sbrownn

I understand the losing interest part but I find the 3D printer products so useful and so much fun to design that I can't imagine leather working without it. For me, it eliminates a lot of the drudgery jobs I hate like making cardboard patterns and doing layouts with pencil and paper. It is sooo much faster and accurate to do the basic design in a CAD program and once that is done you are essentially done, as the printer just makes what you have designed with virtually no additional input. I use the 3D printer on every leather project I do; for male and female molds, 2D patterns, stitching and cutting guides, gluing jigs, embossing patterns etc... There is just no end to the things you can make that make your leather working faster and more accurate. The 3D printed parts are very helpful for limited production items that benefit from some sort of "automation" but are too few in numbers to justify expensive dies and patterns. That being said a set of molds and patterns would be good for at least 100 iterations if you were careful with them. I rarely do more than 25 uses before I make a design change so my patterns go into the scrap heap long before they are worn out. The cost of the materials is so low that it is virtually irrelevant and prototyping new designs costs less than a latte. The CAD program, 3D printer and my screw operated clicker are the three of the most used tools in my leather shop.

Really nice.

The main advantage of fixing it to the outside is that it gives you something to form it around. You could learn enough CAD in one day to create the files needed to 3D print any plug you wanted on a $200 3D printer. Here's an idea: print a plug to form the rule around and then print another fixture to hold the shaped die. While you are at it might as well print a die you can use to bend the rule around the printed plug using a bench vise.

"The band sawn block works if it isn't complicated." Indeed. And that is the crux of the issue.

I haven't been able to cut a plywood plug as accurate as the 3D printer will make one but just fastening it to the outside of a plug is a good idea.

Have you experimented with skiving down the edges? I have made a few wallets and my problem is that by the time I sew and glue up all the layers the wallet edges are too thick for my liking. The solutions I see are either skiving the edges, splitting the leather thinner or purchasing lighter weight leather. The problem with skiving is that I don't have a skiver and I don't want to do it by hand and the problem with the other two alternatives is that I like leather that has a factory pasted backside and if I split myself or purchase lighter weights then I have to paste the backsides myself...which never turns out as good as the factory backside pasting. I've been looking for an old hand washer wringer to run my split leather through for hand pasting the backside but so far I haven't found anything I think would work good. I have an 8" splitter I don't use so I was thinking of replacing the bottom feed roller with a smooth roller and seeing how that might work.

I had this idea to make a 3D printed die and then leave a slot in the bottom of it where a thin gauge rule could be hand bent and inserted. The 3D printed part of the rule would take most of the stress and the rule would be there only to cut. The problem I ran into was that the rule I purchased was too heavy of a gauge to hand bend to fit the die I had printed; the curves were just too tight. Nevertheless, if you had some thin gauge rule and a light weight bender it would probably work. The advantage is that you can make a CAD drawing of the shape you want and when you print it it is going to be exact. I have purchased a number of dies that were made by various manufacturers from CAD drawings I sent and I have yet to get one back that was completely accurate. I totally understand why that would be the case.

I like a carry bag to transport most of my tools and a belt setup for the tools I'm going to use on a specific part of a job. I transfer the tools from my "big bag" to my belt as needed.

One time one of my students asked me what a lecture on global warming had to do with a class in CAD based finite element analysis...life is a learning experience so don't cut the opportunity short.

How much do you want to sell them for or is this just something for yourself?

If you are working for a customer then what they want drives the product quality and price. If you are selling into some kind of retail market then you have to decide what that market will be and if you have the skillset and connections to get into it.

Really? Given up doing music or listening to it?

Beautiful edge.

I think your stitching might work better closer to the edge. Just my opinion but I have found that when stitching is too far from the edge the layers have more of a tendency to separate.

Who cares what Hermes would do. They are mass producing for people that are buying mediocre quality and a name. "Also, I think it somewhat cheapens the product in some cases. I've noticed a lot of mass produced items use this rubberized coating technique. Just my 2 cents." Totally agree. Edge paint seems to me like nothing more than a way to not have to bother finishing edges. I like the look of a finished natural edge. Yeah, no free lunch out there. You want something look like it was made by someone who cared then you have to put some work into it.

I especially like the multi colored edges. Did you skive them or just glue them up full thickness?

You should just print and sell the dies. I would imagine it took some trial and error to get the folding geometry worked out?

The dies look 3D printed, were they?

There are lots of different interpretations of the second amendment and requiring registration of gun sales at gun shows may help but I seriously doubt prohibiting the sale of holsters, belts and slings on Esty will do much more than inspire people to dig in their heels against anything that may reduce gun deaths in the U.S.

It seems like it would take some airbrush/dye blending.

I like the battery operated thread cut/melt tools.

Totally agree.

Perfect. Probably not but it still isn't any better than a cheap cutting board.

Absolutely Best edgers I have ever used.

Did you use a "hot" creasing tool?