RockyAussie

Nice deep forming and the edge finish looks good as well. Like the formed belt holder part and the one piece pattern.

I think @kgg pretty well answered that for me. Possibly if I had the printer he has I would be better off speed wise but either way not having a printer backup leaves me nervous at times. I hate not being able to get people what they pay for as quick as I say. If one of these parts go bang and I am left waiting for a replacement I would not sleep well. So far no body has had to wait more than a week luckily. I have looked a little at the Bambu printer but I as yet nervous about the operating system not being open source exactly. I could do a lot more improvements on the one I have yet and with another new one I may be able to get time to do some of these changes.

Looks like you have them set alright which makes me think the snaps are too week. As you already have them installed I would suggest some light tapping around the rim on the side that holds the clip ring. A little resistance there should make it harder to open but too much and you may have trouble getting it closed. Good move

Thanks @kgg I am quickly learning over the last couple of months how long parts don't last in a 3d printer. Its a Tronxy x5sa pro and I can get it to do good quality but the power supply fan, the parts cooling fan the extruder bearings amongst a few other parts have all needed replacing in this time. I will have to get another one pretty soon cause people just keep on ordering and I just can not get stock ready ahead let alone keeping up with my normal customer orders.

Could you show a picture of how you have installed the snaps? I would have thought that the snaps you show would have had too long a length for that thickness leather and that may be stopping the snaps from fully closing as they should.

Sorry to take this long to answer, I have been flat out making 3d casting molds for other makers over here of late. You should have a set soon Michael. I have pm you back.

I feel your pain so have pm'd you back. Best regards Brian

Bell skiver should be around 1270 RPM

I forgot to say there is a screw on the back of the head that may need to be loosened as well. This post link should show a diagram that may help you better -

Looks like the center walking foot and needle bar may be both be too far to the left. They are all in one block together and I am sure you can adjust the whole lot a little to the right. Look at the machine head in front of the needle bar and you will see a screw bolt that is slightly slotted and above that in a hole is a locking screw which needs to be undone first. I would take the side cover off and have a good look at the whole lot first. If the needle bar or its clamp were out of line it would show up pretty easy by loosening the needle bar and turning it around while watching the needle.

Funny you mention that. I have a freind up the road had his dog sit on the peddle while the machine was still turned on. A nasty mess with timing and all. Always make sure you turn the machine off when you finish I learned. Servo's don't let you know they are running.

Hi @kgg , I would suggest dropping out the left leg and try and get something closer to the 3rd pic down on this page.http://www.cowboysew.com/heavy-sewing-machine-stand.htm In this video I did awhile back shows what I think is a good reason to consider it all be it a different machine the same problem exists

@fredk, I have to ask ,why veg tan on steering wheel covers? The heat through a windscreen over here would shrink veg very quickly.

With soft upholstery type leathers you will need to have the spring pressure for the feed roller on the lowest setting. You will need to polish your presser foot shiny enough to see your teeth when smile. Less pressure means the the leather does not so easily roll back as it feeds through into the bell knife edge. A roller foot is a lot better for this in my opinion. The distance of the presser foot to the edge of the bell should be quite close (.3mm) as you can see in this video I made - A separate motor that allows the bell to run continuously at around 1270 rpm also helps as when you are feeding slow the bell is cutting at max efficiency at the same time.You see the separate motor at the front in the video picture above. Last thing is that upholstery type leather loves sticking to the feed stones and wrapping around and wrecking your work. I also always recommend getting a skiver with vacuum extraction for that reason. I am working on a funnel for this at the moment and will load a video showing it in action within a week or 2. Here is a couple of pics of it at the moment - The first one shows where I have designed it to attach to common plumbing fittings to feed into a scrap collection box to which then a vacuum can be also attached to. To set in position you mark the front and side of the machine to give a line up position for the edge of the funnel assembly. I will do a seperate posting of this when I have finished all the testing. So far it is going well.

Thanks for the thought mate, I will have a look in the local one when I get in town next.

This Paskal mob over this way do some snaps but they dont have much of a colour range. What they do have is different spring pressure settings in the socket section. The stiff ones are very bloody stiff. https://www.paskal.com.au/media/productattach/p/a/paskal_press_studs_specs.pdf

Nice and tidy work. Well done

Hi @SteveOz, you know I would favour a sewing machine myself but I would have a think about the multiple uses that can made with a cheap drill press. You can get very nice holes with a punch in a drill press and whether it is stitching chisel a little bit of fence building can save you a whole lot of time. The pics below are a setup I use when I want a line of holes spaced evenly apart and nice and quick as well. Notice in the pic below where there is a little peg (3mm aluminum welding rod) which I have inserted into the wood. When I have made a hole it gets located onto the peg and the next hole gets punched. If I want a wider spacing I just move the fence in the vice and that's it. Forgot to say they make great sanders and burnishes and the speed can be changed to suit the job. I will have to take a few shots of my little drill press that I use for a lot of that type of stuff. Regards Brian

I don't think those plastic leg extensions are gunna work for me

The Albeko splitters have not been made for many years now and are few and far between these days. They do have another feature which is a good idea in that they have a revolving brush that touches the bottom feed roller and that stops any bits from sticking to the roller. I have to split about 1200 belt strips for backing this week so I will do a bit of a video on it to show it in action as I go. This pic shows the pile I have to straighten up to go through the strap cutter today so I probably wont start splitting until Wednesday -

I have a Comoga that feeds scrap to the rear and that is a pain but it does have a leather flap at the rear of the tray which I hang down over the edge of a tall large cardboard box which catches all the scrap. There is a sort of blower that feeds up into the front of the shute tray that blows the scrap down and out the back. This needs to be checked occasionally to be sure the blowers intake has not been clogged up with dust and scraps. The box holds a lot of scrap but is a pain in that the machine has to sit enough away from the wall (3')to get the box in and out for emptying. I prefer my old Albeko because the scrap come to the front and slides sideways down into a oil drum that fits under the shute nicely. When I have a LOT of belt lengths to do I can grab them on the run and stack as I go. Saves a lot of time. I have not taken any pictures of these that I can find but the first few secs in this video show the Albeko with its front shute -

May I ask why?

I have seen a few of these sort of bags done like this and it does appear that most have only glued the leather to the wood and either screwed or used upholstery escutcheon pins to hold the leather to the wood. Personally I would not recommend this method as no matter how good the glue is it is only held by the underside/flesh side of the leather and therefore the pins, nails or screws must do most of the holding. The gaps between the pins will be easily pressed out and then so will many of the pins in time. I would suggest either doing something similar to what I did when I made this motor cycle tool bag. The gusset end was machine stitched in place first after folding the outer leather over the ends. After that I covered an eva rubber plug with a leather design and then glued it into the end onto the lining. The plug was a tight fit into the end and was tested without any gluing to start with. The plug could have been wood or steel or whatever.

I have to agree with you about the quality and how much people will charge and what people will pay. Like you said and I feel the same. Over here I see even a lot less quality but the marketing seems to make the average consumer blind. Their website is where the quality really shows a skill set to be admired. Baffles me that we could make wallets like those in less than 1/4 of the time than the wallets we make and still not get the same $$$$