320

the olfa circle cutter is about perfect, just cut from the back side of your piece. i also have a gasket cutter from harbor freight that is more rigid but clunkier. heavy pyrex bowls are great templates if they are the size you need. pie tins, cake pans....

you have a solid logo there. i would be more inclined to get a bigger hammer or a press than redesign it. seriously. i switched to a five pound dead blow mallet. it's only used for my mark and ususally works with a single swat.

if you google "maker mark" , "touch mark" or "maker stamp" you will quicky find that there are two major schools of thought. one school is text-based, the other graphics-based. you pretty much have to decide which way you want to go. my only advice is to realize if you go with a lot of specific information and any of it changes, you're off to the die maker again. i'm personally in the "less is more" camp. good luck. 320.bmp

kate is right...portable is relative. i've had a "long bed" mini-brute for years. it will sew 3 layers of 5-6 oz. leather. but it is heavy. the lightest thread i have tried is # 69, the heaviest #135, usually use #92 . if i had it to do over, i would pick the sailrite with a monster wheel and solid state foot control. though that is much more expensive. the leather presser foot is just a regular foot with grooves ground off. if you do choose one of these machines for public displays, search around for the portable setups that yachters use to sew their sails while afloat. some are pretty clever. as a last thought, except for bagwork most leatherworker doing harness and holster work don't seem to like these machine. that said, i've been in a couple of car upholstery shops that used either the mini-brute or the sailrite and a canvasworker in wyoming with a thompson.

i've had both and the proprietary configuration is problematic. the only way to beat it is have someone build you a custom machine with a clean windows install. honestly the price will probably be lower. the hdd is probably not spinning up fast enough to be seen by your machine. have some IT person copy or create an image of your existing drive to a new one and have it installed. the last one i had done only added $25 to the cost of the drive. though to complicate things my son's pc had the same symptom and it turned out to be the power supply. fixing either is much cheaper than a new machine. good luck!

i tend to be a bit paranoid. so even with a good antivirus and the hardware protection you get from a router your machine can still get an infection. many programs wander off to the net without your knowledge or permission. you really need a firewall that looks in and out, windows firewall doesn't. most of the security suites are so bloated with features that unless you have a very powerful machine it will be slowed appreciably. too much real time analysis. my favorite firewall is the orphaned sygate personal firewall. you can find it for download many places and it is free. just set everything to ask for permission to access the network initially. as time goes by you will allow some permanent access, others none. the remainder will continue to ask. i've used it conjunction with avg, avast and microsoft security elements with no apparent conflicts. i never thought that i'd recommend a ms product but i've installed mse on my wife's laptop and my netbook. works great. barely know it's there. plays nice with sygate as well. my other machines run avast av. hope that helps.

spinner- you have strong graphic that really doesn't need to be supported by text as a logo (esp. if you use it as your maker's mark). for the work it appears you are doing it's just about perfect. a brand (literally and figuratively) without being cluttered with TMI. when you do letterheads, cards and the like then the addition of text will have some value. the only problem you're going to have is constantly explaining the meaning of your design. but at least folk are interested and asking. good luck with your plans.

i also use the doming set from HF. the only caveat that i have is the new coin alloys are not as soft as the the old copper and silver ones. so make sure that you have the profile in one or two taps of the hammer. the metal work hardens vey quickly and will tear. you can anneal the coins, but new pennies are mostly zinc. zinc and heat are not the best combination.