Leather Belt Edge Painter

[BianVariani]

As a Leather Artisan I have struggled with Edge-painting leather belt straps, so I engineered my own edge painting tools which work great and currently solved all my problems. Does anyone else have an alternative suggestions? I always love to hear and to learn from others and new techniques.

[JayEhl]

I'm certainly not a commercial belt maker and have only made a handful of belts but I use a very small piece of sponge about the size of a finger nail folded in half squeezed together by a wooden clothespin.  I found the wool daubers get too messy but this one I just toss the sponge away when I'm done.   Works pretty well for me. 

[chuck123wapati]

That's way cool, how do you manage different colors. My products aren't all flat straight belts so it wouldn't get the use from me. I use the back end of a paint brush. 

[BianVariani]

I'm a fashion designer by trade. At one point or another I think I purchased most available products that are used for hobbyists, professionals, and commercial/industrial machines. Most machines lack technical support from the manufactures and calling the retailers are pretty much useless (they are not designers or end users for the most part.

In addition, most products come with a handful of problems and usually they do the job but not as expected. At the end of the day you are left with some form of disappointment. This was me for the first few decades as a designer. I took a few years off from the fashion-life and studied Mechanical Engineering, bought a CNC machine and tons of other tools and I started to design tools/machines that would please a professional fashion designer in the leather artisan-industry. Before that I was not very technical in terms of being a machinist, I learned!!

I have created about 13 different types of tools, machines and gadgets that solve a few issues that I faced in the leather industry.

1 hour ago, chuck123wapati said:

That's way cool, how do you manage different colors. My products aren't all flat straight belts so it wouldn't get the use from me. I use the back end of a paint brush. 

Here is my Instagram with a few things I made: https://www.instagram.com/varianibian

My Website: https://variani.com Email: bian@variani.com

 

 

I will take a few pictures and try to explain my process for belt strap cutting and edge painting.

[BianVariani]

chuck123wapati

 

Chuck123wapati, have you tried a solution like this before? I have built many different prototypes for edge painters and the felt concept with the groove works flawlessly.

[Doc Reaper]

2 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

That's way cool, how do you manage different colors. My products aren't all flat straight belts so it wouldn't get the use from me. I use the back end of a paint brush. 

Hey Chuck123, I take a Popsicle break then split the stick

[BianVariani]

The problem I faced with my "Paint Gun Edge Painter Conversion" innovation is that it's too big and clumsy when your belt is sitting in 6mm groove and you need to get above it. The gun would hit the table  BUT if you are free styling it and holding your product, then no problems. But I have better methods that work as well.

2 hours ago, chuck123wapati said:

That's way cool, how do you manage different colors. My products aren't all flat straight belts so it wouldn't get the use from me. I use the back end of a paint brush. 

Look at my post with the Spray Gun. All you need to modify is the tip. I customized everything in black.

[chuck123wapati]

7 minutes ago, BianVariani said:

The problem I faced with my "Paint Gun Edge Painter Conversion" innovation is that it's too big and clumsy when your belt is sitting in 6mm groove and you need to get above it. The gun would hit the table  BUT if you are free styling it and holding your product, then no problems. But I have better methods that work as well.

Look at my post with the Spray Gun. All you need to modify is the tip. I customized everything in black.

that is cool!!! what does air pressure improve? I mean couldn't you do the same with just gravity feed? 

[chuck123wapati]

51 minutes ago, BianVariani said:

I'm a fashion designer by trade. At one point or another I think I purchased most available products that are used for hobbyists, professionals, and commercial/industrial machines. Most machines lack technical support from the manufactures and calling the retailers are pretty much useless (they are not designers or end users for the most part.

In addition, most products come with a handful of problems and usually they do the job but not as expected. At the end of the day you are left with some form of disappointment. This was me for the first few decades as a designer. I took a few years off from the fashion-life and studied Mechanical Engineering, bought a CNC machine and tons of other tools and I started to design tools/machines that would please a professional fashion designer in the leather artisan-industry. Before that I was not very technical in terms of being a machinist, I learned!!

I have created about 13 different types of tools, machines and gadgets that solve a few issues that I faced in the leather industry.

Here is my Instagram with a few things I made: https://www.instagram.com/varianibian

My Website: https://variani.com Email: bian@variani.com

 

 

I will take a few pictures and try to explain my process for belt strap cutting and edge painting.

i was thinking more on clean up or when you need to change colors. how hard is that?

17 minutes ago, Doc Reaper said:

Hey Chuck123, I take a Popsicle break then split the stick

lol i keep a whole jar full of them babies. They are multi taskers.

[BianVariani]

This will always work, but I need perfect pressure and flawless paint strokes so I built the concept with the linear guide.

[BianVariani]

11 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

that is cool!!! what does air pressure improve? I mean couldn't you do the same with just gravity feed? 

I have the air pressure end capped off with a bolt (not needed). You just can use the trigger and pump the paint to the felt.

[BianVariani]

21 minutes ago, chuck123wapati said:

i was thinking more on clean up or when you need to change colors. how hard is that?

lol i keep a whole jar full of them babies. They are multi taskers.

I use different markers for different colours. No cleanup needed, just put the cap back on and put it in a ziplock bag.

[BianVariani]

2 minutes ago, BianVariani said:

I use different markers for different colours. No cleanup needed, just put the cap back on and put it in a ziplock bag.

 

Right now I am building a custom marker design that will be more user friendly for my applications.