dikman

A quick google search came up with this - http://www.chikon.com.tw/ck-8bl.htm, Mason not much but it did show a Sunstar KM-340BL which is a straight stitch machine.

One thing I have found is when I dye something the leather becomes very malleable and can be wet-formed at that stage. When it dries it becomes quite hard and stiff, with no need to form any further. As long as you let it dry (maybe force dry in a slightly warm oven) I don't see why there should be any problems.

This looks like the same thing on thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2415648 There are other variations on the idea on there.

Most of my woodworking is done outside for that reason! The lathe in particular makes a monumental mess, so when I want to use it I bolt/clamp it to an outside bench. Seagiant, there's some nice-looking wood in yours.

Nice! And it should build up your leg muscles too.

Those pics from rocksnake have some well thought out anti-snag features. Munday, using it like that should avoid the problem of snagging thread.

I did one once and just removed all the external bits. I've decided a machine would have to be a lot worse than yours before I'll do it again!

You folks are making me think I should re-do mine and make it prettier.

Yep, another piece of scrap, the pivot is a piece of steel rod with a hole drilled and tapped and the hole in the toggle is offset so it acts as a cam. It can be adjusted for the leather thickness by rotating around the screw thread. And yes, it does catch the thread!! The whole thing was made in a hurry. I'd like to build a much nicer looking one but since I bought a 441 machine it doesn't get used much.

Mine is not as classy, being made from whatever wood was handy, but it works for me. It' swivels on the base so it can be angled and I can put my feet on the base when seated to hold it steady.

That looks very nice, Munday. You definitely want to line the jaws with leather, the size of the jaws is a personal thing, mine are about 4". As mentioned a spring fitted on the bolt between the legs is a good idea and replacing the handscrew with a cam-operated toggle will make life easier when repositioning things in the jaws. As for the magnets I wouldn't bother, wherever you put them will probably work out wrong! If you really want somewhere to put your needles stick some cork on there so you can stick the pointy end in.

I've used the same method, bj139, and it's a very effective way of getting slow speeds on a machine. I also added a speed reducer to one and it made yours look like an express train!

Nice bit of re-purposing. Looks like a nice little press, particularly at that price!

"Especially when you have no clue what you are doing" That probably applied to many of us at some point! It can be addictive, I was like that for a while but then realised I just had to get rid of some of them as I didn't have the room! No comment on the colour.

I just saw this, Gary, very nice work indeed. The carving on the portfolio is excellent and the Bison has great texture to it. Nice looking leather.

If you want slow speed control in my opinion a speed reducer is a necessity with a servo. If used with the digital servos it tends to compensate for the low-speed jerkiness they sometimes display and provides more torque at low speeds. The "downside" is that your top speed will be a lot lower and you will have to change the servo settings to increase it (this isn't a problem for me because I like slow speeds for leather, but if you do production work it could be an issue). Also be aware that some servo needle positioners don't work if a speed reducer is used. I tried a needle positioner but didn't like it much, fortunately because I like slow speed sewing I find I don't need it.

The stingray is nice but that stitching has me intrigued?

Handstitched, I reckon you'll be happy with the Detroit and I'm confidant that if you do have any issues Total Tools will do the right thing. As for the name, it's simply the Chinese manufacturer trying to capitalise on an American sounding name.

I've been studying the Meanea holster on the front of Packing Iron as I've been contemplating trying to copy it. Yours is an excellent representation of it, well done!

The servo you have looks to be a pretty generic type so if you can find instructions for similar machines it might help? I fitted a "generic" servo to a Singer, small pulley on the motor, large pulley to replace the handwheel and a home-made pulley reducer - I got one stitch every 3 seconds! That is a bit extreme, of course, but shows what can be done. If you want slow speed control a speed reducer is a must, and will be cheaper than a Ho Hsing motor.

Yep, looks to be the same thing, just a different colour and label. I had another hand unit that looked the same, other than a yet another colour and label. For occasional use these are fine and at the price if they eventually die it hasn't cost you much (and you still have all the bits to use with the next one ). I keep the battery Dremel and an Ozito down in my leatherwork shed. I use the drum sander and a small wooden burnishing bit I made to get into tight places. The Dremel 4000 is hanging over my workbench in the garage as I find it handy for all sorts of finicky jobs.

It would be made in China. I bought a Detroit bench grinder from them, which is made in China. Total Tools, in my experience have been great to deal with. The kit you show looks pretty good for the money, it's got lots of bits with it. I have two Ozitos, which work fine, although the handpiece on the flexible extension gets hot fairly quickly. I recently bought a Dremel 4000 at a good price from Cash Converters, mainly because the flexible shaft and handpiece are heavier duty than the "clones". I also have a Dremel battery operated unit which works fine but battery tools are only good for quick jobs. You could try and find a used Dremel on Gumtree, Cash Converters (search their website to save running around), or any pawn shops in your area. Avoid the Dremel 3000 as they have had a high failure rate due to the design of the wiring connections inside. Oh, and the good thing about the Ozito is they have a 3 year warranty and Bunnings generally don't hassle over warranty issues.

That's different. Very nice.

#3 looks to be a pretty clean machine, nicely set up and with a servo (something you would have to allow for on the other machines).

A very nice summary of electrolysis, Don. If you use salt for the electrolyte it generates hydrogen (just so you know). If you run copper wire to various parts of the machine and common them to the negative electrode it may spread the electrolysis effect more evenly around the machine but as Don said it's important to make sure you've got a good clean metal-to-metal contact. A lower voltage may take longer but it will be more gentle, even 12v is considered high by some. For the positive electrode any scrap steel will be fine and using several pieces around the edge of the tub, commoned together, will help given that this is a complex shape to clean. For something like this the Evaporust-type cleaner would be ideal, as it will not harm any of the metal, only the rust, but unfortunately the quantity required would make it very expensive here in Oz (even the Repco one, at half the price, would likely be a couple hundred $$). I suppose you could always use a sand-blast cabinet if it's that bad! (Just joking).