acewoodturner

The workshop is only 900 square feet and when I moved in there was a wall down the middle dividing it in 2. I have quite a lot of machinery and timber in it so everything has to be mobile in order to be moved into place and then out of the way. The floor is very level and it doesn't move of its own accord. The casters are rated at 250Kg each so there is no danger of them breaking up. Next year I am getting rid of my timber drying kiln as I will be no longer planking up trees with the chainsaw mill and then using the kiln to dry the timber. That will free up a good bit of space so I should be able to leave machinery where I want to use it. The double cutter is great. I had to drill a 40mm dia hole so I could poke my finger through to get the leather out. I specifically asked for it to be acrylic so I could see easily where the cutters were being placed and I could avoid marks etc on the leather.

Thought I would update this thread as I have been using the clicker press for 2 weeks now. I bought 3 big rotating caster wheels as I need to be able to move it about in the workshop. At 625Kg I had fun getting it off the pallet and the wheels on but I managed it on my own without ending up in A&E. I got my 2 x 90mm cutters in an acrylic sheet from Arrow Cutters and ordered in my first 10 oz hide from J Wood Leathers which was 28 square feet. As someone who is used to working with wood which is a rigid structure, working with a hide which is malleable and floppy is a bit of a novelty. The last photo is a coaster after being engraved with one of my lasers. Its is very sharp and looks excellent. I give it a brush with a small nylon brush before spraying with Fiebing's Resolene. I did try putting this on with a cloth but found spraying it gave a far better result. The speed at which I can make 250 coasters out of this one hide, as compared to making them out of wood as usual, is about 5% of the time taken. Think I am going to enjoy using it!

Hi Matt Its not that critical. I will sell them off cheaply or give them away at Christmas time. Thank you for your kind offer though.

Just thought I would update this post as its been a few months and progress has been made. A couple of weeks ago on a well known auction site an Atom SE15 clicker press ad appeared with a buy it now and I got it for £700. Its going to cost me a couple of hundred quid to get a machinery co it to stick it on a pallet and move it to the door. That's happening next Tuesday and on the Wednesday its getting picked up and then delivered to me on Friday. Its had very light use over the 20 years it been in the company cutting out thin hardboard shapes and its lain unused for about 5 years. Its even comes with a used board and an unused board so I am pretty pleased with that. It looks pretty clean and well looked after by the small business that used it and they are going to include all their cutters in the off chance I may be able to use them. Just need to order up my own cutter for the leather coasters and buy in the leather and I am in business. As a ps I did buy in some packets of coasters from Tandy and the speed of the delivery is very good. The downside is that they are all varying thickness which I don't like and now I will be able to get them all the thickness I want all the time.

First post so if its been answered elsewhere, please forgive but I have searched without luck. I run a small one person business making wooden gifts which are laser-engraved or cut out on the laser. Sometimes they are engraved and then cut out. Currently I am making around about 5000 90mm dia circular coasters which are laser-engraved. There is a lot of work involved in making these , particularly with reference to the sanding, most of which is done by hand. I am struggling to keep up with the quantities required and I don't want to get into RSI in my hands. I do a fair amount of Welsh slate coasters and hope to increase the amount of these I sell. I am looking to buy in some 4mm veg tan leather coasters, 90mm in diameter or thereabouts. I bought some in from Tandy thinking the UK shop would be supplying them and was surprised to get an email telling me they were coming in from the US. They are 2.7mm thick which is too thin for my liking but will do for practice engraving. With Brexit/no Brexit on the horizon I would prefer not to have to import them Can anybody suggest a UK supplier who can sell me wholesale supplies of coasters. There is the possibility in the next year or two if the leather coasters take off I might buy a clicker press and start cutting them out myself and save a few quid that way. Many thanks Mike