Cb 4500 - 207 Thread?

[catskin]

I know this has been covered before but have not been able to find it.

My CB 4500 is missing stitches when using 207 thread top and bottom I am using the needles that were sent with it for 207 thread. I never misses with 277 or 346. I think it just needs a minor adjustment. But rather then go messing around and maybe getting some thing else wrong I decided to ask you experts, Wiz, Bob, etc. It has been inclined to do it since I got it but seems to have gotten worse.

Thank for any help.

[JLSleather]

I would think the most obvious and easiest thing to check (and maybe you already did) is to see that your needle is properly oriented... facing the right way -- as in to the right, or even just slightly "behind" straight across.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

What size needle do you use? Just this morning I sewed some chaps using 207 thread and a #160 needle and it went fine. It could be your thread. Some thread is just plain no good. I have two spools right now, both almost full, that don't want to work in that machine. They are both a soft, limp thread and want to bunch up on the needle and cause it to drop a stitch. I got them both from a regular, reputable supplier. I prefer a thread that is pretty stiff and doesn't unravel easily. That type seems to work best in that machine, for me.

[Wizcrafts]

Lengthen the travel of the check spring to its maximum. This is done via the movable stop bracket under the spring, which is mounted onto the bottom tension setup. I use a #24 needle with #207 thread. It produces a good hole for the knots to sit in. Not too loose and not too tight.

The needle number is usually embedded near the top of the mounting shaft of the needle.

[catskin]

Thanks, will check these out and report back!!!

[catskin]

I THINK I have it fixed, thanks all for your advise. I checked all those things. I had a 106- 23 needle in it, that is what I had been using with 207 thread and it HAD been good. BUT this one had a microscopic size burr on it. So changed to a 180- 24 new one and checked the spring travel and it never missed a stitch in 6 inches, it had been skipping one about every 2 inches. The spring was adjusted about as low as it could go, the stop still has room in the slot but the bottom end bottoms in the hollow in the casting. If it needs to be lowered more I will have to use my dremel grinder to remove a bit more cast.

[catskin]

Big s,

. What I have done with bad thread is run it on the bobbin, I have some VERY expensive black thread from tandy that I can not run on top but it runs okay on the bottom, ( Better the scrapping it )

[Wizcrafts]

Catskin;

Don't bother extending the check spring travel beyond what's already available. It only needs to keep the thread taut until it meets/penetrates the top of the leather. If you keep the tautness to long the thread loop may not fully form above the eye. The combination of best size needle and check spring travel should be enough. Don't neglect examining the thread for "twistiness" (a brand new Wizicism!). If it is too twisty, loop it around the top post once in the opposite direction, to counteract the twist. Chubby Checker that bad boy!

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Cat, I will either do that or use it in another machine. A 2 lb spool of thread is way to expensive to scrap! I typically keep at least 2 spools of each color in each weight of thread that I normally stock to save time winding bobbins. I did have some spools of 138 one time that I finally put in a box and took to an auction. I could NOT get it to work in my light machine, and 138 is too light to use in the heavy stitchers I had at time. I have a Landis One (well three of them actually) and I'll probably put the limp thread in one of them. Those machines sew with almost ANY thread. They are very forgiving.

Wiz, I'm not following you on how to wrap the thread in the opposite direction. I know WHY you'd do it, but not how. Maybe I sniffed too much Barge's for too many hours today, but is there any way you could take a picture to show what you mean. With almost every spool, if I use it long enough without switching to a different spool, I have to at some point pull the thread completely out of the machine and get the kinks out. Very annoying. I need to get one of those things that holds the spool horizontally and rolls it off instead of pulling it off the top. But there are always more toys to buy than money to buy them:-)

[Wizcrafts]

Big Sioux;

I am referring to a post with holes that you might have on top of the sewing machine. My CB4500 has such a post with 4 holes bored into it. The top and bottom holes are aligned the same direction, inline with the thread path, while the two middle holes are on different angles facing across the machine. If the thread is very twisty, I sometimes feed it though the top hole, wind it clockwise around the post (looking down), then feed it through the bottom inline hole. From there it's on to the guide below the top tension disks and onward. This seems to counteract the twistiness, if that twist was counterclockwise off the spool. Otherwise, looping it counterclockwise around the post provides the sometimes required back pressure to keep the thread from twisting up out of the tension disks.

[dikman]

Horizontal spool holder?

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

Thanks Wiz, that makes sense now. To be honest, I'm not sure which way I wind it, nor if it's even the same from one time to the next.

Dikman, there is available from Campbell Bosworth, or at least was in the past, a spool holder that holds the thread spool horizontally and the spool spins freely so that the thread unrolls off the spool. This in theory should eliminate the kinking problem caused by the thread feeding off the top off the spool. I have heard of guys that have made their own. Not only is that beyond my skill set as I am not a metal worker or welder, I would rather spend my time doing leatherwork than making tools with which to do leatherwork:-) I had a Randall machine that was extremely finicky about kinked thread. I loved that machine, but after sewing for a time with the same spool, the thread would become so kinked in front of the thread lock that it would quit sewing. I eventually traded it off, as it had another major problem that was present when I got it. One of my Landis Ones came with an original thread rack which was made in exactly that manner. However, It is made for the old linen spools and the modern plastic ones won't work in it.

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

I may have just given some misinformation. I looked up Cambell Bosworth website and it kept throwing errors. I went to Campell-Randall website and it shows the thread holder I mentioned above, but it appears to hold the spool in an upright vertical position. Apparently the spool spins in this position, rather than like the old originals. It is not wildly expensive, at $115. Unfortunately it is out of stock.

Edited February 11, 2016 by Big Sioux Saddlery

[TinkerTailor]

I wonder if thread twist is one of the reasons why Adler made those stands that feed the thread up and then down the center of the cone.

I think it was Adler anyways?/.

[pcox]

put your thread thru a soda straw between the spool and the eye above it. It will cause the thread to unwind rather than pull off the end. I have the un roller types on my Randle and my Landis one they work great. They need a spring in them so the thread don't freewheel when you stop sewing suddenly.

[dikman]

Wouldn't be too hard to make a suitable horizontal spool holder. Reminds me of the difference between overhead/baitcaster fishing reels and the "eggbeater" type - the overhead type are effectively horizontal spools, so the line "spools" off with no twisting, unlike the other type of reel.

Something to ponder.......