Just bought an American leather splitter... Not working for me.

[AWORKOFMARC]

Please forgive my noob status and ignorance. I just bought an American leather splitter, beautifully refurbished. But I am unable to split the leather --i must be completely retarded because I thought all you had to do was set the gauge for the thickness and crank the handle, feeding the leather in from the back.

No matter what lever/gauge setting .. and I've tried several, right down to the tightest. I see the roller moving well in conjunction with the thickness level but the 5/6 oz leather just feeds through, coming out the bottom entirely unscathed, must less split with any finished split piece coming out the top.

When he showed me the machine in the back of his truck there was a piece of sample leather, already having been fed in the machine to show me the thinness --it was about 1mm form an 8/9 oz sample.

 

Edited January 21, 2024 by AWORKOFMARC

[DieselTech]

Beautiful looking piece of machinery. Congrats on the new splitter. 

I'm no help to you, but you sure got a nice looking piece of machinery.

[Wepster]

 

[AWORKOFMARC]

After reading thruogh the link (TY for posting) I'll look at adjusting the tension. But no matter what thickness I fed through it same outcome..  I hope I didn't get a lemon.

Heres a pic of the rollers... I see how its off kilter a bit too...

 

 

[Aven]

Restoration means cleanup, and parts replacement if needed, it doesn't necessarily mean setup and ready to go.  Have you looked at the blade to make sure it's sharp?

[AWORKOFMARC]

Yes, sir, its sharp. I'll play with it today... tension screws etc.

[bruce johnson]

I could write a book on adjusting these but it's Sunday and I'm not feeling the greatest. Lets see if we can narrow this down and make life easier - I am sure it is just adjustments. You are trying to put something through this machine it was never intended for but can be adjusted to do. 

 

What kind of leather are you trying to split?

How big is the gap from the blade edge to the bottom roller?

If you move the top adjustment to thinnest setting, how far apart are the top and bottom rollers?

Is the blade all the way forward to the stops inside? Loosen the hold down clamps and center screw and slide it forward. It should hit the stops at both corners of the blade. Back off the back-up screws about 1/4 to 1/2 turn. 

You mentioned "off-kilter". Which roller or both?

Let's get you splitting here

[AWORKOFMARC]

Sorry, sucks that you don't feel well, so doubly thank you for taking the time.

What kind of leather are you trying to split? 
As a test 5/6 oz leather - but really anything. The main idea was to have a machine I didn't have to arm wrestle with like the hand splitter where you're pulling it through by hand. Which seems to work fine for anything less than 2" wide. I wasn't aware this American would require finessing micro settings manually.  This guy in the video at the bottom made it look so easy stating "Split to 25 thousandths of an inch"

How big is the gap from the blade edge to the bottom roller?
I've varied that using the 2 square spring bolts at the bottom. When I first got it that bottom roller was so far up it didn't allow the top roller down enough to thereby allow the level gauge all the way to the end/thinnest setting. By lowering that bottom bar and moving the blade out as far as it allows it allows the gauge to move more to the left/thinnest.

If you move the top adjustment to thinnest setting, how far apart are the top and bottom rollers?
Pics attached to show where it is now. Big gap a little less than a quarter inch, blade all the way out.

Is the blade all the way forward to the stops inside?
No all the way out.

Loosen the hold down clamps and center screw and slide it forward. It should hit the stops at both corners of the blade. Back off the back-up screws about 1/4 to 1/2 turn.
I'll do that now.  The back up screws are...?  The 2 sideways top facing forward in front of the blade?

You mentioned "off-kilter". Which roller or both?
It appears the off-kilter was due to the bottom roller one side being slightly higher, with a slight adjust to one side of the the square spring bolts corrected that.

I took the blade completely off to inspect. Despite there being a couple flea bites on the cutting edge, I was able to knife slice a piece of 4mm leather like butter so I know that's sharp. So we can rule out a dull blade.

Let's get you splitting here
Thanks for taking the time.

 

 

Edited January 21, 2024 by Northmount
Moved out of quote box

[AWORKOFMARC]

 

This is the blade all the way forward. Not sure what back up screws are.

The more I am into it everything on this appears to work flawlessly mechanically. The gears glide smoothly, all parts move as they're supposed too. The blade is extremely sharp so it comes down to t0otal NOOB operating ignorance. I haven't the patience. I'm just a small hobbyist and this was a splurge spend.  It's easier just to buy the right weight leather  to begin with and I'm not seeing myself ever being so busy this is a necessity ---so that said....

Coming up -- One nicely refurbished American Splitter for sale $1,400.

 

Edited January 21, 2024 by AWORKOFMARC

[DieselTech]

2 hours ago, AWORKOFMARC said:

 

This is the blade all the way forward. Not sure what back up screws are.

The more I am into it everything on this appears to work flawlessly mechanically. The gears glide smoothly, all parts move as they're supposed too. The blade is extremely sharp so it comes down to t0otal NOOB operating ignorance. I haven't the patience. I'm just a small hobbyist and this was a splurge spend.  It's easier just to buy the right weight leather  to begin with and I'm not seeing myself ever being so busy this is a necessity ---so that said....

Coming up -- One nicely refurbished American Splitter for sale $1,400.

 

Are you going to sell this now, if soo I might have a home for it. Thats if you are in the U.S & shipping wont kill me. 

Thanks.