dikman

Thanks Brian. I'm working on a "negative" image of yours, for want of a better term. I've got a short cylinder to weld to the bottom of the ram, a short piece of thick-walled pipe fits over it and is held on by a couple of locking screws. I will the fit different inserts into the cylinder. The inserts will have different size holes in them to take different diameter fittings and a single screw through the pipe and insert will lock the tool in place. I then just have to make an insert and drill it to whatever size I need to fit something new. I've got 3 other presses with fittings for rivets, snaps etc but this one I want to be able to fit hole punches, cutters etc.as well. I'll post some photos when it's finished. What sort of pressure has that thing got? It looks big!

Referring to the noise, sometimes the mind plays tricks on us, and when you haven't used something (particularly mechanical) for a while and come back to it you can suddenly notice a noise that was always there but you weren't aware of it before. And walking foot machines are a bit noisy simply because of their nature. It sounds ok to me. Oiling - use the oil holes but take off all the removable covers and basically oil any parts that contact each other, slide, rotate etc. Look for little holes in the castings above shafts where you can drip in oil.

It does, mike, but I would have to fabricate a jig to hold it vertical and square - too much trouble. I'm going to explore the idea of a round piece welded to the end, it has possibilities.

Now that looks nice!! Any idea what sort of pressure it can exert? Might be a bit much for leatherwork. The ram is too big to fit in my lathe or my drill press so I have no way of accurately drilling a hole in the bottom, although the idea might still work if I make a short extension piece (round, maybe), drill and tap it and then weld it to the bottom of the ram. I could attach fittings using the threaded end or make attachments to fit over the round extension, which would also allow rotary adjustment if needed. It has a long travel so I could sacrifice a couple of inches if necessary. If I make it round and match it the internal diameter of some metal pipe then I'll have a ready made source for making attachments.

I didn't want to drill out the ram to accept stamping tools, rivet setters etc, but drilling and tapping a smaller hole to fit attachments might work - if the ram will fit in my lathe to get a vertical hole. I've found a large steel plate to use as a base, the idea of a fence is a good one. I've got a bit of pondering to do.

I would assume that's the case.

My Norton told me the same thing (security certificate out-of-date), I just told it the site was ok.

The ?? after 487 sums it up, we need a lot more info to provide any help - photos are always a big help, along with make and model.

Charlie, are you saying you could order an industrial sewing machine today, from China, and have it delivered for 25% of the local dealer cost? I would love to see your figures, please, as my last effort, after contacting about 10 different companies (via Alibaba) and speaking with customs brokers would have resulted in a saving of only a few dollars (I posted the figures elsewhere), although if I bought the cheapest available I could have saved maybe a couple of hundred. I'm sure there are quite a few on here who would like to know exactly how to go about this, and I'd love to know where I apparently went wrong.

After looking at a couple of youtube vids I've decided not to bother with a magnet, I'm going to make some "holders" that will clamp to the press so that I can attach different sizes of punches, stamps etc. A bit more work but should let me use heavier punches to cut slots and big holes. I just have to find some square tubing that's a nice fit on the ram. Plus I have to make a flat base to replace the round thingy it came with. Lots of possibilities here.

Actually, jimi, I didn't buy it with anything in particular in mind, I just couldn't let it go! Toxo, good video, looks like I'll need to buy some bigger magnets. First thing I've got to do is strip it down to reduce the weight to move it, just about broke my back getting it out of the car. And then figure out where I'm going to put it.

I finally found an arbor press - 2 ton! Son-in-law asked me to go with him to pick up some tools from a deceased estate - bench mount belt sander, drill press, small lathe, scroll saw - 1 hour trip. While there I asked the guy what else had for sale, he showed me an old grinder (English, solid, but it sounded like it had dry bearings) and an arbor press. I took one look, said how much, $50 and I said sold!! I've been looking for one of these for ages but have never seen a 2 tonner, they're usually 1 ton. And it's bloody heavy!!!!!!!

Another + for the riveting. That is going to be a tricky thing to sew and will be fiddly to do. If you're going to be "mass-producing" them you want it to be simple and quick.

Now that is an interesting looking machine, appears to have some sort of home-made fitting on the left?

Great buy! As NCArcher said, they don't seem to come up too often. I recall one for sale here over a year ago and they wanted double that price!!!

That lathe should be quite useful. I have a "medium" sized metal lathe (I'm sometimes surprised how useful it is!) and bought one of those generic Chinese "mini" lathes off ebay. A small lathe is a very handy tool.

Like anything, it's only worth what someone is prepared to pay. I'm not familiar with those machines, but for something that old it seems like a lot to me. If you particularly want it, then buy it, me, I wouldn't. I once came across a similar harness machine (Adler, I think?) head only and the guy wanted about $700. It was old, knocked about and needed a bit of work, which I pointed out. He wouldn't budge on price so I walked, I suspect he still has it.

Good luck on importing a sewing machine at 25% of the dealer's price. It's one thing to buy smallish items from China but it's a whole new level when you talk about larger/heavier goods. Guntechholsters, given that you have a heavy duty machine the logical choice would be an upholstery class machine, as Wiz mentioned. A cylinder arm would be nice, if you can find one, but a flat bed would probably be adequate. There should be plenty of old used machines around - Singer, Pfaff, Durkop-Adler, Consew, Seiko etc. - that should do what you want.

What's the little lathe on the left?

G'day Doug, you've found the best site, bar none, when it comes to leatherworking. Just be careful, if you get the sewing machine bug there's no cure.

" says the 18 is too small and will scratch". That's an odd thing to say, scratch what? I've used size 16 with #69 thread with no problems, but 21-22 is way to big. As Tom said the materials being used can also affect the choice of needle. Sounds like a private sale?

This has got me thinking that maybe I should change it back to a binding machine.

Which servo do you have? You should be able to change the parameters and reduce the top speed and the startup speed. I recently got my Pfaff 335 working again, I fitted the servo (cheap $100 unit off ebay) to the top of the table and replaced the handwheel with a large pulley, then reduced the top speed and startup speed parameters and it goes nice and slow now.

What type of holster are you going to make, (modern) pancake or Western? Based on my limited experience, and the knowledge I've gleaned on here, you might get away with the 26 for pancake holsters but for Western holsters you will need a class 4, minimum thread 277.

Stitching looks fine to me. As for the tooling not bad for a first effort. I'm just starting out at tooling and my first attempt at leaves looked like yours! There's a knack to cutting smooth lines (needs lots of practice!).