toxo

I would have thought it obvious but maybe you don't plan on doing any serious pulling/pushing. The joints aren't even getting any help from the table top because you have them sliding.

Looks really good but if you're not gonna screw it to the wall I would defo put some diaganal bracers on the long sides else it won't take long for those joints to loosen up.

After a couple of failed soldering irons I bought one of these and this thread got the grey matter working and remembering that one of the blades was a sort of knife blade without an edge I had to run upstairs to try it. It comes with two standard blades and the "knife" blade which I think is for cutting synthetic rope or fabric to stop fraying. The downside is you're not able to set the temperature and it only applies heat when you pull the trigger but this can be a good thing. Anyway, the top line was applied after the smoke wore off the new blade, the next down was around 10 secs and the bottom line was peobably half that. Clearly some experimentation need for whatever application but I'm happy I've got something else to play with. Sorry about the pics. Can't seem to get the hang of the camera fone.

Rebuilding old sewing machines gets old for those who don't do it. Also if you don't live in the US so does saddles chaps and holsters. in fact if you took those away from the forum there'd be precious little left. It works the other way too. If I post about handbags/purses there's precious little response. If you really want to be a global forum you might want to think about encouraging other stuff. Just a thought. I know there are sub forums that cover a lot of it but newcomers to leather don't even know what questions to ask yet. Sometimes those that are very knowledgeable don't always like to give away their secrets so I'd like to see that opened up. How about a sub forum where we can give away our secrets without being asked for the benefit of all? I for one am champing at the bit to share what I know, I'm old enough to have racked up a considerable wealth of knowledge ranging through engineering, fabrication, construction and even retail. I don't professs to being a guru at any of it but I could sure help out a lot of people. I would even be available should anyone take an interest in anything I've done to help out via messenging on here or email. I'm still relatively new at the leathering but I've been getting/making the stuff to make things easier and people will be surprised at how cost effective it can be.

Neat job.

Here ya go! https://dieselpunkro.patternbyetsy.com/listing/758563941/hip-bag-pattern-printed-paper-patterns Plenty of ideas here, mostly for hand sewing but you can machine some. https://dieselpunkro.patternbyetsy.com/?page=1

Got another couple of small jobs finished today and then had a play. Not perfect yet but excited. Each project needs a balance of leather type/amount of heat/and the amount of dwell time. Top is obviously veg tan which gives great results. Next is oil tan pull up which also surprised me by doing a good job despite the really bad photo. The black is a hard temper chrome. Just look at that definition. And last is the English Bridle which possibly is the best of all. This is one of Sergei's excellent stamps. Took me a while to figure out that the profile is so deep that on thin leather you need some padding underneath. The top one is some nice soft goatskin with a promising result. Next is a thin veg tan and on the right was before I added padding and on the left with added padding. Again, look at that definition despite the poor photo. I don't know what the pink stuff is. It's very rough like coarse sandpaper on both sides but I thought I'd give it a go. I'll never use it. I'm happy with the press. It holds whatever temperature I set. If there's any interest I'll do a detailed post with pics and go through what to look out for.

That's a hard question to answer Jimi. All my life I've been handy and constructive and so I probably have more tools than some but nowhere near the kind of tools that would make this job easy. Plus you need some consumables like electrical connectors (If you have them fine but if not you're not gonna buy just one or two, you're gonna buy one of those fancy colourful boxes with all the diferent ones included) how do you cost that? Same with screws and fittings. Also I spent money because I didn't know then what I know now, for example the thermocouple (heat sensor) that comes with the kit has an odd thread size and no one had a tap to accomodate it so I had to pay £17.50 for a tap I'll never use again. I later found out that I could have used a different sensor that cost nowhere near that. I'll explain more when I update properly with pics but the bit you can't put a price on is that now I have a piece of equipment that I can still use my arbor press for my clicker dies, all the rivets and sets and snaps etc and now I've extended that to include hot foil stamping and hot embossing for the chrome types that don't like foil. Will personalising my leather items add value? Hell yes! Was It worth the trouble and would I do it again? Hell yes!

Coming to the end of this now. After waiting for help that didn't arrive I had a go myself and it worked out ok. Will update properly in a couple days.

You should also be punching on a semi hard board. Not hard enough to blunt your punch obviously.

Beautiful! The knife and the sheath compliment each other wonderfully. Excellent job.

Great job all round. Love the coming out of the tunnel effect. Well done.

Like dikman I've replaced the hand wheel on both my machines and it works like a charm. Can't see why it's not promoted more on here. Perhaps forum loyalty? All I know is a 250mm pulley on my Adler 69 with a 550w Jack motor with a 40mm pulley gives all the torque I'll ever need, I can do one stitch at a time and use a Jack needle positioner, Cost around £30, time to do? about an hour. I know matt had trouble with his synchro and I did as well until I found the set screw was moving. Due to the extra width of the 250mm pulley the original synchro bolt wasn't long enough and I had to get an extra bit for that which I think was around £12. Now I can stop up/down at will. There's a post with a video somewhere on here along with the bill for the parts. It does amuse me when I read about extra shafts and pulleys and pillow blocks that take about a week to put together.

Well done Uwe. Not everyone thinks of others the way you do.

For the future it's really handy if your dealer is local and many dealers don't bother with advertising individual machines if they come and go quickly. My advice would be to phone around and tell them what you want it for. They might tell you a load of crap in which case it was worth the phone call for future reference but you might find a gem of a dealer with whom you'll strike up a relationship that will endure. He might have the machine that you're looking for or if not he might suggest something he has that is maybe just as good and that's when you do your research.

If you're talking an embossing stamp then Sergei whatshisface is excellent on Etsy. Just search for custom stamps.

As well as a straight guide, how about pricking a hole at the exact place to start the laser. Then repeat the pricked hole at the exact distance all along the belt?

https://www.google.com/search?q=JT+Batchelor+leather&rlz=1C1AOHY_enGB783GB783&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=NvtTp0b1ocuDYM%2CSLbLoaM0-dbY9M%2C_&vet=1&usg=K_OPrkLF6k6x92-LIjXGEBFF2CmCU%3D&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjJ7ODB4orvAhU4TRUIHfsXAY0QuqIBMAp6BAgXEAM&biw=1600&bih=813#imgrc=NvtTp0b1ocuDYM

It's very informal and it's not very big. You had best give them a call first cos they do get busy. The best plan of action is to compile a list of what you want and be as specific as you can then call them with your order. That way at the very least you can visit to pick up your order at the door and if they're not busy you can go in.

What does "wrinkle around" mean Lori? I'm building an add on heat block for my arbor press. It's not wired up yet but I'm hoping three 120W heaters will do the job. My brass letter set arrived a couple days ago and I had a little play. I exchanged the bar for a slightly longer one and after leaning on some dry veg tan for about 20 seconds I was impressed with the depth. I've wondered how it will perform on oil tan but won't know till it's wired up. I'm thinking more foiling rather than branding but I can't see oil tan liking foil.

It is indeed a gem. I was there on Thursday.

Thanks Folker. You said this before but fool that I am was hoping you might be wrong duh! The problem I'm having is definitely the check spring. Maybe Frodos point about the needle bar is worth looking at because there's no way I can get that spring to let go of the thread early enough to get a loop on the way down or take up the tension on the way up. It was sewing ok in the past and I know it must be something I've done. Maybe I've asked too much of it at some point and moved something? Just looked at the book and I think I've got the presser feet to high. I'll have another go later. It's ok. I'm calm. Getting used to getting beat up by a sewing machine but I'm wondering why there isn't a "Fine tuning sewing machines for dummies"? Start here, you MUST do this first and then do that etc.

So does this happen with oscillating feed dogs also?

Do you find that the stitch length changes when going from say one layer to two layers?

Try looking for "Taperlock" bush and pulley. It's a very cheap way of replacing a handwheel and it will also slow down your machine and give it more torque. You order whatever size bush fits your shaft and whatever size pulley you want abd three set screws lock everything in place and it take less than an hour to fit. See mine here in a recent post with a 250mm pully..