RockyAussie

Maybe a top and bottom on a dog collar which then become front and back........

I think a picture of the watch and the bracelet or a drawing would help if possible. Is it to dangle or attach like a watch band on both sides?

Very nice looking work so far as usual. I am a bit curious whether you have put a stiffener into the base this time or not? Normally if I am putting feet on I insert a stiffener to stop the feet just pushing up into the leather. Thanks for posting the pics. Brian

I've been using these Chicago screws on a lot of belts over the last 20 years and that is many thousands of belts. I have never had any negative feedback on the use of them other than over the years some have come unscrewed. I make a point to be careful not to burr the screw head when doing up. BTW that is a nice and very durable belt you've made there Dwight.

Hi WillieO , in answer to that it depends,some do and some don't. I always do with pocket tops be that the fabric I use does not fray anyway. I get the fabric I use from Italy from a company called TABRU. If you check out the link here following you can see a video where we are making and attaching some pockets for some wallets we make. The advantages of using this method is that the fabric can be cut with a clicker press and there is no fraying. Takes glue with out fraying.The thickness is about .2mm and way stronger than leather at even twice that thickness and it enables a fairly even edge to get the stitching to give the best results with regards to tensions etc.The video was made to show the line up device I made but shows enough of the construction to help I think. Here is the link-

They well could be, but that is just a part of the fun of this is it not? You just raise the bar and keep looking at ways to raise it higher and better etc. I find a lot more fun in designing these things than making them in the bulk orders that invariably they lead onto. I have orders for products to last some years to come yet so ... Some I know like to keep with the past traditional ways of doing their leather work but I get bored easily and love finding ways to stretch the boundaries all the time. Keeps me better amused.Participating in a forum like LW and occasionally seeing something new and interesting helps us all to become better at what we do and sometimes love. Brian

Glad you enjoyed it and I hope the video does a more entertaining view of the process. Just go an order for another 60 of them so The video will probably get finished some before Christmas. Brian

Nice looking work. Interested to see how the chain link one does up. I wish you the best in your new direction. Wish the price was a little more south for me.

I wish I had a brother like that. That is a nice looking bag and the embossing font looks excellent. Well done. I'm pretty pleased with myself today as I just found out we have made a sale into China on a ring box. Normally we only get products made from Croc selling there. Brian

I was lucky to be given this one from an old business friend that now runs an upholstery business called "Swains Canvas" here in Rockhampton. I was telling Pete I could use another one and he kindly gave it to me for as long as I want it. Love good business relationships. They are great little machines for this "type" of thing. I have three of them so I hope to be able to keep this one sort of permanently set up for this job. Mostly I like their type sets as they always high quality and I have not found any decent copiers of them yet. What fonts and sizes do you have Chuck?

Some times I get a bit inventive so I might be tempted to get a bit of pvc pipe (electrical conduit) and heat it up to flatten it out then encase it into the pouch. No welt needed then really. I would only bother if I was really worried about the stabbing point or If I just wanted to impress myself some. I did some years back do a lot of croc covered knife sheaths for a knife making crowd in Norway and they supplied a plastic insert shaped for their knife blades. I think the knife was called a Puukka.

Here's how I go about the embossing and monogramming of these boxes. Because many of the products I make get done in batches on a regular basis it is necessary to have a quick change over system.The first 2 pictures show how with a cardboard template that gets screwed down to the embossers base plate I can do a quick change from 1 piece to the next. For the monogramming I have set it up to enable me to achieve this after the product is fully made by setting up a sturdy holding ring that retains the block that supports the pressure of the embossing. Some time back I was lucky enough to pick up a font set called Redwood and it is very nice in this application I think. As I have a few to do and while the machine is heating up I go through and get out all of the letters that are going to be needed. It takes awhile to learn to set it all up backwards at first. This is what it looks like set up in the holding block The ring box lid is now set up for the stamping This is what can happen due to the foam under the leather. Gold everywhereThat's alright I am used to making mistakes and know how to fix. In order to not have to fix any more on the run I have made up some protection pieces. Here I have tested with a pre stamping first. Foil being located And success All done. Thanks for looking and I hope that something in here inspires some or has something that you can make use of. I am working on some video stuff on this product but I only got 10 minutes or so on this run. Follow me if you want to be notified when the video is loaded and please make any comments that could make it better. Regards Brian

Good job and I don't think he is ever going to need another one in this life time.

Dwight, Knowing someone like you may get some use from it is more than enough thanks for me. The punch in the tab end does not line up to well but a repunch will fix that easily. I hope that it works well enough and may it bring blessings to all who are lucky enough to receive the work you produce with it. Brian

Thanks for the acknowledgement and he is a she and typical of great dane's and wolfhounds she loves to lay around everywhere. Mostly she loves laying in the busiest crossroad paths in the factory and therefore I think your envy is not always so well shared.

DISASTER - A couple of days back I said I'm off to try a wallet now. Did a bit of grinding of the needle plate (about 2mm) to enable getting in a bit closer. Note: I like to stitch across the bridge section when I can as I hate stopping and starting, tying off etc. It went pretty well except I did not glue the liner in myself and although the machine did the stitching well enough the result means I'm going to have to pull it all out and start again.

Thanks Chuck. I hope that the video is going to be better. Please have a look at Sally's site as her pictures leave mine for dead I think. I'm thinking of making up a watch box version along a similar construction but I might have to find me an ideal marketer for that first. Ahh so many ideas and so little time....Brian

Now I make up the strip for the lid section in a similar method to the bottom section after the contact glue is dry enough. After the ring is made ready I push this piece into the cup and then follow this with another tool to press down on the outer edges of the ring. I hope you have enjoyed learning how these ring boxes are made so far and I must mention the customer I make this product for as she is a wonderful young lady named Sally and I can assure you she strives to have all of her products made to the highest possible standard and give her customers a truly wonderful service. Here is the link and please take a look. . http://www.amonie.com.au/?v=6cc98ba2045f Sally has assured me that if you mention seeing this post on Leatherworker.net she will supply it FREE of freight charges. There is one more section to add to this and that is where I do the monogramming and that is also done for you with No extra Charge.

@Uwe Thats a crying shame mate. I think 90% of the work I do on this machine would be done on this dog foot and throat plate, be that I have been grinding the plate some to suit my purposes. Its now shorter on the left side to enable closer in work. Getting all effeminate about whether on some machines only one hole lines up is a sad loss to the limitations this machine suffers without it. I think these 2 pieces could be ordered separately without the other feet as well. Having the other 2 feet is not that big an issue as I am always chopping up feet to suit some purpose or other. They would work quite well for the intended purpose but a few adjustments would have to be done when changing from 1 foot set to another and I get too pushed for time to bother with that generally. Last time I checked this post it has had over 700 views so I think it is of of interest to some here on LW if not more in the WW. If you really don't want to further re stock, let me know as I will pursue it further. Thank you for your help in this to me so far. Kind regards Brian

I think if you could post a picture of the work and the feet close in could help. I think I understand the problem but would like to see it before possibly leading you wrongly. It may not be practical but would it work to spin the job around and tackle it in reverse? Shorter jump off point to go over I'm thinking and no back foot to hold it up then. Brian

Glad to hear you like it. I've been thinking its got to boring. Should be getting close to finished now. I use mostly Auto Cad for the drawings as that is what I've used for years with the pattern work and then convert the files to stl files. Any 3d printer will work with them and Cura is where the instructions get sorted. For instance the block being printed above is at 30% density and the cups are printed at100%. There are quite a few free various versions out there now. I will now show how I insert the foam section. A few dabs of pva glue work well here. A new locating ring helps to position the foam and acts like a piston ring compressor.The same tool is used to form the velvet over the foam block before this step. A little push in here sits it into the glue as well. Next is the lid section and first is to insert the satin embossed logo. A dab of contact holds this in place and is further held by lids Grosgrain piece. Below I am preparing a packing strip before the Grosgrain strip goes into place. Next picture shows thepacker strip attached and it now gets a layer of contact put on to hold the Grosgrain strip in place. After this I allow the contact to dry for an hour or more. Next steps should be the finish off pictures.

I agree. I will have to see if I can find any stones small enough for the job. The top section is only 7mm dia.I've done a fair bit of engraving in the past and with this the burr just skips across the surface.Tested the burr on some mild and no problem. Regards Brian.

Next step is to cut them all up the middle and fold. The spray glue test worked. After tis is done the ends have to be trimmed and formed into a circle. As there were so many I thought best to make a holding block to help form the shape more quickly. So you see below the printing of this while I trim the ends. A very sharp knife is needed to not have the Grosgrain fray out everywhere. Once they are cut I put an edge of pva glue to stop any future fraying. This section has been changed and can be seen in the video when done. Now I test the new holding block. The short legs hold the shape while I tuck the join in and under and then with tape I completely surround the section. The next step is to now insert into the bottom cup in this case fully and then the tool can slide out. It is a firm push in and an easy slide out. Just what I wanted. More exciting stuff next.

Uwe's the culprit. They work great but they are not the normal Chinese cheese so opening up that hole a bit even with a carbide engraving burr is near to not possible. 1/2 cutting and gained 1/2 a mm. One hole holds down well anyway.

More of the boring stuff. Note that as this is my first production run some of this is already superseded but the changes should show up in the Video when I get it done. In this picture below it shows the application of this Kwik Grip water based contact adhesive that is clear. After a lot of experiments I found that it has the advantage of staying tacky for days. Below I am setting the Grosgrain up to the stopper in my line up machine. A 7mm key steel could be used instead at this point. If you care to check my You tube channel you will see this line up machine in action and some more details of somewhere on LW. The making of I think. Next here I am applying a strip of .6mm pasteboard to the Grosgrain. The following shows a 6mm key steel to separate the next pasteboard strip that later goes into the lid section. Some firm pressure makes the contact hold well to the Grosgrain Following this you could glue up and fold by hand with a bone folder as done below. I fold both outer edges then cut between as shown in the next picture. After this cut the two inner edges get folded. At this stage I decided to see if I could get away with spray gluing before folding and as the lighter colour Grosgrain can be very transparent I though best to test one of each colour first. The next picture shows why at the first stage it was necessary to use a clear glue. The next few pictures I think explain themselves and the end result worked well.