Northmount

The inside layer has to get shorter when curved around your bod, so it wrinkles. One method to reduce the wrinkling is to glue up while curved, not flat. Higher quality leather may help also. Stay away from leather closer to the belly. Many belts are cut from along the backbone. Tom

A picture of how it looks now would help. Remember to allow for the different radius of the fold from the inside and the outside. The inside piece needs to be shorter. You might be able to rip it apart and depending on how the inside is built, trim it shorter and re-sew or re-lace the wallet. Tom

Not sure if you are confusing a cylinder arm machine with a post bed machine. I would go for a cylinder arm machine with an adapter table attachment. With the cylinder arm, you can reach inside a purse or other object. Depends on the size of the object and the cylinder arm. Then add the table for flat stitching. Don't have to have two separate machines then for the same thread size, etc. Make sure it is a walking foot style. If you haven't read Wiz's pinned post on leather sewing machines, I recommend you do so now. Tom

This clicker (hydraulic shop press), assuming I picked the right one, is not a fast operating clicker. It will take 2 to 5 minutes for repeated cuts using the same die. You have to position the leather and the die, close the bleed valve on the hydraulic jack, pump the handle 20 times or so (depending on how much clearance you left when positioning the die and leather, then release the bleed valve, move/reposition, and repeat. It is heavy duty, and will make very nice repeatable cuts. Still faster than you or I can cut by hand, just slower than the clickers that run $5k to $10k or more, monster swing arm types like this. I have a 20 ton shop press that is nearly ready for clicking. Need to get a couple steel plates, then I'm ready to go. I bought a replacement pneumatic bottle jack to replace the typical hydraulic bottle jack. Will help speed things up a little, I just won't have to wear out my arm pumping the jack. You are on the right track to be able to click out repeatable items saving a lot of time, just not at the speed you have estimated. Neither you or I can afford the big swing arm type, so we use what we can afford and make do. Tom

I'm curious. Which clicker are you getting? Tom

The Howard press is very similar to the Kingsley we used to have. This one came with more accessories. Has a type box about 2.5" x 3.5". Also has a self centering type box that holds 2 lines of type. It is handier for quick setups. Link I'm happy with it. Need to practice some more with various leathers. I was trying to stamp gold on black pigskin. Wasn't as clear as I wanted and was dropping foil bits near the type that had to be brushed off. Ran out of time and patience, so left it for another time. The leather is stiff and hard with lots of character. Supposedly, you hold the leather where you want to stamp it (guide, etc.) and press the hot type into it for several seconds with no foil to give a good bed for the foil. Then stick a piece of foil in and give it a fairly quick press, very little dwell time. I think my temperature may have been too low so need to try a again, see what dwell time, temperature, and pre-stamp treatment work the best. I used if on 3-4 oz veg tan with no problems. A separate point of discussion, you can have photoengravers or CNC people make plates mounted on a block so you can repeat the same setup later without having to reset all your type. Handy for stamps that you will be using over and over. Usually not too expensive. Tom

Here is a link with some valuable info if you are going to buy a hot foil press. http://www.ebay.com/gds/BUYING-A-HOT-STAMP-MACHINE-/10000000000751965/g.html I picked up a "Goldmark" press a few months ago for about $250. Had only been demonstrated. Came with several rolls of foil, several sets of type, all accessories, box full of pencils, napkins, business cards. Turns out it is a Howard press, just re-labeled. Youngest son had a Kingsley press and printed business cards and such while in jr and sr high school. Gave it away because no one was using it, then last year decided to get one again to be able to print my makers mark on chrome tanned leather. So check all your local sources of second hand goods to see what is out there. Some good deals. Note that Kingsley is no longer in this business, so be cautious, make sure it is in good working order before you pay. Tom

On the third picture, you can see both the inside and outside views of the lace. Notice how the inside view is so much neater and lays really nice. Double loop has a nice side and a rough looking side. Normally the nice side should be on the show side, so you can show it off, and hide the opposite side. But I'm not sure in this case, the rough side could be more irritating to the wrist. So maybe you have made the best choice for the user's comfort. Lacing instruction diagrams are usually shown from the good side of the leather. So if you automatically pick it up and work from the good side ... The good side of the lacing will be on the good side of the leather article. (The other option is of course round braid because it looks great from both sides. I agree with you keeping your costs under control as a reason to skip it this time. I've done double loop for years, now need to practise with round braid to become proficient with it and use it where it fits.) Your spacing and tension look quite good. That part is hard for a lot of people to get right. Keep it up, you have come a long way in the past couple years. Tom

You can re-size pictures to reduce the file size. If you are using MS Outlook, right click on your photo in windows explorer, pick "send to", "mail recipient" follow the prompts for the size you want, and email it to yourself. Another option is "Irfanview" free-ware software with tons of options and capabilities. http://www.irfanview.com/. There are also online services that will do it to. Do a Google search for "resize photos". Tom

Your decorative cuts look pretty good compared to mine! Very nice. Tom

Are you holding the threads tails while you start, until you have sewn a couple stitches? Tom

A picture of the stains might help get an answer. Try wetting the whole surface with the same quality water, wipe off after a moment or two, then let dry. Works if it is just water spots. If it si something else, it may not make any difference. Tom

There may not be manual oil holes in all the locations where it needs to be oiled. Take a look at this thread and it may help explain some of the issues. When the machine is not in use, place a wadded up piece of paper towel under the presser foot to pickup oil that drips down from that area. It will help you get started with less oil on the parts that contact the leather. I wipe the oil off the exposed needle bar and presser feet shafts (and feet) too before I start. Tom

There are several threads about "vacuum forming" here on LW. I did a search and got 58 results. One of them is by Dwight with lots of instructions. There are others with sources of suppliers. One lists a source for a hand operated vacuum pump if you are unsure of how much you want to spend and how often you will be using it. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?app=core&module=search&do=search&fromMainBar=1 Tom

PM Johanna with your request. Tom

You can grind/file out a gap in the toe of the foot. Round the edges nicely and polish up any rough spots. Tom

40" x 52.5". Depending on your settings, you can have your pdf viewer show the original size in the bottom status bar. Tom

Found this info on another forum ask Fortuna-Service Austria http://www.fortuna-service.com if you do not use email you could drop a note their. Send Type of machine, Machine-Nb if availabe (sometimes there are differences) a foto which shows the machine, maybe a pc of the problem? and a description of your problem to office@fortuna-service.com 35 years of experience should do it ;-) Tom

All, and the corners looks pretty good. When punching holes, keep the punch perpendicular to the leather, then inside and outside holes should not wander unless you punch in the wrong spot. I find with a hand held punch, it punches easier and cleaner if I place a piece of scrap between the leather and the anvil. Tom

138, 207, 277 are all fine. Most tote bags won't see really heavy stress on the threads, other than abrasion likely on the bottoms. If glued (contact cement) as well, there is likely little chance of the leather pulling apart. For linings, there is a wide range of materials. Do you want fancy or plain and tough? A light weight canvas type material would take a lot of beating. It frays easily so edges need to be rolled over or otherwise bound to keep it nice and neat. Needs to be pre-shrunk is there is any chance that it will get wet. There is a stretchy velvet like material that would look nice and I believe that because it is stretchy, it should take a fair amount of abuse too, though I don't know how long before the velvet surface would look worn. Looking at that side, probably not a good choice. Polyester material wears well, doesn't shrink, should last a long time. Maybe some others will chime in and correct me if I've strayed too far! Tom

Keep the leather and zipper flat. If you bend it while stitching, the inside radius is smaller, and if that is the side the zipper is on, it will bunch up. Glue or double sided tape helps, but keeping it flat is still required until all stitching is finished. Oh, and don't stretch the zipper fabric. For those that use machines, walking foot compound machines feed both the top and bottom together. Bottom feed only with the zipper on the bottom is going to bunch up, and stretching to keep things straight may not help in all cases. Tom

Sark9 is right, behind the hinges not the head pulley center-line. That's how good my memory is! The belt cutout doesn't need to be connected to the head cutout, but if the strip between is getting too thin for the type of material you are using, I would join them. Materials like MDF and some others aren't very strong when cut narrow, so take it out now, rather than later if per chance it gets broken out. Tom

From another thread here (which I haven't searched for, so I'm going by memory), the motor pulley vertical center-line only needs to be just behind the machine pulley vertical center-line, which allows you to tip the head back without having to loosen the belt first. Tipping the head back will relieve the tension on the belt and allow you to slip it off, or work under the head if needed. How far back is more for your convenience. The link to the pedal doesn't need to be vertical. Tom

Moved to "How do I do that" Tom

For Firefox, look at https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-do-i-use-firefox-spell-checker. It used to be an add-in but is now part of FF. I've been using FF as my preferred browser for several years. Tom