dikman

You certainly have an assortment there. The Badger airbrush is quite an old model, I haven't seen it before, it is a bottom siphon feed, most these days are top/gravity feed (they require less air pressure to operate and can do finer details). The other two are essentially touch-up guns, probably a bit too big for leather use. The compressor is a very old model, dare I say it primitive by modern standards. Having said that the compressor should work ok with the Badger airbrush for doing basic colouring/shading of leather. I notice some of the fittings are different, it suggests to me that he may have had another, bigger compressor, particularly for the touch-up guns. There was obviously more stuff that is missing, for instance the airbrush is fitted with a cup but would have also come with bottles to hold the paint, you can see the black screw-on top in the third photo. First thing to do is strip the airbrush and if there's any sign of paint residue soak the parts in paint thinner to remove it. And then hook it up to the compressor to try it, most dyes should be thin enough to use as they are (you want the consistency of milk). Try spraying on some cardboard to get the feel for it, if you don't want to waste dye you could buy some modelling paint that is made for airbrushes, just make sure you clean the airbrush afterwards. Those compressors will generate moisture in the airline after a while so a water trap is a good idea. But try it out first before you go spending any money on it. Does this help in any way?

I've watched a lot of vids on bow-making and reckon it would be a good challenge but the problem here in Oz is getting suitable wood, believe it or not the commonly used woods in bowmaking aren't readily available here. As for that epoxy, it looks like it could be good stuff for cane rods, being flexible and durable, the biggest issue would be making a suitable temperature controlled "oven" for the curing.

How dare they change their hours without telling you first! Chuck, I did a bit of research on gluing split cane rods and it seems people have used everything , from white glue, epoxy, UHU, to Gorilla glue. One flyrod maker used this ProPaste (I could see the tubs on the bench) to glue the grips on and used an epoxy to glue the canes together so I'm assuming he probably used the same stuff. The consensus appears to be that slow-curing epoxy is better as it retains some flexibilty whereas rapid-cure dries brittle. I also didn't realise just how much work there is in building split-cane rods!

Not sure, it may be a bit stiff (as in rigid when cured) for that type of gluing? I have an old split cane rod that was my father's and I wouldn't mind refurbishing it, guess I'll have to trawl through some youtube vids to find out how to do it.

Something I just discovered, I'm rebuilding a fishing rod and came across this stuff, it comes in two tubs and is a paste (hence the name ). My last lot of no-brand epoxy in tubes didn't make it past opening, one of the tubes had gelled and was useless, so I decided to buy this as I like the idea of the paste. Just thought some may find it interesting (and yes, I've used JBWeld and Devcon but this looks to be pretty good value). https://proproducts.us/portfolio-product/propaste-adhesive/

Both are neat solutions but Frodo's is obviously faster at burnishing because it's red!

Neat idea for making use of the wax pot (I just took mine off as I considered it superfluous).

Looks great. Stacked leather handles are a lot of work but they do look classy.

Yep, what Bob said. This is what I ended up with (was originally a "conventional" table), shifting the left leg in caused a problem because the weight of the overhang is significant. I had to reinforce the underside of the bottom piece that carries the pedals and fit a castor wheel at the end to stop it falling over. It's not as rigid as I would like but it works for my needs.

Fred, here in Oz we have little choice as our manufacturing base is now minimal, thanks to successive government policies. Most of the items I end up buying are made in China and sold here at highly inflated prices compared to buying them from ebay/aliexpress - much as you've found. Many are advertised on ebay as "local supply", with an Australian city as location, but in reality they are drop-shipped from China once the order is placed. I hate that but it's difficult to determine before ordering if they are doing that, other than a long delivery time. And yes, I've often found the same item, sold by different sellers and with identical advertising so I figure it's likely the same company just using different seller names to give people the impression they have choices. It's all a bit of a game dealing with these people.

Yes, I think kgg is trying to figure out just how much he can remove before it collapses.

Have you got any fine iron filings handy? See if they're attracted to any part of the leather.

Looks like a very solid setup, which you really need for these machines.

Maybe that piece of leather came off a cow that was abducted by aliens and experimented on?

He probably had no idea just how expensive leather is, plus your time if you tool it.

Sort of looks like a thread guide? As kgg said, knowing which machine it is would help, maybe a couple of photos of the thread path, to see if anything is missing?

How true, I'm guilty of doing that many times over.

You're on a roll!

That looks great, very practical. It's a different way of holding the cartridges but looks a lot simpler to make than "conventional" loops. If it's going to be carted around in the woods then it's going to get the stuffing knocked out of it so there's little point in making it pretty.

A new toy! Welcome to the big league. You might want to consider some reinforcing underneath the back of the table, with that big cutout. These machines are heavy and not well balanced, with the centre of gravity somewhere along the arm, mounting it over one of the K-legs is a good idea. Lots of fun ahead, I look forward to your progress.

Very nice work, Danny, clean and elegant. The carving is very well done, for someone who claims to be not artistic you've done an excellent job (just wish I was as good).

kgg offered some good advice. Start simple, get the best value servo you can (doesn't matter if it's 550w or 750w, either will work) and go from their. If you have some mechanical skills, which I suspect you have, then you should be able to fit a servo yourself, it's not difficult. Get some help to remove the clutch motor, though - unless you lift weights.

The price seems pretty good? A 550w will be more than enough for your machine. Those Kraft servos are what I would term generic, as in the only difference between them and other brands will be mostly cosmetic. The Hightex appears to be much the same as the first one you asked about.

Vevor obviously don't make everything they sell but the quality of the goods they sell appears to be very good. I bought a Vevor air compressor and I'm impressed with the build quality. A chap I know bought the same compressor and a heavy duty demolition hammer and he is very impressed with the quality of both. Probably a safe bet if you're not sure who to buy from.

Regarding top speed, servos have various parameters that can be set in the control box. One of them will be setting top speed. When sewing leather most will set this lower, as high top speed is generally not a consideration, but if you feel you need a higher speed at some time you can set this parameter higher and then drop it back after. With a reducer fitted it still won't be super-fast but may be sufficient for your needs. If you only have one machine then setting it up will always be a compromise. I have fitted my motors from underneath, once you have the clutch motor removed it's pretty easy. BUT be careful removing the clutch motor, they are very heavy! Stick with a reducer, like kgg linked to, it will be the simplest option. Forget about building your own reducer and/or replacing the handwheel for now, I only mentioned that to show what options are available, they're not for the beginner. If you're getting the tech to do it then fitting a servo and that reducer should be a pretty easy job.