A little change to make a BIG differance on Cowboy sewing machines

[Spyros]

So yeah, the courier picked up my cb4500 on the 7th from Brissie, 12 days later it's still on the road apparently... shame, I was hoping to have it for Xmas.

[RockyAussie]

14 hours ago, Spyros said:

So yeah, the courier picked up my cb4500 on the 7th from Brissie, 12 days later it's still on the road apparently... shame, I was hoping to have it for Xmas.

That is bad. Did the camel get covid?

[Spyros]

2 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

That is bad. Did the camel get covid?

The combined TNT/FEDEX IQ hit an all time low. 

After 40 minutes on hold on the phone I found that they were told to ring me to collect, which obviously they didn't, and the tracking number still shows "IN TRANSIT" as we speak, so I had no way of knowing that the machine has been waiting for me at the depot for 10 days.   It's now in the back of my van (took a bit of a forklift artist to squeeze it in there, God bless that kid)

Edited December 20, 2021 by Spyros

[dikman]

Usually it's Aus Post that does that. I've had several items that said "In Transit" (as in NOT at my local depot) only to have them delivered that day.

Still, at least you've got it. Now the fun begins.

[Spyros]

Good thing is I had the time to quickly build a small shed in the back, to make some room for the machine in the workshop otherwise I had no idea where to put it.

But now she's here and all set up.  You guys were not kidding, she's a beast

After a couple of youtubes this was my very first machine stitch with a 200/25 Shmetz needle and some 277 thread:

So looking at this thing, the stitching is clearly slanted.  I don't mind how it looks to be honest, after all this is exactly what my hand stitching looks like, but I couldn't figure out how the hell is that even possible to get a stitch looking like that from a machine.  But then looking more carefully I realised the actual needle has a slanted point. 

It's kind of hard to photograph but you can probably see it here

I didn't know they make needles like that... I wonder if all those people practicing for years to get their hand stitching to look slanted actually know that you can do this with a machine LOL

Now, the back is a different story, it doesn't look as good:

Those are some pretty big exit wounds hehe

Anything I can do about the back or that's just how it is?

Edited December 21, 2021 by Spyros

[Spyros]

Other than that the machine came with Brian's narrow plate pre-installed, and it's generally both a dream and a nightmare.  A dream to operate, very controllable, very intuitive.  A nightmare to understand which one of the countless combinations of needle, settings, attachments and tuning is the best for what I want to do every time.  Maybe that's why people own more than one machine, because once they set one up exactly how they like it they're too scared to change anything LOL

I also got two guides, and after a bit of trying I don't think I'll ever use either of them.  They're just in the way, and it's easier than I thought to scribe a line and just follow it by eye. 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Spyros

[RockyAussie]

23 minutes ago, Spyros said:

Anything I can do about the back or that's just how it is?

Congratulations  @Spyros the learning begins. The needle you are holding in the picture is a LR needle and I am not sure if that is the same tip shape in the machine or not. Jess supplies TRI points as well I think but they don't usually give so much of a slanted stitch look. The bobbin side does look rougher than normal for sure and I would not expect to see it like that unless the leather was quite old and getting dry. Is the stitch quite tight down in the leather. Possibly the tension top and bottom could be tightened just a little but I would try another leather first.

[RockyAussie]

1 minute ago, Spyros said:

I also got two guides, and after a bit of trying I don't think I'll ever use either of them

Do a belt and repeat that.

[Spyros]

3 minutes ago, RockyAussie said:

Congratulations  @Spyros the learning begins. The needle you are holding in the picture is a LR needle and I am not sure if that is the same tip shape in the machine or not. Jess supplies TRI points as well I think but they don't usually give so much of a slanted stitch look. The bobbin side does look rougher than normal for sure and I would not expect to see it like that unless the leather was quite old and getting dry. Is the stitch quite tight down in the leather. Possibly the tension top and bottom could be tightened just a little but I would try another leather first.

gimme a minute

[RockyAussie]

Just a thought ....if you decide to tighten the bobbin a bit make sure you undo the locking screw in the bobbin case before you try loosing or tightening the tension screw.