Swiss Saddler Clam Drawings

[ClaimedVacancy]

Good morning All,

I am new to the Forum, and this is my first post. I have been watching the forum for a good while and finally decided to join.

I've been working with leather for about 11-12 years, on and off. Over the last several years I've grown more serious about it.

I enjoy the Swiss Army style leather works by the various saddlers, and various European styles as I believe they are some of the most tried and true methods to joining pieces of leather together. I too have also started a small collection of original Swiss pouches, etc for continued inspiration.

I use fairly traditional tools when it comes to building leather pieces, and I'm always trying to collect antique examples of tools where I can. I saddle stitch everything, and use at the minimum Ritza 25 tiger thread. Vegetable tanned leather is almost exclusively what I use as well.

I'm certain I will post pictures of my work, but if you are interested my Instagram name is also ClaimedVacancy: https://www.instagram.com/claimedvacancy/

Main Topic:

I followed this particular thread for awhile. I am interested in building the Swiss saddler clam, and I have not found any plans or drawings of said clam. I could spend the next few months in CAD drawing one from all the various images, but I believe there are more accurate drawings out there. 

  https://shop.leder-louis.ch/product/Sattler-Naehzange-schweizer-Modell./587

Can anyone input on this?

Thank you all!

[ClaimedVacancy]

[chuck123wapati]

that is nice looking alright i would love to see how the mechanics work.

[ClaimedVacancy]

Agreed, chuck123wapati.

All that I can tell is that the lower jaw actuates, the foot pedal is pressed to apply pressure to the clamping action. There also appears to be a lock that can be tripped and held in place by a notch.

Based off the pictures the foot pedal has a cam that creates the actuation of the lower jaw, and the steel components apply friction at the right places.

If I don't get any information on plans, drawings, etc, I will start an R&D into building one with baltic birch ply. It's not overly complicated, but the geometry could get tricky.

[dikman]

Interesting. Very nicely designed. The operation looks fairly simple (on the original one), the black bar has two pivot points for the two arms, the foot lever pivots and pushes directly onto the bottom of the left arm to close the jaws. The metal contraption on the foot lever would be a friction lock to keep the jaws closed, with a foot lever to release it. Initially I was visualising a cam inside but that would be unnecessarily complicated.

Not that difficult to make, although ideally the curved arms would need to be steamed and bent for maximum strength. It would be an interesting project, except for the fact that I don't need one.

[ClaimedVacancy]

Hey everyone, i never lost sight of the project! Ive really just been trying to procure one but it’s proving very difficult. There is a site in Switzerland that sells them, but they don't ship to the US. They are also around $1,000 and thats just a bit high. It’s the site i posted at the top. 

Now i can find them on Rocado. But yet again, no shipping. Just local pickup in Switzerland. 
https://www.ricardo.ch/de/a/naehbock-sattler-lederarbeiten-1236720066/

So, back to the drawing board. Literally.
Leveraging some drafting skills from the military, i’m working out the draft. Ill be building this out of baltic birch ply with a sapele base (92mm thick!). Overall, it will come out to around 94cm tall. I may reduce this to around 84 as i have some play around the foot lever cam. I just need to get to cutting pieces and assembling to see of it beds together before doing so.
 

   

 

[ClaimedVacancy]

Update: 

Template has been cut out. Now to cut pieces of birch ply, glue, shape and trim, drill and fixture together. Hopefully everything beds well, but i expect some geometry to be out a bit. 
 

Im expecting to use some beryllium bushings for the pivot points such as the right arm and foot lever. That way i can get muchhhh greater life out of the working holes. The left arm is stationary, and the cover plates will affix to them accordingly.  
 

Ill need to create the friction lock trip. Ill be making that out of mild steel. Flat stock and just bent at the appropriate areas for the piece on lever. The guide rail at the foot lever ill have to create a mount for that, but its straight forward. 
 

The spring at the top, also straight forward. Ill drill holes for a small nub on each arm where the spring will rest. This is what will push the right arm open when the friction lock is disengaged  

Edited January 22 by ClaimedVacancy