RockyAussie

How much of the vacuum stuff is missing? Is it only the bucket?

The bell speed on mine is able to be changed at the pulleys to run faster or slower but as a guide line a normal sewing machine motor will run it and fast is best normally. The manual above that @DanishMan should give you some more clues on that. As far as the feed speed goes.... although it can be set at a constant speed it is usually used like a sewing machine meaning the more foot pressure the faster it goes. When you are doing long strips you want the feed fast and when you are doing little curly stuff you want from 0 to fairly slow. I have seen a few people use 2 servo motors to do it but the bell could be run on a normal set speed motor. Note: the worst thing on these old skivers is if you have too much play up and down on the shaft that drives the bell. If it moves that way you may be wasting your time.

@sainte that sure looks like a lot of work . Not that it matters at this stage but I will recommend keeping in mind that it will be a good idea to split the bell drive separately from the feed stone drive. The bell runs at a fast speed always while the feed can go slow or fast then. Many years ago I had one like yours but they did not have these nice little servo motors around back then so I got rid of it.

Another fix I came up with awhile back you can see in this post -

Nice picture there. I had a look for a manual but as you have no doubt found not so easy. I hope it comes together well and I look forward and thank you for sharing your progress.

Hi @sainte I am afraid that my old skiving machine appears to be a lot younger than this one of yours. I have done a search and found a little on this type of Fortuna and found this blog that you may find interesting. The last picture shows some of the belt track from underneath. http://bdupres.blogspot.com/2014/06/skiving-skiver.html I hope that this is of some help and you go on to get it all running. Please share a few pics as you go. Brian

Post some pics and we will try and help. You can see mine in use some on you tube links.

I can feel the pain from here ......and I live a half a world away. No just kiddin THINK POSITIVE MAN.

Thanks that would be great. I will be doing a bag design in the next couple of days which will have the handle hole design reinforced with pla and set in between the leather layers and then stitched through. Will take a few pics and post when I get it done. Brian

Best I have found is using a set of sanded down knipex nail pullers like in this link. I sand/grind the face down until the V is near flat at the front and that then allows the side edge to push in under the rivet and nip it off. I used these for many years doing shoe repairs where nails and rivets need to be removed every day. A little grinding underneath the cutting edge on one side can help a little to get in under as well. https://www.tradetools.com/product-range/hand-tools/pliers/knipex-twin-end-nipper-pack-200mm-and-280mm-68-series?gclid=Cj0KCQjwrIf3BRD1ARIsAMuugNuYzLzsHmVdER0IkTzp4O6Vdv4NdWd0Be5-QMlswvgd5boDJQETlS0aAk9QEALw_wcB

Easy Fix answer.......none my dear caus I know you'd make a dust cover for it. WHY do women so ask you a question when they know the answer already? Example......Is that where that belongs? Sorry I agree with Wizcrafts above. They have been in use for a very long time and will still have a good place on machines for a long time yet.

Thanks for the thought @Spyros I will get into having a look at his Video sometime today and a bit more on that subject he has done and report back. Funny thing is I am originally a wood machinist by trade.

Thanks mate I will get back to you once I round up a few of these things and have them in hand. I do have some sort of a fancy VFD out in my project shed I bought a while ago but one look at it blew my head apart right at the get go. I will dig it out and see what I can make of it firstly. I think I may be needing a 2hp motor as it may be needed to run a polishing wheel as well and they do drag a fair bit of power when polishing with a large finishing brush on them. This is one of the reasons I am thinking of using a VFD as sometimes the brushes dont polish well if going too fast and the same can be said about the sanding as well. Having one on the lathe sounds like a good idea not having to change them cogs about so much. Or are we talking about a wood lathe?

Thanks mate I will get back to you once I round up a few of these things and have them in hand. I do have some sort of a fancy VFD out in my project shed I bought a while ago but one look at it blew my head apart right at the get go. I will dig it out and see what I can make of it firstly. I think I may be needing a 2hp motor as it may be needed to run a polishing wheel as well and they do drag a fair bit of power when polishing with a large finishing brush on them. This is one of the reasons I am thinking of using a VFD as sometimes the brushes dont polish well if going too fast and the same can be said about the sanding as well. Having one on the lathe sounds like a good idea not having to change them cogs about so much.

I just tried this onto a failed print that I stopped at .8mm high. This is pla+ filament and a 160 size needle going through. I expected it to split apart but there is no sign of that. At .2mm layers printed =4 layers I suppose that is a bit like plywood in that the grain crosses over each other every other layer. Something else in the brain box to try and remember

Electronics is definitely not one of my strong points. I have to ask where I would get one of them remote start stop speed control things and exactly what I should ask for when ordering it? Thank you again for the above information. I am sorry to admit that I think I will be back with some more questions on this as I get some it together.

That is some really nice work there @YinTx I hope that it all comes together as nice as it is this far.

I am going say that I would recommend learning to use a decent CAD type of drawing program as I did many years ago. I have for many years used AutoCad but there are a ton of free and very cheap alternative programs to choose from nowadays. The reason I say this is I can get a correct to size print straight out of my A3 printer straight down onto some decent cardstock which I mostly use for my pattern work. Another advantage comes that if you progress onto laser cutting you can from the same drawing get them cut out on a laser or sometimes even the leather itself. Another feature about this is you can also go on to drawing in 3D and this allows 3D printing to be done which is a feature I use every week if not every day. If you want to see a little on how I have used all of these CAD features have a look at my profile and in the about me section you'll see a fair few examples like this one below -

@dikman Can I ask what hp that motor has? I am also thinking of running a similar arrangement and could use a little help on what and where I may be able to get a hold of some of it along with any kind tips you may have to offer. I do like how you have the control knob box separated and keeping the main VFD nicely away from the messy stuff - also well done.

Now that is looking promising - well done. I should also ask you to thank your wife for giving as she has done and I hope that she does not ever get such a bad result again. I wish her well. @Spyros I would like to take you up on your offer as I have been asked to do a little consulting and training on the croc belt making by the end of this month. Getting one out a China that quick is unlikely at present. I would be happy to buy yours for $100 for now if you would like to go that way please pm me you details. They have a sanding machine set up for this but from what I have seen I know they need a lot better and I am thinking about making them up something way more heavy duty and as they are a BIG company the dust extraction will be an important thing to be clued up on. I will appreciate it a lot if you can help me with this one. Brian

I have to say that as much as I LOVE the versatility of this machine it does look as though it would be a considerable challenge to adapt some form of suction that would work with it in an attached sort of way. I have now seen the other video and all of the attachments and am even MORE impressed. I am starting to think about making a less versatile version for leather work with an extractor set up in mind.

If you would care to post a few pictures of how you have it set up may help. What I would try for now is to put the feed stone onto a softer spring pressure with the notch adjuster at the back. Also assuming you have the bell well and truly sharpened, move the bell back away (to the right) 1/2mm and try that. The tighter the bell is to the top guide the more the guide is likely to force the leather down as it slides through. If it still does it move it back a little more. The softer feed stone pressure helps to stop the sudden jump down as it slides through as well. Having a separate motor to keep the bell running at full speed all the time allows the feed to go as slow as you want while maintaining the best cutting speed (flat out) at the same time. Check a couple of my videos and you may see what I mean. The Fortuna there allows the bell speed to always run fast whilst allowing a slow feed at the same time.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mRlsetzIJg Knowing what thickness and temper of leather you are having trouble with would help to know as well.

Thank you for that info @Spyros I will have to get myself one of those metres. Sanding many thousands of belts over the years has not done my lungs much good along with a filthy smoking habit on top.

I use a bit of a combination really. I use a dust bag system as well as a fairly powerful wall fan just behind the grinder to help collect the fine particles that the main suction doesn't manage to catch. The main one is a 2hp 1200cfm I think located just outside the sander. If I try going any stronger on this one I cant control a belt from being sucked into the tube. I have tried to use screens but then you can't keep the belts from getting stuck onto the screen all the time. With the wall fan I found it is improved a far bit by building a shroud that comes forward over over the machine. This serves to increase the air speed right where you need it. You can see in this first picture where I have a cardboard box shroud coming from the back. Now I have established how far forward the shroud needs to be I aim to improve it beyond the cardboard one. This pic shows the perspex box I fashioned and hinged with a piano hinge and under the belt you can see a plumbing fitting I used which feeds into a 4"flexable tube. That then goes outside into this garden shed which is inside a semi enclosed space There is also some vents put into the side of this to increase air flow when the doors are closed which I do to keep the noise down. Even with all of this done I would still like to improve it more if possible. @Spyros I would love to be able to get a hold of one of those dust particle count meters if you would like to share from where I could obtain one. I am also interested to know a little more on your wall extractor and from where to get one. Thank you for going to the effort to share your findings with us all. @dikman, Thank you very much for taking those pictures. I have seen one of those video's now and I am gobsmaked really. I have to put a link in here cause I reckon it just has to be seen (sparks dust and all) I almost want to start making knives now- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwfbp_Lp-xY

Australian made and top quality it just gets better still. Thanks for the link. Now I just gotta spend the next few months dreaming and agonising about how and when. If its not to big an ask could you post some pics of it showing the full range of the angles it can go to? Is dust extraction somehow possible?