"What in the heck do this do?" Installment One

[Prince]

So I've had this stuff for a few months now, bought it on ebay hoping I could find some uses for it but before I knew it I was buried under deadlines and other junk that popped up so long story short, now I've got commissions back under control and I've had a bit of a chance to organize my shop a bit, clean up the machines a bit and start figuring out what they are and what they do. Hopefully some of you guys can help me figure out what some of this stuff is and what it does and how it works!

So here's the first part I'm asking about:

It's part of a Line finisher thing by sutton or is it sulton? Something like that. The belt sander stuff and buffing stuff is pretty straight forward, it's got a huge vacuum thing and its motor seems locked, makes a buzzing noise but doesn't move. It was such a nasty mess I imagine there's leather crud jamming it.

But what I'm after is the weird gears of death thing. I'm adding some pics for specification but they're like super sharp gear things, a springy attachment that will lock into the gear blades but doesn't seem to engage or disengage the gear just springs against it... Below it is another toothy thing that's not as gnarly but it's all high RPM stuff, seems like it is anyway. Then to the right on the other side of the gears of death and over a little divider section there's a rotating spindle that held a ceramic disk or some sort of grinding wheel or cutoff disk. And concerning that disk thing... The line finisher machine has a breaker box built into the side of the machine if that tells you anything, and I had to rewire some stuff and come time to plug it in my assistant was standing near to watch the potential ensuing mayhem and explosions I assume. I told him he might want to step back, and then I plugged it in. There was a crazy winding up and whirring sound and then the disk exploded sending shards flying all over the place. It was pretty entertaining anyway... Kind of a scary machine.

I've tried testing a few edges of leather in the gears of death, at the fear of loosing a limb or two I'll add. It seems to kind of finish the edges sometimes but I suspect that's just due to the high RPM instead of it's intended function. The other thing below that just seems to shred and fluff the edges more than anything.

Oh yeah, one more thing, there's another motor with some sort of buffing attachment that looks like it would be really handy if I knew what kind of pads to get and where to get them. Any tips there?

Then the pic of the blue tub has what looks like a bunch of extra gears of death. I'm sure they have fancy names but they're scary so I like my name. Kind of like ninja stars...

Edited September 8, 2008 by Azmal

[Kevin]

Hey Azmal,

At last maybe I can help someone. You are correct, the whirling gears of death are for trimming soles, they have to be sharp, which is why there are so many of them. I don't do shoes, so I very rarely use that part.

The second motor is a Naumkaeg. This is for sanding the bottom of the soles. I get the sandpaper from AGS in Ashland,VA. Of course,any local shoe repair supply house will have these. You can also get a replacement pad for it or a whole new end. I use this for polishing metal before going to the buffing wheel. I'm paranoid of sparks and leather dust.

In your blue box are two dull gear things that are stitch pickers. These are bayonets that fit on the end of the shaft of the finishing machine. Not much good except for large stitches on soles, although with two, I'd have to try to modify one.

At the top of the blue box is a sanding drum. I believe this is the precourser to the Naumkaeg. My machine has an attatchment (permanent) that this fits on. On the left side is a chrome fluted piece for burnishing and the drum fits on the right. The sleeves are still available for these.

Hope that helps some, Kevin

[Kevin]

I forgot, the Naumkaeg is fantastic for beveling edges on leathers that can't be done with regular edgers, like chrome tanned, lizard, 'gator and the like. Grind on!!!

[Prince]

Hmmm Interesting... Thank you. So you've got one of these bad boy's too? What do you suppose they're worth? (once I repair the motors)

Since you so kindly responded I feel it is my duty to latch onto your brain and leech more info from you.

So do you think the gears of death could be adapted to anything other than a meat grinder and finger cleaver? I'd love to figure out something so I could just bring out a pair of bracers and quickly finish the edges on that thing.

And the Naumkaeg thing; the old rotten fabric that is on mine, was it a sanding surface at some time? or do you get a pad that slips over that?

Do you have any other clever adaptations you use in normal leatherworking with this thing? Cause I don't plan to ever do shoes. maybe a few pair of fantasy themed armored boots someday but can't imagine ever accepting a commission for shoes unless they pay me entirely too much.

Thanks again man

[Kevin]

Azmal, I willreturn soon, I just spent a $#@^%& hour typing an answer and the electricity went off for a second and obliterated it. &%$#@* it, I can't type.

PS one machine is a needle and awl machine for welted soles and the other is a McKay machine for moccaisin type soles, I think

[Kevin]

OK, Yes I am the proud owner of about 7' of a Landis 200 finisher. I think we cut 3 or 4 feet off( including the whirling gears of death). One motor one shaft, everything runs at one time.

At work, we have about 6' of a Sutton. On each of the legs is a sign that says "Own Your Own", I think these machines were originally only leased by the companies that built them and they owned you.

We also have an Autosoler finisher that is a modern machine and only takes up about one fourth the room to pretty much do the same job. This has pretty much made the older machines obsolete. I have been to auctions where they couldn't give them away.

I love them though, it makes me feel like a millwright. If I only had more room.

The Naumkaeg has a rubber pad that is covered by a piece of emery cloth, for lack of a better description. Between the business end and the motor you will notice a knurled piece. Unscrew that and it releases the top of the sandpaper. Pull on the folds at the top of the paper(cloth) and it will come right off. Easier to do than to describe, don't worry, you can't hurt it. Inside is a rubber pad that stays on the machine. Well, it's supposed to stay on the machine, we used to have a guy that would put so much pressure on it that it would fly off. Too lazy to cut the shape he needed, he thought he could just grind it.

You can still get parts for the old machines, I think Pilgrim sells most of the accessories such as brushes, burnishers, and replacements for the worn out felt pieces. There are two types of burnishers, one is a corrugated wheel covered with replaceable canvas and one is a wheel made up of many pieces of leather like the wheel on a bush hog. With these, one applies wax to the wheel and merely place your leather against it and voila, burnished leather! Not quite that easy, but with practice it can be done.

Anything else, just ask and I will try to answer, Kevin

[AEtheric991]

It looks like Kevin covered the high points. I think that the reason you "gears of death" don't seem to do much is that they need to be sharpened. That little disc that exploded... Yeah, It was for sharpening the blades. It looks like the reason that you have so much stuff in the blue bucket is that you would match the width of the blades to the width of the soles to be trimmed. On your model, selest the one you want and screw it on.

The naumkeg is awesome. Once you start using it, you'll wonder how you ever got along without it. The sanding pads should be avalible in 100 and 120 grit. On the knurled part above the sanding pad, your picture shows some holes, probably three or four. There should be a special wrench that fits into these and makes it easier to tighten things up.

[Davy]

the naumkeg is specifically used for sanding the area of a sole between the heel and the forepart . a Wide , flat sander is used on the forepart of the sole . The naumkegs I have used have a bladder in them that fills with air when spinning and will conform to uneven surfaces which allows you to sand those areas around the shank section which cant be done efficiently any other way in a factory production line . Although there arent too many production lines that make shoes with leather soles these days I dont think , everythings rubber !

[Davy]

I forgot to add , be careful if youre gonna use those sole edge trimmers on any leathers other than sole leather as it'll grab bigtime . Sole leather is really hard and compacted its as hard as wood . a trick when edge trimming shoe soles is to slightly wet the edge , it stops it getting too hot and leaving score marks . Cheers , Dave .