cobra sewing machine Cobra C3 - Thread options?

[entropie]

Hi All,

I am on the market for a new sewing machine and I am pretty certain that I am going to go with the Cobra Class 3. The one thing I am hung up on is the threading options. All of my work has been hand stitched. I am a big fan of Tiger Polyester Braided Thread Waxed (Ritza 25) sold by Abbey England supplier. 

Question: Can waxed braided polyester thread be feed through these machines? 

- What nylon thread is similar to the braided polyester?

- Should I just spend the extra $700 dollars and get the Cobra class 4, or can I get away with the class 3? I make rifle scabbards, knife sheaths, belts, bags. 

I think that the  CAMPBELL Lock-Stitch and UNION Lock-Stitch can run other types of thread, but I have read that they have a steep learning curve, in limited supply and pretty pricey - so those machines are not currently an option.

I have no experience with these machines so it will be an adventure, but I want make the right choice.

Thanks!

[brmax]

As your familar with that thread brand, they have a .6mm, I believe it is. 

The thickness of that is about standard or middle range with the class 3, 4 and all the other Juki 441 cloned machines being manufactured.

Back to the .6mm thread its roughly same diameter as 346 thread size for the machine threads. 

It can be just another short learning curve with machine threads. This is always a good topic, and Im positive others here will elaborate a bit more. 

In the discussions I think you may find using the typical machine threads will be a benefit. 

 

Good day

Floyd

[Wizcrafts]

You can run waxed thread through a 441 clone, but it is going to gum up everything it rides across, including the eye of the needle. You will need to keep Goof Off by the machine to clean the rollers, guides and needle after each sewing job. The needles will need to be one size larger than normally used for the diameter of thread you use. See this thread and needle chart for a reference.

If you really want to sew with waxed linen thread, get a Union Lockstitch or Campbell-Randall, or Landis 3, or 16, or a Landis 12 series shoe outsole stitcher. These machines are meant to sew with wax and keep on going. They still need cleaning, but the barbed needles are less likely to gum up.

I learned to operate a Union Lockstitch in about 1 week. Mastering it took a lot longer.

[dikman]

For what it's worth - I have some braided polyester thread (#69) that came from a closing down boot factory. It's beautiful thread, but so far I haven't been able to use it successfully in any of my machines (an assortment of medium-weight upholstery machines). At some point the hook inevitably catches in the braid and I don't know why. I've no idea what machines used it in the factory.

By the way, you're not the first person to want to use their hand-stitching thread in a machine and thus far I'm not aware of anyone who has. Maybe you'll be the first?

[Matt S]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

For what it's worth - I have some braided polyester thread (#69) that came from a closing down boot factory. It's beautiful thread, but so far I haven't been able to use it successfully in any of my machines (an assortment of medium-weight upholstery machines). At some point the hook inevitably catches in the braid and I don't know why. I've no idea what machines used it in the factory.

By the way, you're not the first person to want to use their hand-stitching thread in a machine and thus far I'm not aware of anyone who has. Maybe you'll be the first?

Is your braided thread dry or lubed in some way? I have some dry braided poly thread that only started working reliably through my #6 when I started waxing it. I think the braid was opening up just enough to catch on the shuttle point.

I've had mixed results with braided thread in machines, which echoes yours -- will often work for a short time, then suddenly the hook will catch the middle of the thread and bad things happen.

I have had some success running "hand sewing" thread through machines -- my #6 harness machine, my 45K and an outsole stitcher I used to have, but these were all designed from the ground up to run large threads. (twisted linen from 18/3 up to 18/7 and tiger thread over 1mm).

@entropie Ritza do a thread designed specifically for machine sewing, which is lubed with silicone rather than wax. I've never tried it (mainly use twisted nylon or poly) but that may work better in your Cobra. It's also available through Abbey.

[dikman]

Matt, it's dry. Maybe it has to be run through a wax or silicone bath while sewing? Too messy to try and I definitely don't want wax gumming things up.

[Matt S]

23 hours ago, dikman said:

Matt, it's dry. Maybe it has to be run through a wax or silicone bath while sewing? Too messy to try and I definitely don't want wax gumming things up.

Yeah could be. In the context of a boot factory likely your roll of thread will have been run through a machine setup for one particular job, day in day out. The inconvenience and mess of a lubed thread wouldn't have mattered very much compared with whatever advantage it conveyed.

If you don't want to lube it I understand -- a 3Km king spool of TKT40/v69 is what, £10? That's a cheap price for avoiding a lot of mess.

[dikman]

My experiences with using wax (beeswax, tallow, candle wax) in shooting and reloading is that once you get wax on something it's almost impossible to remove it completely! So while I'll happily use it to buff leather and seal the edges it isn't going anywhere near my needles!!

I'll stick to "conventional" thread.

[Matt S]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

My experiences with using wax (beeswax, tallow, candle wax) in shooting and reloading is that once you get wax on something it's almost impossible to remove it completely! So while I'll happily use it to buff leather and seal the edges it isn't going anywhere near my needles!!

I'll stick to "conventional" thread.

Ya don't want to, ya don't want to. Wax isn't difficult to deal with but it's more hassle than I think is worth it for a roll of TKT40 poly.

Edited October 28, 2018 by Matt S

[dikman]

Yeah, it just bugs me that I can only use this thread for handstitching.

[Wizcrafts]

2 hours ago, dikman said:

Yeah, it just bugs me that I can only use this thread for handstitching.

You might want to keep your eyes peeled for a needle and awl harness stitcher. They were built during a time frame when waxed linen thread was the normal thread.

[dikman]

Wiz, I'd say that I've got a greater chance of winning the Lotto than finding something like that here in Oz!

[Wizcrafts]

21 minutes ago, dikman said:

Wiz, I'd say that I've got a greater chance of winning the Lotto than finding something like that here in Oz!

Look up member Singermania (Steve Bonnett), in Bundaberg, Queensland.

[sbrownn]

I've been running the 0.6 mm Tiger thread in my Campbell and it seems to work just fine and looks great.  I use it on the bobbin as well as the top.  I was running it off a 25 yd. spool to try it and planning on switching back to polyester when it ran out but after looking at the polyester stitching in comparison I decided I am going back to the Tiger thread.  The bottom stitch is much nicer with the Tiger than the with nylon, polyester or linen.  I have a piece that goes from machine to hand stitch and back to machine and it is really difficult to tell when one stops and the other starts.