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Hi all, I feel like I have been given a bit more than I can chew. I ordered a Seiko CW8B2 cylinder arm machine. The supplier provided it with a Ho Hsing i90M. Clearly it was my own stupidity assuming the controller would be basic and simple. This is my first industrial machine and the controller is way too complicated (to be fair, I live in Hong Kong and communicating with the seller was not that easy). First off, the controller is mounted to the motor and away from the user so you need to go around the table to make changes - I didn't expect that and I would have thought the large controller could be turned to face me but it seems that it cannot. It would be great if I understood how to make adjustments on the controller (the manual is quite complicated). Right now I set it for a very low speed - like 2spm (getting to that setting was a miracle). However, all I really want to set it to do is set it for slow for light depression of the treadle and increasingly fast for increasingly heavy depression of the treadle. Does anyone have a clue how to set this controller for this? Does anyone else have this motor and controller or a similar Ho Hsing model? The manual is here: https://www.hohsing.com/wp-content/uploads/download/i90m-manual-tw-en.pdf Many thanks in advance for any assistance in plain English.

Does anyone have any experience with or heard anything about the Nippy NPS7 mini-skiver?

Does anyone have any knowledge of or experience with the new Nippy NPS7 mini-skiver? I have found very little online about it. I don't have the room for a full sized skiver and while this piece of kit is not inexpensive I just cannot keep skiving with a knife. I cannot get thin enough or consistent enough. Any experience with this or comments would be very helpful before making such a big investment. Thanks.

Water is a solvent. Just because plastic doesn't dissolve in water means nothing. Liquid CO2 is a solvent and it won't dissolve plastic. The properties of the solvent and its target are both relative. There are compatibility issues and incompatibility issues that's all.

Sorry to bother the group. I have a very limited amount of space for my tiny leather workshop and I have to be selective about tooling. I've been looking at ways to die cut small pieces of leather and since I am in the process of investigating hot stamping machines I was wondering if the Chinese-made hot stamping machine I am considering could effectively die cut veg tanned leather (say max 5mm thickness) if it is rated to exert 160kg of force. If I absolutely need an arbor press or a hand clicker then I guess I may have to bite that bullet but I was wondering if any of you would know if the hot stamping press may be a decent work around? Thanks.

I have tried all kinds of edge finishing gums. The one I have found to be absolutely the best so far is Seiwa Tokonole. I have also learned it is important to use any finishing gum or other liquid very sparingly - I now use my finger. If it is too wet then when burnishing the leather gets "smooshed." A little goes a long way using as little pressure as possible to generate the necessary friction. This has all been trial and error and reading a lot of forums, including this one. Seriously I love the Seiwa - I have no interest in the product. I like it because it is like a cream and viscous. It is much harder to apply too much as it would be with the gum tragacanths that I have bought in the past. Also, because it is creamy it is unlikely to spill over your edge onto the front or back of your work. It gets a really good shine. In solidarity with the others in this thread I too find edge painting to be both an art and science - one which I have yet to master. Either my roller gets stuck and does not spin freely (often) or I find that the paint settles thin and I can still see the seam through the edge paint. I sand and try to "push" the dry paint to hide the seam. Not very effective. Does anyone know of a good substance to use to fill the small seam cracks that will take leather paint afterward?

That is what I call real leather work. Beautiful. I love the stirrup details.