RockyAussie

For me toooo easy but on a made up article and to the general public it can be quite deceptive. NOTE : I would never try and make anyone believe that a print was the real thing and I would detest any one if they were to do so.

Just a quick point- Sometimes having room under the anvil part to slide a product like a pouch or handbag it helps if there is room to do so. Some presses don't allow much for this. I even grind some away at times. This tandy one does not look to bad but there are a lot of cheap ebay ones that can be got cheaper ass well. https://www.tandyleather.com/en/product/craftool-hand-press Using a press will give good results normally but only if the snaps are good as well.In my experience with the tandy segma style snaps over several years now they are NO good. The 4 holes in the receiving (female) side do not line up with each other and machine or not, they will not go down into their caps straight.

Contact in regards to how to methods and the like I do prefer in the open forum here as the answers from my point of view I would like all to see and comment if they wish on. Sometimes some method or other may be new to me and worth while learning as well. If it is of a more personal nature you can contact me via a pm here or if you follow the link to my web page you can find my email contact there. As to skins that make good crocodile prints, the best I have seen are done on cowhide veg tan and as far as lambskin that I personally would not touch. As yet I have never seen any tanning with a print or not that on sheep skin/lamb skin that has the durability for me to want to use it. I will not even use it in a bag liner. I love the feel of it sometimes but if I can tear it open I will not use it. Never found any that I have had in trouble ripping. Mostly I only ever use a croc print to test out a new product to design and to train a new staff on perhaps. Regarding the loss of glaze on alligator or crocodile ...getting it back is hard. There are very long labor intensive ways to get a high glaze but in every day working things like always working on towels and pre polishing and a few other steps help to stop the shine loss in the first place. Generally if I am refurbishing a product I will carefully use a fine brush to touch up any wear patches and then a coating of Nivea cream if the skin is dry. After this has been absorbed for a day or 2 this is followed by a good polishing with a beeswax stick (HooCo wax) with a soft mop on a finishing machine. This will be a slightly less glassy look but to most people looks better and no longer susceptible to water drop marks etc. You may find this post I did awhile ago of interest. It gives you some idea of the typical construction techniques in making a prototype here.-

I cant help you there as I have not seen anything of use to date. That is one of the reasons that I joined this forum in my never ending search to improve where I can. I am happy to answer any questions that may help where ever I can. The 3D printing and the laser are both turned out to be very worthwhile and are something I wish were around 30 years back. They make a lot of the prototyping and moulds etc way less time and costly to make. If there is a little part in a design that could be better it only takes a few minutes to correct. If you want to work with exotics as I have done over the last 30 years I would say a visit here would teach you more about working with these skins than any other I know or have heard of. I can only add that we have done more high end Crocodile and perhaps Ostrich than any other manufacturer in Australia for many years. As I said before you are welcome to visit and I would be happy to show you a lot (enough to get you started) for $0. AS far as your interest in shoes I can show you a little but I stopped bespoke making them nearly 20 years back but still have most of the machinery, lasts etc. I found the demand was way to much for me to keep up and the training of people too expensive and time consuming to keep up with it. Wallets purses bags and belts do not require the same level of attention to fit exactly and are therefore way easier train people to make. Competition in the exotic area is very thin and is a reason that I like to help people to progress in this area. I love competition and when so many are doing such poor work it gets to be unexciting when there is such a low level to try and aspire to. I am sorry if this sounds like I am talking myself up as that is not my intention.

As you know I am guilty of using hammers and scales and fish scales etc but its funny how little things like this can make such differences in the operation of a sewing machine I reckon. The slot looks to allow the thread to be pulled through the needle on a more straight angle and that would therefore make the thread slide through the needle with less friction. The roller giving a longer stitch I think would be because there would be less resistance on the fabric when going through. The other 2 feet keep pressure down all through the job and create friction over their wider non rolling base than the other large roller foot. Now I sound like a geeeek again . I'll get kicked outer this here section yet.

Interesting . They are 2 different feet in that the one on the left is a hinged foot and has a fair bit longer body length than the one on the left. Like a stiletto shoe heel a lot more pressure is going down for the same weight applied which explains the reduced foot pressure needed. I can only assume that the slot cut may allow the thread tension to come in earlier to effect how the thread tension behaves. It may also be needed for the needle travel if the foot is for a different length than this machine. AS long as it is smoothed off well no and if it requires less foot pressure to do the job it should extend the machine life as well. Thanks for sharing.

@YinTx I know you are already very skilled so I would have no hesitation in working out some arrangement for where you would get paid. I did a bit of looking into this awhile back and I would have to look into this again to get some further clarification. I can teach you how to make products and techniques etc but if the products go on to be sold you then have to be paid (Australian Law). Training for the first couple of weeks would not be on goods to be sold anyway so no problem there (you pay me some ) after that I pay firstly the minimum wage (around $20.00 au). Food and accommodation we could work something out. You would always be welcome to visit and I look forward to that at any time you can make it. I can only handle 1 or 2 people on this type of arrangement as I am VERY much a 1 on 1 type of a communicator. I like to give value but also I like to receive value in return. Brian

What do they offer for $3k I have to ask. Got me curious as you mentioned an interest in exotics which is 95 % of my business making for other brand names. Most of the product on our web site is the same designs we do for others in crocodile products mostly. A look into my profile here should show you more. What type of products and level of training are you wanting? For a day or 2 of showing how its done and what with it would cost you 0000 + a flight to here and back. For 2 weeks solid full time maybe 2k. For a long as allowed time ......perhaps depends on your ability to work and again the cost of a flight to here and back.

The cast iron piece may have an advantage in that it can be made to hold oil within it and given that it has to turn some with every stitch at both ends I suspect that the cast iron would reduce wear and tear and wear in better to fit as well. I would be chasing up the part replacement and letting us know how that goes for any other members that may want one from this seller.

I think trying to run a 11 1/2" through a 12" would be near on impossible but taking it down 1mm or 1/16" at a pass might do it. Also the leather may have to be softened some probably by soaking the day before and leaving in a towel or burlap bag overnight. Getting the right weight to start is likely the best answer.

A bell knife skiver is about the only way I know of and use daily. I do warn you though that a roller on the top is almost a must with croc and ostrich. As the skin gets compressed under the adjustable thickness guide the quill mussel lump gets pushed back and creates a larger lump and then makes a hole as it progresses to the blade. Same thing with crocodile where the higher part of the scale gets pushed back and a roller helps to reduce any scratch marks on the glaze skin as well. Going for a feather edge will drive you broke and I suggest to try and use a wide but not too deep skive instead. The edges last longer as well. Feed wheel use a fine stone one. You will get better results by doing several passes when running these skins through as the skin gets more evened out and less of the bump and hole problem. If the croc aligator skin is glazed it can help to give them a light sand on the back first to sort of break the tension in it first. This allows the skin to flex more easily as it goes through. In your patterning allow some extra skin to be trimmed off after the skive is done as it will often end up more wobbly shaped. That's all I got.

In Curra in the basic settings you have the option to make the shell thickness to the thickness you want as long as it is a multiple of the nozzle diameter. eg. if the nozzle is .4 the shell thickness can be set to .4, .8, 1.2, 1.6 and so on. As long as your drawing of a solid has holes put in it, they receive the same thickness treatment as the outside wall thickness.( sometimes I have strengthened parts that come under heavy compression by putting more holes through the part). If he had made his shell thickness more it may have made it stronger but I think if he had used say a higher density percent above the 30% he used, it would not have pulled out the full thickness of the hole and its surrounding shell as easily. NOTE: As long as you can bury a nut down in there or assessable from the back it will be stronger than any of the shown methods. I often print a tight hole for a nut and then heat the nut up and force it in and it works very well. Here in some pics below I have inserted some nuts into the housing of a shroud I have designed to improve the air flow over my diode lasers. It also marries up with a frame that allows me to have Z lift for them. Here I have inserted the diode laser and these bolts allow me to position the laser module within it at an ideal height. This pic shows where I have pushed a nut into the back of a moving block that allows the up and down Z movement.

AAAHHHHaa now it all makes more sense to me.

@garypl I think that is some very good looking workmanship there. Over here we like to drink them very cold and that means a fair bit of condensation has to be considered when making them. I use to quote @Handstitched " Then theres those awful foam rubber stubbie holders ( wet suit material ) , they're just plain boring and mass produced" as a liner to the croc ones I make. They are rough as guts but the demand way outstrips the available supply. The stitching method you use to attach I hope no customer of mine ever sees or I will never keep up production.(Very nice). Because of all of the variety of sizes I use an elastic cord that can expand along with the wet suit material to accommodate the size needed. Here's a couple of pics to explain -

Next you'll be needing another one or 2 to keep up. (Don't forget it cuts the masking tape on leather nicely).The variety of things that are possible are just mind blowing. Biggest headache so far with mine is that it is stuck cutting out product boxes nearly all of the time and I cant get to try enough of that more interesting stuff. Think I might have to make another smaller one next and try and squeeze it in somewhere...........

The mention of the padding in back made me recall a sling I made awhile back and posted here This type of skin cover will cover any bumps ...believe me.

Well done and thanks for sharing. Cant see the Battle Ax brand on it yet though.

If you have a decent sanding machine you could contact glue some thin weight leather over the lot and sand it down or if its not too deep toolin just sand it back some. That should give a good contact surface as well for the snake skin.

I agree with that mostly when I see products stitched poorly but that can be evident whether by hand or machine and I prefer to do it well enough by machine that an educated eye has difficulty telling which way it is done. NOT saying I always achieve that level I will have a look but if you have not checked out T2 laser do so as well. One of the features I have useful is being able to set it to do multiple passes with a cool down time in between passes. Sometimes cardboard or leather will lift and buckle as it is cut and by doubling the speed or halving the power you can get a chance to put down some more weights or magnets in my case. This also allows me to keep the temperature down when using full power on long jobs. Next update on mine will be a vacuum bed to keep it down flat. I hope by going to a larger blower I can share the smoke extraction with the bed vacuum in a split sort of way. Only got a talk myself into drilling about a thousand 3mm holes through about 2mm steel sheeting...

Firstly I will say that the cover has come out very nicely. As to your last comment I think that hardly any here, could have achieved that level of detail in the badge part without the laser process. Those that could..... would not come near to doing it for a price that all but a very few could pay you for. WELL DONE!!!

A hot press embossing machine will work. The plate that the stamp presses down onto should have a firm rubbery type fabric which you should be able to get from the foil maker people. This helps lift the impression as well as resist the cutting problem. Laser will also work but not as well in my opinion and takes a lot of extra time in comparison.

Are you able to change the software in that engraver? I have been using T2 Laser for awhile and find it fairly good. I have been doing a bit of looking into Lightburn recently as they seem to have a fairly promising forum there. Here a link- https://forum.lightburnsoftware.com/ I have not tried it yet but I remember seeing something about the reduced size problems in there somewhere. Their camera software looks very interesting as well.

50mm will fit and is more useful overall. The rubber wheel is no better than a fine stone wheel on fine leather and as I have found is easily destroyed if it ever gets a adjusted up enough to touch the blade. A stone feed wheel can be used partly to sharpen a blade when it has a large nick in it as well. The blade will come off with a few taps at the back off the bell after the 4 screws are removed. The tools mentioned with a picture above are not needed as they are for cleaning the sharpening stone and pulling the brass deflector that sits inside the bell etc. Heat will work and the head of the screw is broad enough to use a decent set of vice grips on it if the slot is too damaged.

Try serching for bezel for Mabi pearl should work.