Members korokan Posted July 6, 2014 Members Report Posted July 6, 2014 This is a 441 clone sewing machine directly from China and is $1000 less than the ones sold in the US. Planning on buying it directly ffrom China. Any suggestions will be welcome. Many thanks. Quote
Members Joon1911 Posted July 6, 2014 Members Report Posted July 6, 2014 I'm a novice at this game, so my input is limited. I just purchased a Cobra Class 4 from Steve about 3 weeks ago and am getting it squared away. The biggest thing I could think of as worth the price differential is whether the machine will be set up and timed from the factory or whether you will have to do these things yourself? Also do you have the knowledge and skill base to do all the maintenance without any real outside support? If you are experienced and can answer yes to those questions I could see the Keestar being a good deal. That being said, for someone like me, I value the after purchase service enough to pay the premium price. It gives me peace of mind that a year from now if I need help figuring out something that I can call Steve up and ask the question. That's also why I didn't buy a machine on the secondary markets like eBay and the trade channels here on the forum. Hope that is helpful. Quote "Make every product better than its ever been done before. Make the parts you cannot see as well as the parts you can see. Use only the best materials, even for the most everyday items. Give the same attention to the smallest detail as you do to the largest. Design every item you make to last forever." -Shaker Philosophy of Furniture Making
Members sheathmaker Posted July 6, 2014 Members Report Posted July 6, 2014 I will second JohnOK's post word for word. If you have the mechanical knowledge and expertise to set it up for your type sewing then it could be a good deal , albeit potential warranty issues could be a major pain should any arise. These are not tuned up to your specs at the factory. Steve and David at Cobra are my choice. Paul Quote Paul long-----108 Briarwood Ln. W-----Kerrville, TX--78028------830 367 5536-- pfl@cebridge.net
CowboyBob Posted July 6, 2014 Report Posted July 6, 2014 I'm almost certain that shipping will be from $7-900 on top of this price you will be very close to getting one here that is tested & ready to go.Also does this include a servo motor & speed reducer? Quote Bob Kovar Toledo Industrial Sewing Machine Sales Ltd. 3631 Marine Rd Toledo,Ohio 43609 1-866-362-7397
Members Constabulary Posted July 6, 2014 Members Report Posted July 6, 2014 Nice price and worth to think about it BUT - on top of the above mentioned expect to pay shipping + import tax + vat + traveling to the next harbor if they ship it by vessel and not by air. Quote ~ Keep "OLD CAST IRON" alive - it´s worth it ~ Machines in use: - Singer 111G156 - Singer 307G2 - Singer 29K71 - Singer 212G141 - Singer 45D91 - Singer 132K6 - Singer 108W20 - Singer 51WSV2 - Singer 143W2
Moderator Wizcrafts Posted July 6, 2014 Moderator Report Posted July 6, 2014 Expect to spend a day going over the machine, tightening screws, adjusting the hook position and timing, setting the needle bar, adjusting the ratio and position of the presser feet, adjusting the feed dog, oiling it, setting it up on a table, connecting parts, belts and chains. This assumes it ships with the motor, reducer, belts and table and work light. Also, if you are getting a motor, make sure it is a 120 volt motor. One other thing to look into is whether you would be getting a standard 441 blanket presser foot set, which has teeth on the bottom and is huge, or if it ships with what we use here and call Harness feet. If you have to purchase them, add another $100 or so, and more if you want left toe and right toe feet. The harness feet are not compatible with the blanket feet that normally ship on 441 machines from China. Quote Posted IMHO, by Wiz My current crop of sewing machines: Cowboy CB4500, Singer 107w3, Singer 139w109, Singer 168G101, Singer 29k71, Singer 31-15, Singer 111w103, Singer 211G156, Adler 30-7 on power stand, Techsew 2700, Fortuna power skiver and a Pfaff 4 thread 2 needle serger.
Members amuckart Posted July 6, 2014 Members Report Posted July 6, 2014 I bought a machine direct from China. It was a Hightex brand, which is what Cowboy machines are called outside of the US. The short version is this: If you are buying this for use in a business, buy one from a local well-respected shop who will set it up and support & service it. Buying direct from China is a Bad Idea if you need the machine up, running, and making money in a specific timeframe. For me, as a reasonably mechanically competent amateur who has torn down and re-built other machines, it was worthwhile. The cost was around half of what it would have cost me to get a machine from Cowboy or Cobra shipped to New Zealand, but if I were in the USA it is not something I would consider. I bought via a reseller here, so as a private individual not a business I had the benefit of NZ's strong consumer protection laws if it went wrong, but even so It was almost 5 months before I had all the parts I needed. Because of screw-ups with the shipping I didn't get the correct motor and speed reducer with the machine and it took ages for them to arrive. It took me a full day to clean the shipping grease off, assemble the stand and table and get the machine mounted and oiled. There were no instructions at all, and the assembly of the table was non-obvious (which is to say that the holes drilled in it matched neither the machine nor the stand, and I ended up building a new table). After that it took me many hours to get the machine timed, feeding properly, sewing in the same holes in reverse that it did forwards, and so on. I was lucky, my machine wasn't missing any bits, came with all the feet I needed, and didn't require a total teardown and rebuild like the Hightex 441 another NZer on this forum bought. Even without any major things going wrong with my machine mechanically, I would have been completely screwed without the Juki 441 engineer's manual. Even with that it was tricky getting the machine set up because the timing marks the Juki manual references don't exist on my machine. If you're comfortable with tearing down and re-building walking foot sewing machines and you know how to time them from scratch and you have the time and tools to do so, then getting a machine direct from China can work, but it's a gamble. You can't count on getting any kind of support from the factory, and as Wiz has pointed out getting the additional harness feet is expensive and they aren't guaranteed to fit the specific machine you end up with. Quote -- Al. Medieval Stuff: http://wherearetheelves.net Non-Medieval, including my machines: http://alasdair.muckart.net
Members Kevin Posted July 6, 2014 Members Report Posted July 6, 2014 I'll just add this, I bought a counterfeit guitar directly from China and my computer hasn't been right ever since. I have Norton 360 and I've run dozens of scans and not found anything. Quote
Moderator Wizcrafts Posted July 7, 2014 Moderator Report Posted July 7, 2014 Is the guitar playing Asian scales instead of Western? That would 'splain it Kevin. Your 'puter acquired the Asian Scale Trojan, via an interstitial proximity coinferrence between the cracked guitar (counterfeit, from hack-haven China) and the dial-up modem lingering deep within the motherboard chipsets. Quote Posted IMHO, by Wiz My current crop of sewing machines: Cowboy CB4500, Singer 107w3, Singer 139w109, Singer 168G101, Singer 29k71, Singer 31-15, Singer 111w103, Singer 211G156, Adler 30-7 on power stand, Techsew 2700, Fortuna power skiver and a Pfaff 4 thread 2 needle serger.
Members billybopp Posted July 7, 2014 Members Report Posted July 7, 2014 If you think that's bad Kevin. Your computer is now infected with a virus will cause your computer to hack some secured networks sending the info back to China. You can expect the FBI to knock at your door any day now. Quote
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