Mark842

Looks awesome! I would keep a close eye on the underside and make sure that Kydex doesn't rub it's way through the lining and noodle up your paint. I'm curious about your statement of the edges curling without the kydex. I've never had that issue and I've made a boat load over fender panels over the years. I have a couple spare fenders in the shop and I wet form the panel to the fender in between tooling and dying. I just wet it down and use pallet wrap plastic to wrap it to the fender and let it dry...dye, seal...ride.

Sent you a PM

This is true. I'm on my 2nd year on Etsy as I never thought it would be a good platform for my products (motorcycle related). I sell on Amazon, ebay and my own Website also. Amazon leads the pack, Feebay is in 2nd and my website in 3rd. That being said, My Etsy sales year to date are double what I made all year on Etsy. It's a pleasant surprise so far. Are sure the problem is the venue? Trends come and go and very few products sell good forever.

Yep. I have a hard time answering questions that are already clearly explained. Luckily my business partner is willing to answer these questions as it is probably 30% of our paying base. An example listing: Title: Pair of Black Leather Motorcycle Lever Covers with XXXX..... Description: Blah blah, blah...... Included with purchase: 1) Pair of leather lever covers (2 covers) 2) Leather Lace and bead set 3) Installation Instructions #1 question we get every single day? "Is this for one cover or the set?"

Yep, I've experienced it when I use to offer stuff that could be customized. I would put it right in the listing that if they did not include the needed info within 24 hours their order would be refunded and canceled. After dealing with over and over for a few months I no longer sell anything customizable on Etsy. Then I don't have to worry about stock being tied up. I would suggest making a model of your hatband with an adjustable buckle so you can just say it will fit a hat with a size xx to xx. Then do a separate listing for each tooling design.

I looked into dealing with Packer Direct a few years ago. I had purchased some dies from a seller in Australia and the seller sent some really nice roo scraps with the dies. He bought all his leather from them so I shot them an email. Can't remember the price they gave me for shipping but I do remember it killed the deal for me. Really too bad as I made a few wallets with the scraps I got and loved working with the stuff. It's just a fantastic leather.

Gotta be the best "specialty" and "interested in learning" topics I've seen. Welcome!

The name for what is happening is called flagging. The usual culprit is incorrect needle/thread size for the leather or glue that is not completely dry. What size needle and what size thread are you using? What type of leather and how many oz total? Is your glue dry all the way?

I know these guys are not in Seattle, they are in Napa, Ca. But hey, that's a lot closer than Sweden. Check out Napa Hide House. They stock a ton of leather and are great to deal with.

I've replaced the oil in one of mine with Shell Tellus 46. Found it recommended in one of the manufacturers maintenance models since I don't have a manual for my Fipi. Anyway, it has been running fine with it for the past 2 years.

That would be my worry. I'd be wary of placing an order with them using a proxy till you know for sure they will ship to you. I've played that game before and had my money tied up for a few weeks before they refunded.

Yeah, it looked like the rats living in that nest were feeding on your wires. You probably can wire around the potentiometer to make the press work but without that working properly you will constantly be ruining your cutting boards. You might try contacting these people. They have helped me out with parts over the years. http://www.cjrtec.com/clicker-press-parts.php?5c8d15d1ac684 Don't know where your knowledge is on electronics but if you have an ohm meter you should be able to read across the terminals on that Pot that the wires are hooked to WITH NO POWER APPLIED and turn the dial on the pot and see if the resistance changes. I'm guessing that pot is either open or just so dirty the mechanical wiper isn't making contact anymore when it turns. If you can find an old part number on that thing you might get lucky searching direct for a spague part but if you found one it would be a survivor. I replaced one in one of my Fipi's a few years back with a newer type I bought from the link I gave you. It was about 1/10th the size and I had to make my own adapter plate to put it in but it works great. If I remember right it cost me about $150.

That is it in a nut shell. The strap cutter works well and is a lot safer IMO. The only issues I ever had was cutting 10 ounce and up heavier leathers. I would constantly snap blades.

I think this just has to do with the availability of the machines on this side of the pond. I always look at eBay in Germany and drool over all the wonderful machinery still readily available over there. I've driven 1800 miles a few times to pick up machines.

My disclaimer...my eyes are old and your pic is a little small. From what I can see it looks similar to one of Barry Kings Border Stamps shown below. If it looks right, google him and you will find it. Also keep in mind he has tons more stamps not listed online. If this is not what you want and no one else in here can help you, try sending him a pic and see if he has a match or something close.

I Use the original Weldwood Contact cement everyday on a flexible product between to layers of 9 ounce latigo before sewing. It absolutely dries flexible. Barge does also, and I suspect Barge has a stronger bond but I don't know for sure as I usually sew the laigo pieces I glue within an hour of gluing them. I have pulled apart two pieces of oil tanned within a half hour of gluing with Weldwood and got them apart. I have tried to do so in the past using Barge and was not able to pull the pieces apart. Out of cusriousity, since my project was already ruined, I put the leather in a vise and grabbed the other half with pliers. It actually ripped the suede side of a 5 ounce oil tanned partly off before I got tired of tugging on it. I use the weldwood more often because it doesn't stink to high heavens and not everything needs a super strong grip.

Price?

I order from them regularly and have nothing but good experiences.

Yes, Straight edge with a rotary cutter. I had me one of those clear plastic straight edges they make for quilting like the one linked below. Saved a ton of time as you could line up the lengthwise lines on it with your first line and then just keep moving it over one line. Hopefully that makes sense. https://www.joann.com/o-lipfa-ruler-with-lip-edge/611186.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&source=TIS-S&WT.srch=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkOXxyc3U4AIVWCCtBh0wwQ4CEAQYAyABEgKy__D_BwE

Actually just found this on eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/AMEC-BK85H-SINGLE-GROOVE-QD-PULLEY-W-BUSHING-CHOOSE-YOUR-SIZE/323479315865?hash=item4b50dea599:m:mCYWodtYMYTO5XFlFXlLEDQ:sc:USPSPriority!84015!US!-1:rk:5:pf:0 and I'm thinking it would work. I'm trying to get my pea brain around the pulley sizes for speed control and torque. I already have a spare speed reducer pulley sitting here from the leather machine co. The place selling this pulley has them available with an 8.25" O.D. and 5" O.D.. I'm inclined to go with the 5" thinking the 8" might be too slow. I'm just judging this from using my Cobra 4 as I currently have the speed control set as fast it will go and while it is an OK speed for some stuff like belts I wish it could be a little faster...the joys of production work. All this being said, I don't even know how much I will use the Singer 7. I have a problem with just liking cool old machines!

Thanks to both of you for the ideas. I was actually thinking og doing BoB's idea. I'm wondering if I can just bolt the wide belt pulley that was set up as a pressure clutch and then just put a wide pully on the servo motor and just make my own belt.

Totally understand the paranoia. Like I said I check everything I can before downloading it and if I can't check it doesn't get downloaded. If Malware bytes gives me a warning on page I'm done with it, no questions asked.

I don't have a Singer 8 but I did pick up a Singer 7-31 last year and it is an absolute beast. I still need to figure out how to modernize it with a new pulley so I can use it with a servo motor. I've only used it by hand so far to see if it stitches and it punches through harness leather at 12 ounces like nothing. Unfortunately the shaft I need to find a pulley for is a weird size 1-1/16" on the I.D.. Can't find anyone that makes a belt pulley in that size so I'm thinking I will need it custom made.

All I can think of is the mp3 file might be for the "ding" notification you get when someone messages you or responds to a thread you're following. I've been on here for a few years now and that is the only sound I've ever heard on here. Don't know how to stop the download of it though as computers are not my thing. I do know that I have Malware Bytes premium on my computer though and it runs automatically daily scans and such and I always check anything like a forum I'm thinking about joining for anything malicious and it has never shown anything malicious with this site.