rmetheredge Report post Posted January 6, 2020 HELP. I now own a Consew 199R-2A. I really cannot find any youtube videos about them. It is stating that it uses needle style 16x231 up to size 19 - 19.....what??? LOL or style 16x95 in all sizes. What does that all mean? Then it talks about left twist thread - I have googled that, it takes me to different sites but none mention left twist. I will mainly be doing leather can someone help me understand what I need to look for? I can only do about 1/4 inch sewing on the leather if that helps. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gregg From Keystone Sewing Report post Posted January 6, 2020 DBX1, 16X231, 16X257 all denote the same needle. In some brand's system, above needle size eighteen the system changes to a 16X95, just to add to the confusion. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wizcrafts Report post Posted January 6, 2020 4 hours ago, rmetheredge said: 16x231 up to size 19 - 19.....what??? 16x231 is the needle "system," which refers to its geometry. Size 19 indicates the diameter of the needle body below the mounting shank. It is equivalent to metric 120. This size is best suited to #92 bonded nylon/polyester/synthetic thread (aka: T90). You can get a better idea of which needle and thread combinations work best by reading this needle and thread chart. Certain sewing machines are purposely limited to the largest needle size they can safely use. It could be the case with the Consew you asked about. Internal clearances are set to allow for a certain range of needle sizes. The hole in the throat plate (or feed dog) limits the maximum needle diameter too. So, if your machine is limited to a a maximum #19 needle, the largest thread you should use would be #92 (T90) bonded. It would also be okay to use Tex 80 jeans thread or some button hole thread. EDIT I read about your machine on a marine sails sewing forum and others are using it with a size 22, System 16x95 needle, sewing with #138 bonded thread. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
rmetheredge Report post Posted January 7, 2020 Thank you for the information. The chart helps a lot Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gregg From Keystone Sewing Report post Posted January 8, 2020 On 1/6/2020 at 11:20 AM, Wizcrafts said: I read about your machine on a marine sails sewing forum and others are using it with a size 22, System 16x95 needle, sewing with #138 bonded thread. That's likely 199RB, large bobbin, with a 22 needle and size 138 thread. This is a regular bobbin, largest size I would guess is a V69 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites