COWBOY CB4500/441 NARROW FEED DOG + NEEDLE/THROAT PLATE???

[RockyAussie]

Recently in a post on these sewing machines Solar LeatherMachines, kindly put up a link to their webpage where you could find an English version manual of these sewing machines. http://www.solar-leather.com/supporthelp/

I have been considering making up a narrow dog foot and throat plate to do the finer leather jobs. I tried the narrow slotted plate without feed dog and found several problems, one being that the stitch length dropped back considerably which was not such a big problem but the reverse suddenly went to making no sense at all. I went looking all over the place to find a solution before going to the trouble to make them when I came across this interesting bit on the last page (page 21) in the Instructions Manual & Illustrated Parts Catalogue

#7441-09-0092 Narrow feed dog: work together with 7441-01-0064, for sewing very small borders on hard material, like suit case, furniture, instrumental cases, chairs etc.

7441-01-0064 Narrow throat plate: work together with 7441-09-0092, for sewing very small borders on hard material, like suit case, furniture, instrumental cases, chairs etc.

I have not been able to find any pictures or diagrams of these parts and was hoping someone here may have a set they could post a picture of or have some information about.

Because of the large drop of the dog foot in between stitches I have found that when stitching close to the edge that the job sinks down into the hole and ends up going along like a drunken rocking horse making it quite difficult to keep all lined up nicely. When the edge guide is up close the job wants to come back up and lift the guide which then wrecks the edge coating as well. I have an urgent order to get out this coming week for some personal alarm pouches for one of our correctional centres and this problem showed up whilst I got into stitching them up so I have taken a few pictures to help see the problem with the standard feet I am using. It looks like I will have to sand back and re edge now.The thickness combined is a bit over 4mm or around 10oz and the thread is 20m or 138 if you like and needle is Schmetz size 23 794LR.  I hope that someone here can shed a little light on this and also I would like to ask who else would like a narrow feed dog and throat plate set.

Regards Brian

[brmax]

Interested

You bring up a great task many would like to do.  For myself better, easier and more efficient. 

I followed the leads and yet have not seen a photo either.  In short I took a look at Hightex accessory pics but no luck on these special numbers.  I will have another look around. 

Thanks for the part numbers. 

Floyd

[Uwe]

That is a hard seam to stitch. There's no room on either side, really.

In the short term to get the order out you'll have to use what you have on hand, no time for ordering stuff, really. I'd give the slotted plate (or perhaps raised stirrup plate) another shot and just ignore the reverse lever. Manually position the needle to back up a stitch or two (without turning the material) or finish the seam by hand.  Youtube dude Chechaflo is a master of the manual backstitching technique - his machine has reverse, but he almost never uses it to lock a stitchline.

I'd also tack the layers together with a few drops of superglue and binder clamps - do a bunch and let them sit for half an hour before stitching. No struggle to keep the edges aligned while stitching, allowing you to focus on the stitchline.

The arm-mounted standard edge guided becomes a nuisance when the guide wheel is over the feed dog. Long-term, consider a drop-down guide that is height adjustable and floats above feed dog (or above the bottom layer when attaching that snap flap).

I've never seen the narrow feed dog and throat plate parts referenced in that manual in pictures or real life - they may be hard to source. 

I did order a specialty KH441RG kit last year which is a dedicated 3mm right edge guiding 4-piece set with special feed dog, throat plate and presser feet. It might be an improvement, but you you won't know for sure until you try it. The feed dog on that set is about 6.5mm wide, compared to the standard 8mm wide feed dog.

 

 

Edited September 3, 2017 by Uwe

[brmax]

Uwe thats a nice set,  curious on the feet surface are they smooth, thank you.

Im considering if one were to use that walker foot with the custom inline presser feet that are available. Its close to the same width as walker style. I think i might give that a go for this project with the hi part, One could have the project run on the outside.

Possibly another option is the standard blanket plate and its feed dog. It looks thin but may be to much bite for some materials.

Floyd

[Uwe]

@brmax the feet are smooth on the bottom.  All four pieces are a matched set, you'd have to get them all together. But you can mix and match with other pieces, obviously. 

  

Edited September 3, 2017 by Uwe

[RockyAussie]

Uwe, That looks a lot better than what I have got at present and I have a lot more of these jobs to do yet. How can I buy them? PM me if you prefer. Note I used your timing dial in the first picture. Still have a bit of a problem getting enough length in the backstitching and I wonder if the front plate behind the stitch regulator was flat instead of angled wider at the top would the problem be solved. Thanks and regards Brian

[Uwe]

My KH441RG set has been collecting virtual dust in my ebay store for over a year. I just put it on clearance for half price ($99) a week ago. 

I didn't notice the timing dial when I first looked the pictures . Glad you could use it! The stitch length matching is a balancing act and may indeed need some fussing with the cover plate to make both timing and reverse perfect. 

Edited September 3, 2017 by Uwe

[RockyAussie]

Thanks Uwe, You can post it to me now.

[LeatherLegion]

 

14 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

I have found that when stitching close to the edge that the job sinks down into the hole

I had the same problem stitching some of my wallets with the CB 4500 until i had another needle plate made that was a bit narrower and i shaved off a bit the feed dog to fit properly in it. I am using the same set up as you as far as needle/thread combination and same leather thickness and never had that issue anymore.

3 years ago i posted pictures of the new needle plate and as far as i remember , few forum members  bought them and were happy with the results.They weren't as fancy as the ones posted by Uwe but they work . 

If i were you , i would probably stitched this lot by hand just because there are less then 15 stitches at a time. A Tippman Boss would be great for these

Here are the pictures

 

Edited September 3, 2017 by LeatherLegion

[Uwe]

Got your order @RockyAussie - thanks! It'll go in the mail on Tuesday (Monday is a postal Holiday her in the U.S.)

 

@LeatherLegion thanks for sharing your custom work and pictures! I get the sense there's a need for throat plates with a slim opening and matching feed dogs, especially for use with those skinny harness feet. I'd want to make the feed dog slim enough to leave a very thin wall of material on either side of the needle hole. I'll add it to my list of projects to work on if/when I get my current in-way-over-my-head project machine, a Chiron 5-Axis CNC mill, retrofitted with new motors and controls. 

Edited September 4, 2017 by Uwe