mikesc

Been a while since I last logged in, been catching up ( reading threads from 2015 over the past few days )..I agree with Art and northmount..fooling with this ( unless you really know what you are doing with electrics ) could let some important smoke out..from the meter, the motor ..or even yourself.. Buy a replacement cap and fit it..don't "test" the old one.. or.. better yet.. buy a servo motor from one of the dealers on here.. Keeping the smoke in is vital..

Usual guide to wiring mono phase ( 3 wires with ..1 phase wire, 1 neutral wire , 1 earth wire ) wire colours.. Hot colours ( like red or brown ) are the live / phase wire.. Cold colours ( like blue or black ) is the neutral wire.. Whatever colour is "left over" after the above two..is the earth wire.. Usually the "left over wire" is Green or Green and Yellow.. Make sure that whatever "line" the device is connected to has a circuit breaker ( not a fuse ) fitted.. Tri-phase wiring is different..uses different colour combos..and tri-phase electricity is more dangerous than mono phase.. If you have more than 3 wires, then you are probably looking at tri-phase, and getting tri-phase wiring wrong can bite you..so unless you know what you are doing..don't touch the wires..( playing with tri-phase can kill you easily )..call for an electrician.. If you have an old style clutch machine that was wired for tri-phase and has been converted to run on mono ( either via a frequency generator ) or using a capacitor to make an "artificial phase", again , unless you know what you are doing, for any electrical repairs, call an electrician.. Never work on anything that is plugged into the supply ..even if it is switched off..some people put the switches on the neutral ( even professional electricians seem to do this a lot in France, on machines and light switches, everything!! )..which means that the device still has power after the switch..power which can / will bite / maybe kill you..

Agreed re S-761 weapons oil..Ballistol ( very popular in France ) is crap for weapons etc..wouldn't expect it to be any better on sewing machines..another popular one here Armistol..not impressed with it either..

So..Tom..did you get chewed out at school for not showing how you reached the answer(s) ? Without using a reducer..and based upon observing the clutch driven Juki DLU 490 ( textile sewing machine not normally used for leather ) I bought last month and have just finished getting in running order again.. I'd say the linear velocity is a multiple of bats out of hell.. it seems real eager to eat fingers when you put your foot down other than really gently ..even with a small pulley.

To tell the truth..In my head I did it your way .. At school ( which was many decades ago ) I used to get into heaps of trouble in maths for not "showing my working out"..teacher couldn't see how I was "getting to the answers"..my point was always "What does it matter if when I got there it was right"..( 0.01 is as near to "right as it gets ..eh So , I also learned how to "show all the working out" to "keep teachers happy/quiet"..and in case I ever became an engineer.. I didn't...( Artist / Designer for over 40 years now ) but due to teachers, I also have a head full of this kind of stuff ..

I sew delicate stuff and thin leather ( like lambskin ) on a Kachiran 4084D*..does straight ( lockstitch ) and zig-zags ( for elastics ) etc and has inbuilt IDT..or DFT ..a sort of inbulit walking foot ( puller )..I only make my designs into prototypes before sending the designs and the prototypes as "control samples" for production.. *"Mechanical" ( non computerised ) machine like a Pfaff select 4 ( uses the same parts etc ,but has more stitches )..also goes by the name of Gritzner 4084D in some markets..used in a lot of colleges to teach sewing.. Very good with silks and silks and leather combo work..and can be run real slow..But it doesn't like more than 3/16 to 1/4 of leather ( only has a 90w motor )..But it doesn't mark leather at all. IIWY..I'd keep your old machine to do the lighter more delicate textile and leather work..

VanRhodes..to get the ratios you need to divide the pulley circumferences, ( which is also, co-incidentally, the distance traveled by a point on the belt per revolution of each pulley that it is on ) not their diameters..although the figures for the ratios are close to dividing by diameters, but, to do so is not as precise..( But it is so close as to be "good enough for jazz" ) to get the circumference of each pulley you use C = 2πr, Then divide the bigger circumference of each pulley "pair", by the smaller circumference of each pulley "pair".. So if on Constabulary's slowest speed of 200rpm ( You used 1200 , but I'm sure that 2 was shown on the control box, I think 2 on the display means 200rpm ? )..Constabulary ? Diameter 150 gives circumference of 471.3 ( I'm rounding to nearest decimal point )..diameter of 40 gives circumference of 125.7 ratio of 471.3/125.7 = 3.74 ( nearest decimal point 3.75 ) so "transferred" rpm of 200/3.75=53.3 rpm ( "rounded" again ) then the second "reducer stage applies.. Diameter 150 gives circumference of 471.3 ( I'm rounding to nearest decimal point )..diameter of 50 gives circumference of 157.1 ( rounded ) ratio of 471.3/157.1 = 2.99 or 3.00 ( rounded to 3.00 ) so transferred RPM of 53.3 / 3.00 = 17.76 rpm ( "rounded" again ) which seems to be about what the machine is running at ( measured by watching the needle motion ) on the video..I counted 3 "up and downs" ( would have made 3 stitches ) in 21 seconds, or about 18 rpm ..which would be great Or I could be wrong..as has been known to happen, on more than one occasion You could have a lot of interest in that..

<small rant on > France has six times the number of civil servants ( bureaucrats ) that Germany has..and that is not counting all the workers in such as EDF or GDF etc ( which used to be state run ) and who have the same ( and sometimes better "privileges" than actual civil servants* ..such as only paying €15.00 per month for their electricity..no matter how much electricity they actually consume ) ,same applies to all retired civil servants ( and retired politician ) , and all retired people who used to work at EDF or GDF etc. Plus we have the "assimiles"..not officially civil servants, but who have all of the above privileges, and like all of the above they cannot be fired.. French bureaucracy costs businesses here more than the entire GDP of Holland.. Businesses ( even small ones like mine, pay well over 50% of our net ( after overheads and costs ) profit in taxes here the worts taxes are obligatory "social contributions", higher rates even than Sweden ) ..No-one wants to "hire", because it costs so much in "contributions and taxes" when a business does hire..Hence we have over 10% unemployment .. We have 3 times as many people working for the government, the state ( here they are called "departements" ), the county, the town hall etc as all of the USA.. It has got waaaaay worse since 2012.. France invented bureaucracy..and then refined a particularly Kafka-esque version of it, which all the little businesses are paying for, the big ones ( like everywhere ) can afford tricky accountants and lawyers to make sure that they pay a far smaller percentage.. *My wife has been working as a French civil servant ( specialising in care of old people, Alzheimer's and dementia patients ) for the last 10 years ( she is working today, a public holiday in France,getting paid just the same rate as any other day, she is not one of the "privileged" )..she, like some French, is appalled at the waste and corruption and lazyness of so many who are civil servants here.. </small rant off> Thanks for the details about the pulleys..the handwheel size explains much..I'll have to get my pulleys from College..good thing that they are lightweight alu, my sealed race bearings ( for the shaft ) will come from the UK too, here bearings are also a ridiculous price..even a single simple 20mm ball bearing ( just the one steel spherical bearing is over €3.oo ) ..I buy them at $14.oo per 1000 plus shipping from the USA ( I use them to make movable armatures for claymation figures fro my sons business, I drill and tap them to take armature rods ) ..shipping for them from the USA runs me about another $25.oo and then I have VAT on it all ..still way cheaper than €3.oo each ( plus VAT ) !!

Constabulary..hi ..Thanks for posting that video , very helpful.. Some questions if I may .. What is the diameter of the small pulley on your servo motor ?..and what is the diameter of the small pulley on your reducer, and the diameter of the big pulley on your reducer ? ( it looks like the big pulley is around 20cm diameter and the small one around 4 cm diameter, is the pulley on the servo also 4 cm diameter ? If that were the case? it would give a reduction in speed of a factor of about 5 of the output rpm shown on the control box, that would be 40rpm at the big pulley )..and what is the flywheel diameter on the machine head. It actually looks like the servo pulley might be even smaller diameter, as it seems ( without my actually timing your video ) that you are getting something closer to 25 rpm equivalent at the needle bar and hook..I was looking to make a "reducer" ( problem is I cant find a supplier of pulleys in France ..and the new "eco" laws here mean that all the council run "refuse dumps" refuse to give anyone parts from scrapped machinery , such as old washing machines or computers* etc , if one asks, it all has to go for "re-cycling" ) and buy the same unit from college sewing ( probably have to buy all my pulleys from them too, adds to shipping costs ).. * I used to get scrapped computers for parts and rebuild them into working machines to give away to people who could not afford them, fit simple linux ( linux is damn near virus proof, like "linux mint", looks and handles like win XP, very good for "old folks" or "newbies" ) , now all the scrapped machines, washing machines, computers etc are collected from the council refuse depots by private companies ( who are paid by the councils ) shipped to China or India , where they are "responsibly recycled" by child labour in appalling conditions..

Be careful that the top isn't the kind of thing that Trox was talking about further up ( particle board or fibre board with a laminate finish )..Office tables are only going to have to support a computer monitor or two an some other light stuff ( and not all in one place with a hole cut out of the table ) ..you might want to reinforce it if it is that type of board. your last image looks to have some sort of reinforcement running along the longest ( most potentially flexible ) direction ( maybe in case someone sat on it, or other things one gets up to at university with tables ) ..you'll be putting a lot of weight on the top, and some more hanging off the underside..and making a pretty big hole..right where the weight is going to be..

You'll want to give this thread a read .. http://leatherworker.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=25239

We have 10 computers ( some windows, some linux ) here in the house ( one of our other businesses is websites and computer security ) most of them with double monitors hooked upto each..then there are the tablets and smart-phones etc ( have to be able to see that everything is working / looks OK on mobile devices as well as desktops when you build websites, even if, as now, we build "responsive" sites )..hardware spread everywhere, and computers with their innards out happens sometimes, plus the cat walked on a power strip switch and killed a switching hub that lets 5 of them connect to the innerwebtubes ( I didn't notice he had done that, I thought a cable had died , and so was also trailing coils of , cable and splicing plugs, dinner was very late here this evening ), however, all works fine again now ..Need to finish building the garage so I have somewhere to put the sewing machines. Our last place had over 2500 sq feet of workshop / loft space, you can really spread out like that..I miss it..But then here we are a slow 2 minute walk from the sea ( beach is near deserted most of the year ) , so..you win some, you lose some..but another couple of hundred square feet would be nice.. BTW..Nice bike ..when we had the big workshop / loft our main business was high end trompe-l'oeil decoration, carnival and circus decoration, and custom painting on bikes , boats trucks and cars.. Anyway..glad to help out..looking at videos with your head on one side is bad for the neck.. ( I'll try to get the time to put a short tutorial in the "web" section of the site here about how to do basic things like "flip" videos and add watermarks to them and to photos , using freeware on the various Operating Systems, computers are not so hard, if you just take them slowly and have clear instructions, and you don't "click just to see what the button does" )..now I'll quit hi-jacking your thread

Ooooops !! Told you I was in a hurry when I did the re-orientation..( my son's Linux machine had just decided to refuse to allow him to log in, I was in the middle of swapping his HD into another machine to get access to all his files and safeguard them before a wipe and re-install, had hardware spread out every where from 3 machines, plus the one I was trans-coding and re-orientating your files on )..Yep , both files I uploaded were in fact the "slide mechanism fully up"..sorry about that ( red faced )..Here is the "slide partially up" ( in vertical )..Hard to tell them apart , only the primrose yellow part at the bottom of the frame in the "slide partially up" made me notice when I looked again.. Slide Mechanism Partially up IMG_2999a.MOV

Fully up ..vertical ( had to make two posts due to upload file size limits here )..NB..I had to squash this one ( so the proportions are a little off ) to get it under the file size limit for uploads..could have kept the proportions accurate , but was working fast ( busy on other stuff ) ..Hope it helps anyway Slide Mechanism Fully upR.mov

There you go ..partially up..vertical.. HTH Slide Mechanism Partially up.mov

Doug, look up Serafil ( exists in 270 and has 148 colours from Amann )..product info here http://www.amann.com/en/products/serafil/ you can contact them to create an account and buy from them in the USA via this page http://www.amannusa.com/webshop.html HTH The link to the webshop from the serafil page "404s"..But the link to the webshop contact page at ( second link I posted ) amannusa works..

The feet sets..screenshots taken from the Juki DLu 490-4 parts manual. Had to "break the page" into two screenshots. The column outlined in red shows the parts that make up the "heavy materials" set ( the one that my machine has ) The column outlined in blue shows the parts that make up the "tight curves" set ( the one that I would like, it obscures far less of the work that is under the foot )

Hi, hopefully someone in this part of the forum can advise me as to what the various controls on this Juki DLU 490-4 ( which has a Efka variostop VD 552 clutch motor ) do ?..or maybe miraculously someone has a user manual ( I have a parts list manual for the Juki DLU 490-4 head and the stand, but not for the Efka Variostop 552 ) that they could scan and send to me ? I have looked all over the internet for info about this type of machine, very little info available, some of it plain wrong ( I saw in a thread somewhere on another site that it has "needle feed", it does not ), it isn't a "leather machine", from what I can tell it was made for heavyweight textile work, has "variable top " feed, ( this appears to be controlled by various dials etc on or around the reverse bar on the head, which is much shorter than usual )"needle positioning" ( EPS ? ),automated bottom thread cutting ( also was once fitted with a "wiper"..some of these "features" appear to be controlled by the Eka Variostop VD552 clutch motor and control box which are mounted below the table on the stand. Motor is 550 watt..originally mounted 380 tri-phase, it has been rewired ( with a condenser and a change of the contact bar positions ) to run on 220v monophase using the "pseudo 220v tri-phase condenser method". I mentioned this machine in my "intro thread" here, when I went to see it, it was in pitiful condition, the wiring badly done ( touched it and you got a jolt ), dirty as hell, half the "sump gasket" gone, leaking oil ( I eventually picked 300 gr of crap including 6 broken needles out of the sump ), it came with 3 spare presser feet ( which I have since discovered are not from this model at all ) around 30 bobbins ( only 10 actually fit it, the others are around 1mm too big on their diameters to fit in the bobbin holder ) half a dozen 2500m spools of thread ( none of which have sizes marked, they are polyester ) two of which fit the system 134 ( 120/19 ) needles that came with it ( it also had a handful of nm 100 system B-27 needles in the drawer ), the other cones are of what looks like 3 cord to fit 140 needles. I had to drive ( actually a friend drove me as his car is big enough to get a head and stand in easily ) quite a way to get to it, so, when I saw it I thought,"as long as it runs, if it doesn't cost me too much I'll take it away"...It ran like a bat out of hell ( about 2800rpm ) ..The lady who had bought it "used" ( sold to her by a French dealer ) to try to sew hard plastic made from seaweed, was scare to death of it, jumped like a scalded cat when I put a length of cut up shoe upper under it and squeezed down on the big pedal, jumped even more when I heeled back to see if the lift worked ( she didn't know that was how to lift the needle presser assembly, the dealer hadn't shown her )..so she accepted my offer. I know it isn't for leather, but as I'm only making leather garment prototypes before sending them as examples along with patterns to the people who make our stuff ( garments, lambskin, kidskin, calfskin, cowhide and water buffalo ) it will do me for now.It is very hard to find tripe action ( unison feed ) true"walking foot"machines in France. One reason being that almost everyone who sells them ( that isn't a dealer ) describes machines as "piquese industriel", rarely specifying what type of action they have, and never ever showing a close up of the feet and needle bar, ( and describe as walking foot machines which are not ) so you travel a lot to see machines, and are frequently disappointed. Dealers charge a fortune compared with the USA or the UK for new or used machines, showrooms are few and far between. So while I'm waiting to find someone advertising a good used Juki 563, ( someone did just 3 days after I bought this, but she didn't advertise that it was triple action, just "machine a coudre industrielle "€800.00 ) or a Singer, this Juki DLU 490-4 will have to do me. Now have it cleaned it up and rewired it properly, I ordered a 45mm pulley for the Efka unit from College sewing along with some leather needles and a sump gasket, two shorter belts ( to cope with the smaller pulley ) and bought it a litre of clean vaseline oil ( it had about 25cc of very old linseed oil in the sump when I got it, that is what the dealer told the lady it used ). Btw..anyone else reading this because they have one ( or the 555 which uses the same "sump", there may be others ) and wondering ( as I was ) how much oil is needed for the sump ( nowhere on the interwebs tells you, until now ) ..it takes 500ml to reach the "low" mark, go too much over that mark and you'll have oil leaking out via the foot lift lever that runs vertically through the sump. Also a 45mm pulley ( even designed for the Efka clutch motor ) rubs on ( and "locks up" and would break something ) the motor casing when you fit it to the tapered shaft, it is the right one, but the 45mm size is machined with a beveled inset in the rear ( motor facing side ) and that rubs against the motor casing ( whereas the 106mm original pulley doesn't rub )..you need to "shim" it away about 4mm from the motor casing with a washer or two placed on the taper shaft and right up to the hex nut ( but small enough outside diameter to not be touching the motor casing ), the "next size up" pulley at 50mm or maybe the 55mm would clear the casing without "shim(s)"..I need to phone Dave ( the UK's best and most helpful sewing machine mechanic at college sewing ) in the morning to tell him I solved the problem of the "grinding pulley". Once I can get it running and understood, I'll probably be making a reducer just to see how slow I can get it ( and no doubt that will make the Efka unit "untimable" ( sic ? ) and surplus, but the Efka units sell used here for around €350.oo so I can recoup some of my outlay when that day arrives. That leaves me with the problems of having no user manual for either the Juki DLU490-4 head and stand, and no user manual for the Efka VD552, and a whole load of dials and switches etc on both of them which I don't know what they do.Some of them I think act together, and some of the ones on the head may well be being "over ridden" by the Efka variostop.But as when you action the large foot pedal so many things are happening, it is really hard to know what to set to what, what is doing what, what is controlling what, what can I switch off ( I really don't want the bottom threads cutting "automatically" every time I stop) all I really need is that the feed foot and the presser foot and needle lifts when I stop. In fact I'd really rather that all of the things that the Efka unit is doing were done manually, but until I change the motor, I need advice about what is doing what, and what to set etc , so as not to break anything..or as well as some explanations, if anyone has user manuals ? I've used normal triple action machines in the past ( but it was over 20 years ago now and I cant even remember which ones unless i see photos of them and it "jogs my memory" ), normal "reverse bar", tension controls etc not a problem, all of that I have no problem with, but this machine has so many unknown ( to me ) variables . Here are some photos of the various dials and controls on the heed and also of the various switches and connectors on the Efka unit. I also included a photo of the feed system ( even Juki call this a "walking foot" in the parts manual, it isn't, but, it will do for now ) and presser foot fitted, ( the method of attachment seems specific to this machine, apparently there were different feed foot,presser foot, feed dogs, feed plate sets available, this is the "heavy materials set", the length of the top feed foot and the presser foot make it difficult to see the work which is under the foot at the point where the needle is penetrating, there were other "sets" made, the "set" that I would like to get is the "tight curves set", I'll find the parts pdf file and "screenshot" it in another post to show the difference, in case anyone has a set that they would be willing to part with, or knows where i can get one, or at least some of the 4 pieces ( feed foot, presser foot, feed dog, feed plate ) that make the set. Meanwhile as this forum kept coming up when I was searching, and from reading extensively here before joining I saw that some of you know more than anyone anywhere else, about a greater variety of machines ( not only those designed for leather work ) both new and old ( and ancient ) from all over the world, I'm hoping that some of you can help me out about what all these dials and controls do.I don't think I ever read such a helpful forum anywhere ( certainly not in France ), my apologies about the length of the post, I figured the more detail that you had, and the more images, the more chance someone will be able to help me. Thanks for reading this far and hopefully thanks in advance.. :)Mike

Hi Doug, yes "retail prices" for what he calls the "toy" are much better than the "retail prices" of the "pro" units that anyone knows of ( at least until he gets back to me with prices, bear in mind, he may just say 10% or 20% less than "retail", I won't know until I get his written reply ).. re how close the outlets you found are to me .. vaissiere ...other end of France..about 700 kms crow flies..900 by road ..8 hours hard driving ( but sticking to the speed limits ) each way..and no allowance for traffic.. crevea...even further South..762kms crow flies ...1000kms road..10 hours each way..and no allowance for traffic ( rougier ..shops at Vannes or Brest ' I'm about the same distance from both of them 100kms crow flies ..130 road..2 hours each way ( 2 lane each way highways and small, narrow Breton roads ) ..closer to 3 hours each way given the traffic in those two towns. scrapyro..( Regad themselves ) 750 kms crow flies..900kms by road..9 hours each way ( right through the "massif central" ) ( mando..Paris..380kms crow flies..450kms road..about 4 hours each way ( plus Parisian traffic ..world's worst drivers )..I hate Paris ( full of Parisiens ) , I try to avoid it at all costs.. Maybe the shops at the town nearest to me have them ( but Google doesn't know ) or can get them .. I'll research by phone later today ( 04.00 am here now ..I type slowly I have to hang around the house Wednesday in case a postal delivery ( Juki sewing machine parts from college sewing in the the UK ) comes here instead of to our PO box.. right now..I'm going to get some sleep..some delivery driver may be ringing the doorbell and waking me in just 5 hours..

http://xkcd.com/1015/

I've got pricing, finally* ( seems high for what it is, but there you go, luxury coloured French water with added soluble resins to make luxury leather goods probably is supposed to be expensive ), I suspect that I was given "standard retail" pricing for the 1 litre amounts at least. pricing drops quite quickly at 5 or 10 litres etc per colour. I'm now looking into the costs of shipping it ( via Post or Carrier ) out of France if I split it into 250 ml containers, also waiting to hear from Regad ( as I mentioned in the other thread ) as their "control" systems weigh heavy. Which may well factor into some peoples interest. I caught the tail end of an item on the national news here a few days ago, about a €0.10 increase in the price of posting a letter within France coming soon, that may also mean that international parcels rates will go up ( they are already high ), so I need to try to get some sense out of our little village post office about that. *When I have it all confirmed and worked out I'll get in touch with anyone who has expressed an interest in this thread and in PMs to me via Pms.

Still waiting to hear back from Mr Regad, I'll "relaunch" via another phone call or another email if I hear nothing by the end of this week. re the "non digital" "toy devices".I can only go on what he said. But, if I actually had a use for one of these "pro devices" ( or this kind of decorative finishing ) , I'd be inclined to build my own. Only a question of making a power supply that has say 10 positions and temperature controlled "feedback" from the handles ( at the point of contact with the tip ) to keep the temp at the chosen °C or °F. Making the brass tips isn't going to be rocket surgery, nor building controllers or handles.. But , I don't have a need ( ATM ) so.. Given how inventive and skilled I've seen some folks here to be ( reading a lot of past threads ), surprised that no-one has made a working one, and then made and sold them to others..Particularly given the transatlantic shipping costs involved in shipping base units at around 5 Kgs from France to the USA. That said, I'll post here as soon as I have something concrete by way of pricing etc from Regad for the "pro" units and handles, tips etc. Availability and suitability of the "toy" ones ( his words ) ? There are a couple of large "hobbyist" type shops in the nearest large town to me ( around 20kms away )..next time I'm going near them I'll drop in and see if they have them, again I would think that the weight of the control boxen would be painful to ship, but I'll take a look. Don't you already have this kind of "controllable" ( the 12V DC controller can be adapted from a car battery charger, and temperature measurement "probes" are very similar to those in digital meat thermometers ) heated "pyrogravure / soldering iron" available in other countries ?

Bonjour MortAuxVaches! I love the "nick" .C'est vachement bien !

Yes they do have that brochure / site but it is for much lower grade devices, with no real temperature control, and very limited tips ( used for "hot foil" ) that are sold as hobby equipement to scrapbookers and moms who want to decorate Xmas cards.I mentioned it to Mr Regad ( he was MDR <= French abreviation for "mort de rire"*, equivalent to ROTFALOL ..said ( translated ) "Oh Dear, please don't equate what we put up there to what we do for leather artisans and Hermes etc, those are toys, ignore them". Those I have seen at handicrafts shops in France, I think they say something like "children should use these only when supervised by an adult, suitable for age 7 and above"( but obviously written in French, I don't know, and didn't ask, if he sells these to any international wholesalers, importers, distributors, he was insistant, those are "jouets" / toys. Regad don't sell them directly either, even in France, only through retail shops who buy from them. Note both the "contact" links on the page ( top nav bar and right sidebar ) go to 404 not found., done deliberately ( his words ), so you'll go to your local hobby /art supply shop, and ask them for the devices. *"mort de rire" actualy means "dying with laughter"..but like most things doesn't translate literally "word for word" , but "the sense" does translate.

Nope, as with a lot of the specialist suppliers in France to the luxury goods trades, they are known to their luxury goods manufacturing and artisan customers by "word of mouth". Last thing many of them want is to be "pestered" by people who might become "difficult" customers, so they make it so that you have to really seek them out, and they get enough work and sales that they don't need to advertise directly .I had n't heard of them before seeing them mentioned here ( I'm not involved in the "bags and belts" part of the leather industry, we are in leather fashions and adult ) , but, as I thought I might be able to help bridge an apparent language problem, and maybe save you guys some money ( that is if Mr Regad comes back to me with prices lower than those of Mando, which should be the case, as I was asking for a wholesale / distributer type deal from him ), he told me that I'll be hearing from him this coming week, I'll know then, and post here as soon as I do. As regards looking at the items, the catalogue posted in .pdf form on page 2 of this thread by Lippy that he received from Mando covers the "standard" items from Regad, I didn't ask him about "special tips" yet as when they were first mentioned in this thread I had already spoken with him. If the pricing that he comes back to me with is substantially different from the pricing that mando are reselling Regad units and tips for, then I'll ask about the possibility of making "custom tips" ( but as with anything "non standard" that is not a "one off", I would expect him to charge for "set-up" and "tooling" and so on, plus the cost of each "custom tip" ), that said, I'd think that most of you could get or make copper or brass or bronze tips to your own needs that would fit Regad units once we know the internal diametre of the Regad handles that the tips must fit into. Brass , Copper and Bronze are not expensive here in France, but I don't want to get involved in making "custom tips" for Regad machines myself. But, as I said further back, If I can save some of you some money by getting direct to French suppliers and ordering enough to get wholesale or distributer rates to pass on, then that is OK, plus he was quite happy to export a few more units etc than he would do normally when selling via French retailers ( who frequently mark-up much more than retailers do in the UK or USA etc ), he told me that he sells direct to Hermes, Vuitton etc, because they don't just buy one unit at a time etc. In my experience it is quite rare for French companies to "deal direct" if they already have retailers in place, they usually insist that one becomes a retailer, and commits to purchasing a large amount of stock, and has "walk in retail premises", we don't have a "walk in shop" any more, the overheads are too high for the "passing trade" that we would get as we have chosen to no longer live and work in a large town or city. ( online selling only is just so much better, especially when you are in our market, I don't want to see or speak with 99% of those to whom we send out discreetly packaged fashion leather, leather lingerie or leather adult items ), and in a really small place like the village / town where we live now, the customers for what we normally design and sell would be hesitant to push open the shop door in case anyone they knew saw them. Not that we have sign on the door where we live anyway, just a PO Box number with our brand name, a bunch of highly targeted websites, and a dedicated phoneline that is answered a couple of hours a day 4 days per week. We also do not do trade shows, as we don't sell via retailers, only direct to private customers via websites.