Struggles with Consew skiving machine

[trich]

Hi all. My first post here, so hopefully I'm putting it in the right place... I've got a Consew skiving machine that I'm really struggling to work consistently. I do automotive upholstery, so relatively speaking I'm using fairly thin and soft leather, typically about 1.3-1.4mm thick. The challenge I'm having is that when I'm trying to skive down edges where I'll be doing French seams, for example, I can't get the machine to adjust thickness progressively. For example, if I'm trying to get it down to 0.9mm for example, I'll gradually move the presser foot down. Initially it will taken nothing off, and then all of a sudden I'll make the tiniest of adjustments and it will jump all the way down to 0.65 or 0.7mm. I can then back it off just a hair and it will revert back to not trimming anything off. I've sharpened the blade multiple times, gone through all sorts of set-up adjustments and nothing seems to work. Really trying to figure out what I'm missing here as right now the machine is basically useless to me. Any guidance would be appreciated.

[Garyak]

4 hours ago, trich said:

Hi all. My first post here, so hopefully I'm putting it in the right place... I've got a Consew skiving machine that I'm really struggling to work consistently. I do automotive upholstery, so relatively speaking I'm using fairly thin and soft leather, typically about 1.3-1.4mm thick. The challenge I'm having is that when I'm trying to skive down edges where I'll be doing French seams, for example, I can't get the machine to adjust thickness progressively. For example, if I'm trying to get it down to 0.9mm for example, I'll gradually move the presser foot down. Initially it will taken nothing off, and then all of a sudden I'll make the tiniest of adjustments and it will jump all the way down to 0.65 or 0.7mm. I can then back it off just a hair and it will revert back to not trimming anything off. I've sharpened the blade multiple times, gone through all sorts of set-up adjustments and nothing seems to work. Really trying to figure out what I'm missing here as right now the machine is basically useless to me. Any guidance would be appreciated.

The feed stone needs to be so close to the blade you can barley fit a hair in there. Bigger the gap, more it’ll take off. I have a techsew so it’s the same as yours. These things literally work in micrometers. Might not be your issue, but without seeing your rig, it’s the best I got. Have you seen the roller feet on Amazon? 10$ best addition for the thing: 

[trich]

Thanks for the reply Garyak. I'll take another look at it, but I believe the feed stone is just shy of touching the bell knife, so not much room to bring it closer there, will double check though. Also, I'm not familiar with the roller foot you mentioned. I just took a look and it's an interesting design (one on Amazon, the other on Ali) One is sort of conically shaped, the other more of a rounded dumb bell, so to speak. Which are you having success with?

[toxo]

I struggled with my 801 for a while (and still do sometimes). Your asking the worst of it with soft thin leather. Thick veg tan is a breeze, is why any YT vid trying to look good uses it. As someone said fractions matter. Don't forget the tension. I found that mattered a lot on thin stuff. Make sure everything is not just the right distance and tension but also the right shape. That feed roller is shaped like a rugby ball for a reason. It wants to be close to the knife at both ends and the middle. You'll get there, just make sure you have lots of scrap. Good luck.

[Garyak]

1 hour ago, trich said:

Thanks for the reply Garyak. I'll take another look at it, but I believe the feed stone is just shy of touching the bell knife, so not much room to bring it closer there, will double check though. Also, I'm not familiar with the roller foot you mentioned. I just took a look and it's an interesting design (one on Amazon, the other on Ali) One is sort of conically shaped, the other more of a rounded dumb bell, so to speak. Which are you having success with?

When you use the side to side knob, in conjunction with the up & down knob, you can literally get the stone to less than a sheet of paper, hopefully that’s it, I went and cranked mine up after I responded to you and got that sucker super close…. Anyway here’s the one I use, it’s good for about 5/8 on the edges… perfect for thinning them down to sewing or lacing width. 

[MtlBiker]

9 hours ago, Garyak said:

When you use the side to side knob, in conjunction with the up & down knob, you can literally get the stone to less than a sheet of paper, hopefully that’s it, I went and cranked mine up after I responded to you and got that sucker super close…. Anyway here’s the one I use, it’s good for about 5/8 on the edges… perfect for thinning them down to sewing or lacing width. 

I bought a set of two rollers like that off (if I remember right) ebay, or maybe Aliexpress.  One of the two must be defective as it doesn't turn at all.  And I haven't tried the other one yet, as I was just too super frustrated with my Consew skiver eating leather.  Obviously there's a real art to using a bell skiver, both in the actual way you use it and certainly in how you adjust it.  SIGH  Lately I've been real busy with waxed canvas products but will get back to working with leather again soon.  So I'm watching this thread to see the great advice.

[MtlBiker]

@trich - Just a heads up... if you want someone to be notified that you've replied to them, either do it as a reply to a specific message (rather than starting a blank reply) or better yet, type the ampersand (@) and then start typing the name of the person.  Choose it from the popup list that appears.

I've got a Consew DCS-S4 skiver, same as yours, and I too have been having a lot of trouble and frustration with it.  So I'm watching this thread closely to see what I can learn from the more experienced users.

Good luck!
 

Edited July 6, 2023 by MtlBiker

[Northmount]

2 hours ago, MtlBiker said:

type the ampersand (@)

Ampersand is '&' 

The commonly called 'at' symbol is '@' technically called 'asperand' very similar name.  Had to look it up, just knew it wasn't an ampersand.

[MtlBiker]

36 minutes ago, Northmount said:

Ampersand is '&' 

The commonly called 'at' symbol is '@' technically called 'asperand' very similar name.  Had to look it up, just knew it wasn't an ampersand.

Darn senior moment.  SIGH

It's often called the "at sign".

[RockyAussie]

On 7/5/2023 at 10:03 AM, trich said:

Hi all. My first post here, so hopefully I'm putting it in the right place... I've got a Consew skiving machine that I'm really struggling to work consistently. I do automotive upholstery, so relatively speaking I'm using fairly thin and soft leather, typically about 1.3-1.4mm thick. The challenge I'm having is that when I'm trying to skive down edges where I'll be doing French seams, for example, I can't get the machine to adjust thickness progressively. For example, if I'm trying to get it down to 0.9mm for example, I'll gradually move the presser foot down. Initially it will taken nothing off, and then all of a sudden I'll make the tiniest of adjustments and it will jump all the way down to 0.65 or 0.7mm. I can then back it off just a hair and it will revert back to not trimming anything off. I've sharpened the blade multiple times, gone through all sorts of set-up adjustments and nothing seems to work. Really trying to figure out what I'm missing here as right now the machine is basically useless to me. Any guidance would be appreciated.

With soft upholstery type leathers you will need to have the spring pressure for the feed roller on the lowest setting. You will need to polish your presser foot shiny enough to see your teeth when smile. Less pressure means the the leather does not so easily roll back as it feeds through into the bell knife edge. A roller foot is a lot better for this in my opinion. The distance of the presser foot to the edge of the bell should be quite close (.3mm) as you can see in this video I made - 

A separate motor that allows the bell to run continuously at around 1270 rpm  also helps as when you are feeding slow the bell is cutting at max efficiency at the same time.You see the separate motor at the front in the video picture above. Last thing is that upholstery type leather loves sticking to the feed stones and wrapping around and wrecking your work. I also always recommend getting a skiver with vacuum extraction for that reason. I am working on a funnel for this at the moment and will load a video showing it in action within a week or 2. Here is a couple of pics of it at the moment - The first one shows where I have designed it to attach to common plumbing fittings to feed into a scrap collection box to which then a vacuum can be also attached to.  

To set in position you mark the front and side of the machine to give a line up position for the edge of the funnel assembly.

I will do a seperate posting of this when I have finished all the testing. So far it is going well.

[Scoutmom103]

Can't wait to see that.  Love how you use your 3d printer and items to solve issues.  

[trich]

All. Thank you SO much for all the suggestions. I'll make some time this weekend to work with the machine and report back. I won't immediately be able to switch to a roller foot or a second motor, but will certainly work with some of the other adjustments and see how those work. Thanks again, really appreciate the help. 

[keithski122]

I found that changing the stone feed roller for a silicon/rubber feed rubber eliminated the waste from sticking to the roller and coming back out of the top.

[junlee]

has anybody converted a single motor into a dual motor machine? I have issues of leather being pulled back 

[junlee]

oh yeah, I found some links, somebody already did it.

[Northmount]

7 hours ago, junlee said:

oh yeah, I found some links, somebody already did it.

Please post them for future reference.

[shoepatcher]

You can order a synthetic roller on line from amazon to replace the stone feed roller.  It does not grab as tight as the stone one and I found it works better.  Not expensive.    try one.  I also replaced the foot with that roller foot.  It works better on thin leather.  These machines are touchy so once it is set, leave it.

glenn

Edited July 20, 2023 by shoepatcher
grammar