billymac814

I don't think there is a way without checking it. Normally I'll just glance at it every so often. The flat beds are a little harder to check so I just run them out and when its empty I put a new one one. Certain important projects where I don't want a splice ill always check ahead of time, if it looks like it might not be enough I replace it. OR here's an idea. You guys ever see those fire crackers that have a string on each end and you pull them apart to make it go bang? You could tie one end to the bobbin and the other to the end of the thread, it'll go bang when you get to the end and since the string breaks it won't break your needle. I'm joking of course. Don't anyone be dumb and try it but if you do get video.

CP, Thanks for the kind words. I can tell you for sure that I'm not organized, I do try to be as efficient as possible though. I started off in my living room too so I can relate. I started on a desk and moved to a workbench and then added a machine and a sander then moved to a seperate room in a new house and then finally to my current shop. I have 1500 sq ft and a little more than half of that is shop space, I can't fit a whole lot more in here as it is but I pretty much have what I need now. I do about 40% holsters and do about55% of my work is repairs and the last 5% is other custom work. Ferg posted good pictures so there's no need for me to post any more.

Thanks for the pictures. I thought you meant that you somehow had the end as the magnet which held the rivet on. That works too though. What I did with mine is had the shaft (?) part drilled out on both ends. One end is large enough to put a stamp handle in and the other is big enough for the snap setter. I stuck a little ball of beeswax up in the hole which was enough to hold them in and allow me to remove them. I'm able to switch the shaft around if need be pretty easily. I was going to drill and tap it for set screws but found it was fine as is. I may try to drill out the snap setter hole to fit the rivet tool since I no longer use the snap part.

Handsewing has a way of getting old pretty quick. The Boss is a perfect machine for holsters and mine has stitched probably a thousand or so. It works fine with belts too especially compared to hand stitching, it gets a little old using it for a lot of belts but that comes long after you forget the pains of handsewing, if you ever get tired of using the Boss just pull out an awl and two needles and before you even get the third stitch done you'll have a new appreciation for it. Ill admit to being somewhat emotionally attached to mine for some reason, people either love them or hate them and I pretty much loved mine, not quite enough to choose to use it over the Cowboy but the stitch quality on both machines are very similar. Ill post a link to a thread that shows some of the holsters I've stitched with it so you can see the stitches it makes. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=45326&view=&hl=&fromsearch=1

I'm thinking of selling mine, I highly doubt ill ever need it although I've toyed with the idea of putting a small shop back in my house to work on prototypes or just the occasional project that I could do at home. Chances are though that I won't when I have a fully outfitted shop. Let me ponder this for another day or so. Mine comes with the Tippman stand, extra bobbins and needles, the original box, 2 feet, the stirrup plate, the tool kit it came with and I recently replaced the shuttle/bobbin case to the newer version that has the lock for the tension and I replaced the tension disks and one other part. It is an older aluminum one. I've stitched somewhere around a crapload of holsters and belts on it always works. I could not have built my business without it.

One other thing too, you may try to part it out if you're dedicated to selling it. The naumkeg may sell on its own or the motor as well as the drums and any other small pieces that come off. Some of them will fit newer machines(newer as in still old as dirt but newer than yours). You may even find someone to buy the leg pieces to make a table or something out of. Its hard to say really but you never know. Scraping it is alot easier for sure.

If you mean the wood part on the end, no, Spinner made it a few years ago. He no longer makes them but Ed the bear man does.

I just ordered one, screw it I thought. It sounded like it was going to be a treasure hunt and I don't have time for that tonight. I got it from McMaster Carr, they normally arrive the next day so I should have it tomorrow which is fine. Thanks again.

Ill post pictures of the speed reducer when I'm done so you can see the difference but picture a large pulley welded to a small pulley then your motor connects to the big one and the small one goes to your machine so it reduces the speed much more than just replacing the pulley on the motor however that is an option and you can certainly start there first. I have one machine with a servo and speed reducer, one with the gear reduction servo and one with just a servo but that's the one I'm putting the reducer on right now. They are all different types of machines so its not easy or fair to compare the difference but I do really seem to like the speed reducer/servo combo. I have 2 other machines that have clutch motors, one is a very large machine and I almost kind of pump the pedal and the other I'm usually able to feather it just fine although I don't use it often, if I did or if I start ill probably swap it out. The gear reduction servo may be a good choice for you, I don't think they are a whole lot more expensive than a regular one.

A speed reducer is just basically a pulley that has a smaller pulley on it to reduce the gearing so power won't be an issue. You could always start with the reducer and see how it goes with your motor, then if you still don't like it add a servo to it. There are also gear reduction servos and that's what I have on my flat bed. I think given the choice I would go with a seperate speed reducer and servo but that's just me. I'm sure some others will chime in who know more than I do and be able to help a little better.

Where should I try first? Does tractor supply sell the correct ones in a lot of sizes?

I'm about to need a belt as I'm installing a speed reducer. I couldn't order the belt as I didn't know how big I would need. I don't want to order one if I don't have to. Do auto parts stores sell them in various sizes or a furnace supply house, tractor supply?? I figured I'd ask here before making all the phone calls or running around. I should have it all hooked up within the hour so I'd like to get a belt today if at all possible. Thanks in advance.

Could you post a picture of your set up for the rivets portion? I have an arbor press I modified to set snaps using just a regular hand tool setter(the kind that gets hit with a mallet). It works about as good as a mallet really. The Press N Snap works much much better. I'd like to use the arbor press for rivets though. The press n snap would be a good inexpensive choice for pull the dot snaps. You can modify the die to fit in by filing one side flat or just buy the correct die. The tool is much bigger than it looks in pictures.

Does anyone else use the 20 ton harbor freight press? I bought the 12 ton because I was originally just going to be using it to form the holsters. The 12 ton flexes quite a bit though and sometimes this cause a corner of the die to sink farther than the rest. The 20 ton version looks pretty stout compared to the 12. I'm wondering if it would be a worthwhile upgrade, it would also give me a little more room in between the risers.

I think I'd like to join too, what's in there? Is it more like fetish/bondage gear or is it say a motorcycle seat with a naked woman tooled on it? I'd take the access either way, worst case I don't ever go there.

I used to despise Facebook and I still don't use it on a personal level and the people that spend their entire day on it I don't quite understand. I will say though getting a Facebook page for my business has proved to be a really good move. It allows me to stay in constant contact with my customers, they are able to see new items that I come out with or just other items that they may not know about. You would probably be surprised at how many people have and use Facebook, nearly every younger person does, most middle aged people and quite a few older people. I recently did a "how its made" type thing on mine where I documented the process of making a holster and it was received very well and I think it have the customer a new appreciation for what goes into making a good holster. This wasn't a "how to" as I didn't really tell them how to do it, just showed them each step.

I don't think personally that I'd just want to direct them to this site and be done with it, maybe in some cases that would be fine however I would rather be able to pick the person out for them. The Facebook group page would be a good idea, I would think we would want it to be a private group personally. That way we could talk openly if need be as well as having a list of members. The only problem with that would be that someone would probably have to set it up and manage it.

Are you looking for one? I've been considering selling mine.

You can get a speed reducer for 85.00 from Bob Kovar, its cheaper than a replacement servo. I just ordered one for my patcher as the servo on it was far to fast even on the slowest speed, I could feather it if I was careful but I think the speed reducer will give me a better range of adjustment.

Those look to be a better option than the ones I suggested, especially for larger stamps. The ones I mentioned are limited in size due to the use of a soldering iron instead of the much hotter heating source. I may look into one at some point. I ordered one of the small ones but haven't received it yet. Ill report back on how well it works. The problem is finding the correct soldering iron is proving to be difficult because they don't mention the size of the shank on just about every iron I've seen. I mentioned to the makers that they really should find a source of irons and sell it as a complete set up. I would have gladly paid extra to not have to find my own and hope it comes in with the right size shank. She said she would look into it and she seemed sincere.

I forgot completely about it as well until we started talking about it. Mine probably hasn't been updated in 2-3 years and I'm sure others are the same. Out of site out of mind kinda thing. I guess we will see what others think and who all would be interested in utilizing such a list. It sounds like a couple so far.

I would try Bruce first, tell him what you need it for and he will tell you if he has anything that fits your needs.

Like the others have said you would make them similar to handles and use a rounder to pull them through. I believe the "art of making cases" volume 2 describes the procedure.

Exactly what the rest said. I hated resolene until I tried it 50/50. Now its all I use for my holsters.