luke213

Personally I'd prefer they be made mostly like Ring's in the sense that they emulate the real gun. For me that's the reason I haven't bought any so far too much work fixing them to work with my process. I'd say most guys who've worked with the other guns on the market have their own ways of dealing with those issues and would rather do it themselves or at least that's how I see it. Only other suggestion would be target some of the oddball guns that no one makes a dummy gun for. IE HK P7 PSP and the Colt revolvers for instance, but I'd stick to those type of guns that are fairly popular but not supported by Ring's and lesser by Duncans. Another plus to building them this way is they could be used for tactical training as well and be marketed the way Ring's does to law enforcement etc. Luke

I'm curious what process did you use to offset the front like that, I've seen that in knife sheaths etc and I've always wondered how it was done. Luke

Hey Chris sorry to see you go I had planned on picking up yet another for a backup;) Glad to hear you're going to spend more time with family, time fly's and we all know too well it goes far too fast. Take care and good luck with everything! Luke

I would say most small compressors will work but like he said it's how long it keeps up the pressure. I ran on a really small one in my shop in the motohome for the first year+ without much issue just couldn't stitch a full belt etc without stopping to let it get pressure back up. I would put a small pressure guage near the machine and just watch to make sure your above about 80psi and if it gets down slow down or stop and wait for it to rebound. Either way they do run on smaller compressors fairly well. That said you can also add in an extra storage tank and get them to run longer between cycles, I used to run 2 extra 5 gallon tanks in line bringing my capacity up to around 15 gallons in my portable shop which helped allot. Longer cycles to the recover but less constant running. Because of my lack of space at the time the extra tanks worked when I didn't have enough room for a larger compressor. Just a few other ideas;) Take care! Luke

Not sure which bit your talking about, a picture of the part or a part number from the manual on Tippmann's site would probably clear it up though;) Take care! Luke

Well I'm right there with ya sir;) I wish I could take credit but the gun/picture aren't mine, just one I found on the net. I do however carry a nice old beat up 1911 that was made in 1940's;) It however isn't very pretty, missing a great deal of the bluing from carry but it's a dang fine old shooter, this is a pic of it in my old horsehide rig before I upgraded to my fancy exotic Texas holster. This is my current carry rig that happens to be on my hip at the moment with that gun in it;) Looking good;) Interesting take on the design with the reinforcement piece, should work just fine with a light gun like that:) Take care! Luke

I should mention that Thad's rigs seem to always include a welt in the designs, somewhere I've got an edge picture of those rigs as well. But I agree, in my little bit of testing there wasn't any sight snag. I love the look of these rigs, but I'm a bit of a practical sort when it comes to carry and I don't like to sling a full sized 1911 on a single belt attachment, I prefer to distribute the weight even on a good gun belt. So I prefer two attachments but I do love the look of his rigs even if the carry of them isn't for me;) Take care! Luke

Same model, different holster: Here are a couple others of his work, different rigs: None of these are my pics by the way, just some I found, I keep a collection, these are google search though. Take care! Luke

Yep I like his work allot, just the style of it is very distinct. Even if you were to make a straight copy of his rig, it's different, and that's what makes this job/hobby fun;) Take care! Luke

Are you talking about the presser foot cylinder? I've not actually taken the cylinders apart, but depending on how they are sealed and how the piston is built it might work. If you can cycle it by hand then I would say there is a pretty good chance it will work fine. I can't think of anything it would hurt other than the cylinder itself if it didn't work so I would go for it;) Take care! Luke

Your likely thinking of the Thad Rybka "Rhodesian" very nice simple design, as allot of his rigs are, I love his simple look and apparently business style. He doesn't have a website, nor post a phone number, you have to mail him to contact him;) Which I find to be well interesting in this day and age, but also adds allot to the intrigue of his work. Could be wrong but that's the only rig I've seen built like that before;) It's kinda like an upside down speed scabbard, here is an example of the rig I'm talking about. Take care! Luke

Well I've been running mine for quite a while now as well and I've learned way more than I can type out here about them:) Mine came, well not functioning, so I got the joy or fixing and building bits as needed. Now nearly a year later I finally have it working as well as it ever has, lots of little minor problems that I would bet most guys never see;) I think though I've replaced all the old parts that were worn out or broken when I got the machine and it should be pretty good and stable going forward. I would say my experience with the Aerostitch is that it's a great machine that can take a little tinkering from time to time to keep running right. That said, most of it is coarse enough work that it's fairly easy to keep going with parts and some phone help from Tippmann. Tom is the man to talk to down there about the Aerostitch's and I've spent quite a bit of time talking with him about my machine. Mine actually came out after the last manual, and they never produced one for my model, it's actually slightly different than all the 4 manuals they made;) So he at one point drew out a pneumatic diagram for me to redo the hose's and replace the missing ones. Good luck and feel free to shout with questions, most everyone here who has posted myself included would be happy to help;) Enjoy the machine! Luke

On leather I've had really great luck with Springfield Leather, you can get Hermann Oak there which should have a nice napp on the back of the leather. www.springfieldleather.com They are also a sponsor of the forum but they have some of the best customer service I've ever received. Good luck! Luke

That makes sense and I hadn't really thought about it in that manner as far as the leather going before the thread. I guess I was focused on abrading the thread or it being cut and unraveling, because I know how difficult it is to remove a saddle stitch and lock isn't easy but it's certainly easier than saddle stitch to remove. Either way I'm not too worried about it just was wondering if anyone else had any ideas, I guess I could have worded it as a way to stop unraveling. I guess if we overstitch to lock out stitching double stitching on top seems to me like it would lock every stitch so to speak, but I admit that it wouldn't look very good aesthetically. Either way just a brainstorm of sorts;) So I took your advice and I think I improved. I actually broke the top thread at about the half-way point and that's why there are two spots with overstitch. I used a small flat headed hammer to tap the threads after lightly casing the leather and it looks like it removed nearly all the marks from the foot(well I also took the foot and filed off the sharp edges then buffed it with 2000 grit wet paper). I missed my groove at one spot but I think it's an improvement. Any suggestions as always are appreciated:) Oh and I forgot to mention I know my tension was a little tight on the needle side I didn't notice till half way through, and I've been fighting with tension quite a bit. Actually that's another question in itself. I seem to have too much top tension but it's nearly completely off. I've double checked that it's threaded per the manual and I'm really lost. Basically to get it to work properly tension wise the primary and secondary have to be at around 1/2 turn(rather than 1.5 and 2), and the bobbin tension is actually not 1lb. or so of pull I would guess I'm running like 3lbs. just to try and get some adjustment to the top side of the system. If I'm understanding the mechanics of the operation getting the bobbin down to 1lb. of pull would require even looser tension on top(which of course you can't get when you're as far adjusted as it goes). How much tension should I have on the top thread is lbs? When pulling through the needle for instance? Just trying to get a ballpark because I suspect my problem is something either in one of the tensioners is wonky or perhaps I'm threading it wrong despite reading and watching the video's. Thanks again for all the help:) Luke

Good info all around thanks;) When you say oversew are you saying that you run back over your start point. Say making a square or circle, coming back to where your first stitches are and running over 3-4 of them to lock the end? I assume that's what your saying, I had tried that with better results also I'm just thinking on my normal popular rig the Texas holster I've got stop points where the clips are on either side of the rig, for the rest of it I can over-run but in two places I'm going to have to figure out a start like this;) One other rather odd question, lockstitch and it's strength vs. handstitch. I know hand stitch is stronger but what about laying two lockstitches in every hole, it seems to me that would be as good or better than running a double stitch where they are separate. I'm just kinda brainstorming here but I've been trying to think of a way to make the lockstitch even stronger. Thanks again! Luke

Well I wanted to update everyone and ask a few more questions;) I've gotten it working, lots of fiddling with tension and my needle bar(I think that's the proper name) was sticking. Either way I got that straight and got the new presser foot and now I'm stitching;) Here is one of my test strips that I did to ask another question. I'm having some trouble on the start and finish bits. I've watched the Tippmann videos and it says to go over the first couple stitches and I can do that, looks fair to decent from the top(will get better I'm sure with time). But the back it not looking good. How can I fix this back. Or more aptly how can I start and stop a stitch better to the point where it will look good. This IMHO isn't good enough at all:) That though is why I have 6 more weeks before I need to produce with this machine and plenty of scrap material to test on. I do appreciate all the help getting to this stage;) One other question, when I spoke to Tom at Tippmann he informed me that he can't get the 230S needles anymore, anyone know somewhere else to get them? Thanks again! Luke

Thanks sir;) I'm around a couple of the difference concealed carry sites, Defensive carry some, WeTheArmed allot(I actually sponsor that one) and a few others. I've been lucky to have some really good guys who have loved the holsters I've built for them so the majority of my work has been word of mouth and it sure has been keeping me busy:) I'm hoping to save some time with the Aerostitch and get to the point where I get days off again:) We shall see though, for only really opening up orders for the last few months I'm actually surprised as how my customer base has grown. It's been keeping me busy and I love my job so I can't complain;) The guys out there carrying in my gear seem to like it as well since I've had quite a few guys order one, like it and come back and order a couple for other guns in their collection so it's been good. But like I said I think one of the best bits is the customers, I think this market, carry and guns brings out some of the best and most interesting people you could meet:) I also love being able to provide gear that makes guys carry more often, I figure anything I can do to get more guys carrying every single day is a better world for all of us. That's my little feel good about what I do for a living now, my wife goes to work and fixes people(she's a nurse) and I just make sure people have the gun there when they really need it to protect good people;) Take care! Luke

Sweet that's what I'm hoping;) On the leather I use 100% Hermann Oak on everything so not too much for worries on the presser foot I don't think but I figure we'll see once I get it going. Once I started I used some imports and some leather from Tandy(no idea what it was) and I once I tried Hermann Oak I stopped even messing with the other stuff. I will say I'm curious on Wickett and Craig since I've heard it's not as hard as Hermann Oak and I can think of a few projects outside holsters that it might be interesting for but in holsters I really am very happy with my Hermann Oak. Thanks again I'm hoping I'm getting close to the answer here;) Luke

I appreciate the help:) One of the things Tom had suggested was placing a piece of cut out cardboard(just cereal box type) behind the shim in the shuttle to basically shim out it just a smidge and that seems to have helped some(did that today) and might be part of the reason I'm getting back to some function. I might just stop by Tippmann when we head home next month from Texas to Michigan since I have to go fairly close to that area anyhow, might try to set something up if I can't get this working before then. At least with that I might save having to ship this unit out:) Oh and on air I'm running a fairly small compressor I think the 5 gallon or so model, seems to cycle fairly often but my pressures never really get below about 80-100ish, I've got it set to top out at around 110psi at the moment which according to Tom again shouldn't hurt anything. He seemed to think that 100 is actually about where they should run rather than the recommended 80 so I guess I will take his word for it;) I'm hoping that this new presser foot with solve the material moving and hopefully make some difference as well but we'll see. Luke

It's clearing it, actually that's the problem it's clearing it by too much and allowing the material to jump rather than hold flat, so time for a real one, or another kydex one but I think I need to shelve the project and clear my head to get caught back up on this weeks holster backlog;) Yep he sure did take allot off the machine, let's just say there are allot of new parts;) I certainly have spent more than I was hoping to on this project machine but in the same token I'm around $1000 right now, which isn't terrible for an Aerostitch from what I've seen in the used market, but if I have to spend much more I could have just bought used and saved the days of headaches we shall see. That's the nature of DIY stuff though, sometimes you come out way ahead sometimes you're kicking yourself the whole time for not just picking it up without the fight;) I gotta admit though most times even though I don' t realize it while I'm fighting with the device, I do enjoy the challenge from time to time;) Thanks again! Luke

Thanks again, I do have the bobbin coming off the right direction. I do also have all the 4 manuals that Tippmann has listed but apparently my machine was one of the last ones produced and it doesn't actually have an accurate manual according to Tom. He sent me a hand drawn diagram as far as the pneumatics and how things had to be routed hose wise. It's very different than all the other versions, mine does not have the main gas block, it's got a different one attached to the bottom of the main piston. I also don't have the pneumatic thread tensioner on top, and I do have forward reverse function. No manual needle set, and no bobbin winder. Actually here is a picture of it the day I got it, now it has all the bits that were missing installed but you can see it's a little different than the ones listed in the other manuals(oh and I was a little aggressive with the blur, my workbench was a real mess that day, well it is everyday but I didn't have anything as a backdrop:). Thanks again! Luke

Nothing concrete yet but today I got a very few very ugly stitches out of it. So I think I'm heading in the right direction. I lubed the bobbin track with some white lithium grease and did some other fiddling. I think one of the things holding me back right now is the lack of a proper presser foot. I held the material differently today when I got those couple out of it. So now it's the waiting game for the parts. I also need to remember to order some of that bigger thread and some of those 230s needles. Now another dumb question on the thread and needle front. I keep seeing smalled diameter thread in the bobbin, why? I guess I don't understand if there is a reason for this or why it's done. If not can I just run the same size in both top and bottom? And if so can I run 346 in both? I guess I'm looking for a nice heavy stitch that is at least similar to what I see when I currently hand-stitch and this smaller thread just doesn't give me the confidence in this machine stitch that I think I would have with a thicker thread. Sorry for all the simple questions I think I'm just lost because I know very very little about sewing machines in general so I'm reading everything I can find but I'm still quite a ways behind the curve here;) Thanks again! Luke

That's a question for ya, on the 346 does that need a bigger needle and if so what one? I really prefer a thick stitch I'm used to handstitching and to be honest this 277 looks freaking tiny compared to what I normally use;) I did some more fiddling and got no where I'm done for the night tomorrow is a fresh day. Thanks again! Luke

Yeah on the needle not being a chisel point that's apparently what you get when you tell them what you want and they are wrong;) That said I need to order some needles any suggestions on where to get them? Or just through Tippmann? Needle seems to be all the way into the needle bad I wonder if it's the angle making it look weird maybe? The bobbin is oriented pretty much spot on with what your saying. I just tried some 4oz or so suede and no go with that either. What should the tension on the bobbin be? Since I just got it new I know that bit in particular hasn't been used and is likely not set properly(and side question could that be at all related). Thanks again for the suggestions;) Luke

I actually was missing the bobbin shuttle and bought one new from Tippmann with the other parts. Tom Black had told me to just use a little air tool oil around that area but keep it fairly clean so that's what I did. Here is a picture of the needle threaded, I believe it is correct. This is taken facing kinda offset in front of the bobbin area. (ignore the kydex presser foot, it was a test just to get something in there since Tippmann didn't get the foot into my order, so it's in route. Works so far in testing.) Thanks;) Luke Oh and on timing I've seen how it's supposed to work to a degree but I guess I don't understand. Timing is the rotation of the bobbin in relation to the needle stroke correct? So if the bobbin say was only rotated not far enough when the needle hit the bottom of it's travel would cause it to not pick up the bobbin thread? Thanks again. Forgot to add that it is a 200 sized needle(according to stamp near the top of the needle). Luke