Iron Pounder

Sylvia, You are right about tape being the way to go I'm just too cheap,ha. We could be like Chancey and eyeball it from across the room:spoton: .

Here is what I have tried. I made up a super strong pot of coffee and then heated that on the stove to evap most of the water off. I then let it cool off and set the leather down in a pan of the coffee. It turned a very nice brown but didn't stay that way once it dried. Maybe I should have just used the grounds themselves. I drink way too much coffee so I would like to know a way that works as well.

Yep that is what mine looks like except about probably 30 years older.

Pick up a water trap from one of the airbrush suppliers, any of them will work fine. I use this one on most of my airbrush. http://www.tcpglobal.com/airbrushdepot/itemdetail.aspx?itemno=IWA+4274 Ya a basic 100psi unit would be just fine. http://www.harborfreight.com/3-gallon-100-psi-oilless-pancake-air-compressor-95275.html I see this compressor on sale all the time for 39.00 and my oldest has one we take with us at times. That will get you going.

I would pick up a pancake rig in the price range you have listed. Here we have a few places like Harbor Freight that sell a cheap 100psi rig for under 50.00 US that work fine. I would turn it down to around 40psi at the gun and have a good water trap on it. I airbrush uses so little air that about anything would work.

I think they call it a bar grounder. I have one and it is just a series of 8 dimples in a row. Mine is old and must have been made here in Kansas City as it has KC MO stamped in it and it looks like McMillion is stamped directly above it. I just tried it and the background I made looks the same as the video.

I just use gym mat closed cel foam as well. It is easy to work with (shape) and everyone seems to be happy with it. My seats tend to go on real bikes that get some serious miles on them. The mounting of the seat is just as important as the quality of foam you use when you factor rider comfort.

I had a long reply all done and I lost my connection right when I hit add reply and lost the whole thing. Well here is the short version... I do things much the same way Sylvia has done, but do a few things different. 1st on a seat that this I would make it just a top and bottom. I add a bit less than half the height of the pad and pan thickness to the top and bottom then add overlap that will vary with how I put the top and bottom together (lace or stitch) or single or double stitch line. I will normally just use paper to make a pattern but I'm cheap. I don't use any spray tack anymore when I use tooling leather for the cover so I make the pattern tight. Hope I didn't muddy the waters, I have been thinking about doing a video of the whole process from making the pan to fitting the completed seat to a bike. Might after we get moved and things all lined out.

You can try out Inkscape. It is free and works well fo doing logos and I would guess patterns.

I sent a message to the site owner a couple weeks back but didn't get a responce. Can someone tell me what the difference in paid and non paid membership is? Is the membership lifetime, monthly, yearly or how does that work?

Jimbob What is xiang?

Sold the machine on craigslist locally.

Right on, thought for sure you did. I don't have a wheel anymore, the one I had was cheap junk anyway. I use 10 gauge and put the heat to it and go from there.

Love working for guys like that. Whenever I do projects where I have a lot of hours in I always end up discounting too much as the bill as more than I would pay. I have a bad habit of charging what i would pay not based on hours and materials. That truck is going to be sick when done, I'm feeling it.

That will be a cool project for sure. I'm just having a hard time getting my head around the 200 plus hrs each deal. Even at 20.00 per hour you are talking 4000.00 per panel? So the guy is going to have 8k in door panels min on a ratrod truck? Dang if you pull anywhere close to that I will consider you the jedi master of all things leather.

We are getting ready to move and I just put the machine up for sale on my local craigslist but wanted to at least let it known here. I'm selling the machine, table and motor for 250.00. I have the string tree, a few bobbins, a new bobbin case and some new #16 needles. I'm not a machine expert by a long ways but to me it is in great shape. I can't ship something this big of course but thought maybe someone may be close enough to pick it up. I'm in Kansas City on the east side.

I was going to make one out of delrin but that's crazy cheap. I've been wwanting to check out Springfield Leather badly but something always comes up. Back to the seat. I'm luving that pan, did you die form it or just heat and beat?

Thanks Cyberthrasher. I'm headed there I think Wednesday if things go well. I would be sick if something happened to mine.

Hey very nice work both of you. I use a beveler in one of my swivels as well. It came with a bunch of tools I bought from a guy. I would like to get a few more to be able to size them but haven't been able to run across one local to me. I have a tandy right down the road but they don't carry them, well at least anymore they don't.

Frankly I'm just glad to see a thread get some motion to it here. Most lay down after 4 or 5 posts but in the interest of world peace, saving the whales and little baby ducks we can move on.

FACT The upside of the guy who just went down and bought a sporty is then he comes and spends a ton making it the bike it should be.

I sent ya a direct message. Nice pans as well.

\Priceless bro. I hear ya I always focus on the higher end of things. some of the things that seem to fall in my lap however are school age stuff and here is how this work seems to go. You better like the price you do the first one for as they all will of course want the same price. Here is the positive. I made a belt for a young lady in high school and had orders for belts of the same style that same week that ened up being I think over 30 total. Kind of a volume pay the bills type of thing. I rarely take short cuts like we had talked about. All my pipes, bars, tanks and fenders all have been built by hand and I mean really by hand (my Henrob torch, hammers, bags and sweat is about it). Just thought when you talked about masking out a design it was something you had done before and had it work out for you. I do agree 100% on the tv stuff. I'm sure we will have a show about leatherworking at some point and everyone and their brother will be doing it then like all the tat shows they have now and how it is hurting that industry. That is one of the things that got me out of doing custom parts for bikes, everyone thought they could do it cheaper and cheaper they did but not better.

It would seem to me if HD licensed them at one point then they can't say much. Having said that they are big and can do as they please with a legal team on standby I'm sure. Bottom line is no matter what you do if the fish looking at you is bigger than can eat you with no penalty.

Downer bro! I always worry about someone claiming I used a design they had that I have never even laid eyes on. I understand this is not the case here and the guy just straight up stole the design. I made a few tools for the karting industry years back and saw copies all over the pits within 3 weeks selling for next to nothing so I've been there.