RockyAussie

Bit rough but what the hell I'll give it a go. Notice I opened up a slot in the centre foot today and that sure is a pleasure when threading up.

Good news. The parts have arrived and are now tested. By putting in the dog foot and needle plate I can sew to 2.5mm from the edge and not have the job sink down the hole. I just stitched some soft garment leather (1.6mm)4oz without even adjusting the tensions and just look at them pictures. The holes in the needle plate did not line up but it holds very well with the one anyway. I'm happy. Hassle Uwe if you want one. I'm off to try a wallet now. Regards Brian

All sent gratis Dwight. Should take about 2 weeks at worst but I just recieved today some feet and stuff from Uwe and that took about 3 or more weeks. Its only economy air so not trackable so here is the info in pic following. Regards Brian

Here you go. Height is 19mm (about 3/4" I think) Pm me where you would like it sent to if you want still. Regards Brian

Hey Dwight I have one here that I haven't used in years that measures 1 5/8" x 5 1/2". It is made for clicker press work though. It does have holes for speedy rivet attaching but they can be removed if you wanted. You can have it for the postage cost ( probably around $10.00 AU). I will do a picture if you think it could work for you. Regards Brian

Your welcome. Following is a step that I hope to not have to do in future boxes. This was necessary due to me making the top and bottom leathers a little thicker than what I had planed when I printed the pla box inserts. The cardboard shown wrapped around is .2mm and I have changed the new insert to now allow for this. This helps to keep the sides nice and level ...ish. Firstly I've marked where the glue line is safe to go up to then below shows the procedure of then gluing up. A fine tip is very handy to have when doing this. With the cardboard applied it should look as below. We are now ready to apply the side strips. In the next picture you see where I have again marked the edge for the glue line but this time I have scratched it in deeply to match up with where the thread will be touching. Now the side strips and this part can be glued as shown. Note the threads have been already glued down well before this step. Using the printed jig above and below I am able to keep the side strip exactly level with the edge and as well use it to apply considerable pressure as I roll it into shape. Also this gives me something hard to press against when closing the join with the aid of a cow horn slicker/folder. Above I am using a 1" brass bar to help get a firm pressure over the full side. The next steps will go through the process of making up the Grosgrain ribbon inner supports. Thanks for following and please make any comment or ask questions if I seem to have missed anything so far. Brian

Next we have to stitch the side strips and note I prefer to pull the thread down before taking the stitch over the top Holding the threads firmly underneath helps to give a tidy finish Next will show how these strips are attached.

Just a thought it may help to lower the pressure of your foot tension. The leather looks really squishy and if you come up to a thicker change the job will want to push out on you. The shiny area where your foot has been makes me think that is possible. The pictures here also make me think that you are too close to the edge but that may not be the case in the other areas. If the leather your going over is skived it will also give you this problem and that would be solved by taking your skive further in. Brian

Sorry for taking so long and thank you all for the complements. I had made a couple of small changes from when I did the prototypes like from .5 to .6mm thicker on the top edge fold and it came back to bite me. This was done to make the tops grab onto the bases a little stronger than the did previously. As quite a few of these were pre sold and due, I had to get these done and make a few more tools to quicken things up at the same time. I will catch up on some more pictures tomorrow and hopefully get them on by nightfall. There are heaps of pics and getting them in an order to make any sense will take a bit of time. As per I have started some of the parts into videos and they make a lot more sense to me, but the editing (mostly cutting out the bad words) takes me quite a while I will load a couple over the next week and with some luck will evolve it into all of the steps combined at which stage I will delete the bit versions. If it is of interest to you it might pay to follow me here or on my you tube channel. I will notify here on LW at any rate. I have to be honest and say I get most of the joy creating how to do the project than I do making the product itself. I find that part boring normally after the first few and then the challenge starts again on how to make it even quicker and easier and better. Now if only I had Uwe to come and do the videos we'd have a video really in the "How its Made" quality. I will do my best. For now I will load a few pictures of the making of the side strips that wrap around later. Earlier you will see where I split these pieces and skiving is the next step so..... Above the strips have been skived and below shows the skive goes from around .3mm at the edge and tapers up to 1mm in the middle. Here I have used a thin cardboard about .2mm thick and spray glued to attach to the side strip leather as shown next. Molly my quality controller showing her disapproval of this poorly cut strip. After attaching all the cardboards to the leathers strips and spray glued again they are transported down to be folded the next day. These can now be folded with the use of a bone folder if you prefer or as I do in a modified folding machine as per the next three pictures. Stitching these comes next. I think the videos may be a lot clearer. Until tomorrow Regards Brian

Your welcome, I had to look up Macaroons and they do look similar but I think they would taste much better. Certain aisles I am not allowed in on the rare occasion I go shopping with the missus. If only I could just wiggle my nose and there they be I would be so happy. As for genius my wife is still laughing and I do gotta admit I should have done a couple of more samples before starting this run. I agreed to do a rush one for today for a wedding this weekend. NOT GENIUS. I got it done alright as promised but found I had to come up with another tool to expedite the velvet application to the foam process. That is the pictures I will load next. Thank you Bob. I think I will have to tidy this post up a bit and redo it. I might think about doing a video on one if a few people think so as well. The following 9 pictures are limited to how I do the velvet and foam parts. This above shows a knife that I had made for doing the cutting of the foam. This could be done with just a hole punch and cutting through with a knife later as I did on my prototypes. Note here in the close up I used two foams that I glued together and then covered with this white fabric. This was necessary to get the right depth and the fabric is because the green shade of the foam showed through on some lighter coloured velvets. This picture shows the velvets pre cut now and the cardboard rings to hold the foam in shape in the bucket behind. This shows a few of the stages of the foam being attached to the fabric. Just a thin glue line in the middle as yet. Here are some now glued and pressed into shape. The three on the left are contact glued and drying off ready to get to the next stage This one shows the new ring I did that helps the pressing into shape. As you see when it presses down it nicely contains and shapes the velvet. That's this part finished ready to be inserted later as seen in the following box I did today. Yes it had to be monogrammed as well. More on Friday. Brian

Thanks Darren, I would be good to see what they looked like but I have not had any luck finding any pictures. I will advise how the one's I've ordered from Uwe go when I receive them. All else failing I may think about getting some cast if a few here want to notify if they are interested. The site shows over 400 views so far on this post so I guess it may be possible. I think I will be wanting another set as I often chop and grind these things up to suit whatever the job needs. Regards Brian

Very nice work. The edging looks good and the stitching and even the covering of the snap.

At this stage I decided to test a couple and make sure it works alright. Better than making 88 wrong and find out. Glued up and ready to attach Leather fits in Ok Guiding ring placed Cup pushed in but was very tight Took way too long to get guiding ring out and off. Note that the soft leather has crept up over the ring in the middle. This is a problem. I quickly redrew the guiding rind to be .5mm larger in the hole size. I set it printing next as it will take about 45minutes to complete. While this was printing I all the top and bottom skiving. Pre glued the tops and sides Spray glued the leather tops The new ring worked good and I got the tops and bottoms done in around 90 minutes I think except where I got my counting wrong. As you see the contact works awfully well on this PLA stuff. More tomorrow

Thanks but I wont say that until i finish them. Couple of hick ups today. Yes they are all glued down construction and as I found today very well glued down construction. You have to rip the leather to get it off. I did one to many tops which meant I had one base short. I started with too many but then more orders caught me out. Here is today effort and trials. This shows all of one colour with the top+ bottoms done in the middle This next step shows the top with foam attached Only need to contact glue the tops here All attached in about 5 minutes. Now to prepare the leather for tops and bottoms. both top and bottoms split to 1.1ish mm I decided to split the side strips while I'm at it to .8mm The next step is skiving. I decided .5mm at edge tapering in about 13mm A roller helps a lot on this soft leather I've done one of the other colour to show you the skive better. More to come

Cant do that but I like it a lot. Brian

Will do.Time to see some more of yours I reckon. I can only say I wish I had this technology around 20 or more years back. The ease that so many different projects can be brought to real life is truly amazing. Following are a few more pictures for today. Picture below shows gluing the inside and outer side of the cups. This should be a good amount pre glued to start putting together. First I locate the leather into the 1st folding jig This ring jig helps to position the cup into position exactly Cup into position and ready to push down Above shows after pushed in and ring jig removed Here I am pushing the ring cup completely through the ring jig to tighten the outer edge. Note the inner leather is still loose and now goes down onto the next jig This is a very firm fit Here I use a holding tool and spin the inner jig out. This creates pressure and heat and helps the contact glue to stick well. (and it does) Presto more to come

Following are a few more of the steps I've done today. Shows a few of the parts cut and ready for splitting. Here I am splitting the leather to about .6mm. these pieces will be used where the cups come together in the middle. I did it this way as I did not want any joins at that part. Here I have elected to use spray glue to save time. They could be done after the next stage of cutting but I found it a bit fiddly to hold and glue. At this stage when they have tacked off well they are ready to have their second cut. This picture shows how I have used a clicker press to do the cutting.

This is my first production run on these wedding ring boxes so for future reference I am a taking a heap of pictures as I go. Due to a few rush jobs I have now only one week to get a minimum of 44 of these done. Many are pre sold and I don't think they will be happy if they don't arrive for their wedding. . Details may get a little sketchy as I go.Just ask if you're interested. These show the first prototypes I made This picture shows the cups I designed being printed on a second hand $400 au printer I bought. Here are the tools I printed to help me form the leather to the cups. Actually they come apart to look more like this picture. The large one at the back left is a sander to clean up any roughness inside and outside the cups. Placing the sandpaper part into the cup and spining to remove roughness. Same thing for the cup outside. After this step the cups should all be ready for gluing up. Next step is cutting the leather parts and splitting them to the correct thickness.

No most things we stitch are glued and set into place before stitching. One exception is the circular coin purses which I think can be seen on my u tube. I hate doing them so leave it to the more adequate women here. Hope none of them read this. I would have left the zip completely separated and glued each strip to the liner piece first then to the outer and then joined at the zip bottom. But if I were doing more than the one I would make up a board to 3/4" or so thick to that shape and use it to keep the zip in shape and even on both edges and use it to tap down on where the glue holds it in shape. Though these pictures attached are not quite the same the principle is the same. To cap - zip to liner - liner to outer. Hope that is of some help. Just found a pic of my helper "Molley" who is worn out from toooo much guard duty I guess Brian

Nice looking work and attention to detail on the stitching. Interesting design knife pouch as well. Brian

Beautiful stitching and I think that bag is quite safe being with your helper there. I was wondering how you would go stitching the zip in without being pre glued into place but your competency keeps showing through. Brian

In the past I have found that the softness/stretchiness of the leather means that for one leather the thickness needs to be this and another that. It is frustrating unless you do large runs of a colour and of the same type . On some jobs like bags I do binding but I don't bother with the binding attachments or for that matter even the dedicated binding machine I have. Where fabric tapes tend to stay nice and true and run smoothly many leathers don't like to play by the same rules. In mostcases it is quicker to glue it in place and sew than the time to get everything set perfect to bind. Just my opinion. Brian

From my point of view on this I think being a good maker and being a good marketer are very different skills and some I make for double in their mark up and some as much as 5 times in their mark up and as you said, once they pay my price the rest of it is their own business. 95% of my work is done with other peoples brands on it and that keeps a roof over my head and food on my plate as well as a few others so that's OK. I do prefer making product so that's what I mostly do. Brian