class 4 for some years now. I have still found interesting ways to destroy a project with it.

All due to my not checking something ( tension, bobbin, needle size, thread size, stitch length, etc..) before I started sewing.

I have learned to sew a bit of scrap from my project to test the stitching results before sewing the actual project. It has saved me many a headaches. I always turn the leather over to look at the back side to make sure the thread is pulling evenly. If not I adjust the tension.

There's a lot to learn, but it ain't rocket science. Or else I wouldn't be able to do it myself.

Have fun

Joel

[silverwingit]

My biggest problem with my new Cobra 4 is that sometimes the thread gets ripped out of my hand when starting stitching. That has lead to timing issues which Steve promptly walked me through, even though it's described I his video. I've learned to "waste" a little more thread at the beginning so that I can wrap the needle and bobbin threads around a finger to help me keep ahold of them. It's pretty much smooth sailing so long as I keep hold on those threads...