Hand operated clicking press and clicking knives

[UKRay]

About thirty years ago I owned a big, ugly old fly press - the sort with a monster screw and a handle weighted with a big old cast iron ball that would swing round and clip your ear horribly if you didn't move quickly enough. I used this to cut out all kinds of small leathergoods - hair barrettes, key fobs and the like. Now I'm old and fat and don't move so fast I was thinking about one of those hand operated clicking presses - Weaver do a nice looking one - mainly because they require weight rather than agility to work well!

Has anyone any experience of these things? What sort of machine works for you?

Also: Have you got any tips for designing, using or storing strip/clicking press knives?

[Art]

Hi Ray,

Are you talking about a Bookbinder's press? The little press from Weaver, will be at the Wickenburg show in the LMC Cobra booth, I'll play with it there and let you know how it does.

Art

About thirty years ago I owned a big, ugly old fly press - the sort with a monster screw and a handle weighted with a big old cast iron ball that would swing round and clip your ear horribly if you didn't move quickly enough. I used this to cut out all kinds of small leathergoods - hair barrettes, key fobs and the like. Now I'm old and fat and don't move so fast I was thinking about one of those hand operated clicking presses - Weaver do a nice looking one - mainly because they require weight rather than agility to work well!

Has anyone any experience of these things? What sort of machine works for you?

Also: Have you got any tips for designing, using or storing strip/clicking press knives?

[Daggrim]

Ray,

That's just what I've been wishing someone would make, a hand operated clicker. I thought they didn't exist, so I never searched. I have an email in to Weaver, asking about the price, but that's the ideal size for most of the things I make.

In my type of business, doing shows, I produce lots of the same kinds of things, and I have maybe twenty separate pieces I make which comprises my inventory. A helmet can use up to 12 separate pieces, and I have some sheaths, too. I do some custom, but it's just customizing something I already make.

Looks to me like there are people on the forum who do every job as a custom piece, and so they don't build up an inventory of parts on the shelf.

Anyway, I'm excited to find out more about hand clickers. Glad you posted that.

Doug

[UKRay]

Not the bookbinder's press Art - the thing I saw in their catalog is a chunky great press with a sensible sized set of steel plates and a long operating handle. It is designed to cut out small leathergoods.

A guy I know has a similar one and reckons it is a fine thing but I'm afraid I tend to take his suggestions with a pinch of salt most times - he has been known to be horribly wrong! Have another look - I'll try to find a reference number for you if someone doesn't get there first.

Glad it was useful, Doug. Now tell me about the knives!

R.

Hi Ray,

Are you talking about a Bookbinder's press? The little press from Weaver, will be at the Wickenburg show in the LMC Cobra booth, I'll play with it there and let you know how it does.

Art

[Daggrim]

Hah, I'm not sure you want to know, Ray. I don't make them, I buy blanks and wrap leather handles on them, and make sheaths, most of which are just riveted, but a couple of which are hand stitched. I have small daggers for the bodice, boot, neck and belt, and some big honkin' seaxes which are made from lance heads. If you want pics you canl ook at "http//:leatherhelms.com". or I can post some when I get off work.

Doug

[Jordan]

Lucris Mfg. Made down under

[Daggrim]

So, could something like that cut thru that footprint if it was 12 oz leather?

[UKRay]

Sure it could.

So, could something like that cut thru that footprint if it was 12 oz leather?

[bruce johnson]

So, could something like that cut thru that footprint if it was 12 oz leather?

Doug,

One of my friends has one of the Lucris ones and uses it a fair amount. With the cam action and mechanical advantage it is something like a 5 ton press. The bed is decent sized and the head is adjustable. He uses it for small clicking, embossing, and a cool thing is he can set his lettering stamps in place and press them all at once. He has a big clicker too, but this one is pretty handy. They aren't inexpensive though. I priced one a few years ago and they were about 1200 then. One recently sold on Ebay for more than that. For what I need to do, I use a shop press and steel plates over my dies to even the ram pressure across the whole die. Even on heavy skirting 3-4 strokes of the handle will go through it. Back off enough to slide the die and piece out and slide another in. Not as fast as a hydraulic clicker, but cost effective for what I use one for.

[Daggrim]

Great stuff. I checked the Lucris website, and browsed google. Now I suppose it's a matter of shopping for the best price for one in the USA.

Doug

[TrooperChuck]

Weaver sells a similar manual clicker... about $995.00 (US). I'd love to have one, but can't justify the cost right now. So, I'm thinking of doing what Bruce described: Using a small hydraulic jack and some metal plates. First, though, I need to build a herking-strong frame for the whole thing.

[Daggrim]

I was reading the Lucris story of how they developed their press, and they started out with a modified hydraulic arbor press. They said it was painfully slow to cut with, and to load / unload. I s'pose so, but still, you could save a bundle with a homemade rig.

Doug

[bruce johnson]

My press cost me under $200 at a place similar to Harbor Freight but better quality. It is more stable and the ram is true. The 20 ton was more solid and not much more cost than lesser ones. I put a piece of cold roll steel under a plastic HDPE cutting board. Leather on that, then the die, then another piece of cold roll over the top of the die. The scraps of cold roll were end cuts from a local steel yard. I figured that I'd have about $1000 for dies before I would have paid for a clicker. As it is, I have dies for cinch and latigo carriers, spur straps, and Rundi has two coaster dies.

Once you have cut the first piece, you just have to let off enough to slide the piece out and replace the die over the leather. On skirting that is usually 4 strokes at the most. If you let it off all the way, then the ram will go all the way up and it will be like jacking a car up every time. I use mine for embossing plates and cutting plates too. I can also mold leather in press forms that would be difficult in a clicker. I just use the ram over the male part of a two part form. Makes molded cell phone cases and pliers pockets easier.

[Daggrim]

Bruce, thanks for the reply. That looks like a good choice for my level of production. I've seen the ones in the Harbor Freight mailers. Mind if I ask where you got it?

Also, I looked at your website. Very sharp, and your work is way beyond what I'll ever get to in the years I have left to me. But that's okay...I'll bet there are no dancing gypsys at those rodeos you attend

Doug

[bruce johnson]

Doug,

I bought it at a local industrial supplier, kind of like Harbor Freight without the line of bargain bins down the aisles and brands you have heard of. They are a one or two location outfit. It was about $15 more than HF. Thanks for the compliments on the site and work. It is all in progress.

[Daggrim]

Okay, well, I checked into Harbor F. locations and found one in Minneapolis, just about 1.5 hrs away. I need to make a trip up there to Tandy anyway, so...

What can you say about the quality of their presses? I got a trailer from them that I was quite pleased with, but I know their general reputation isn't real high. But, would their press do an acceptable job, do you think? I mean, if it's all you could find, would you skip it, and go for something five times more expensive?

Doug

[Twosons]

Just make sure you call them 1st to make sure they have it in stock. My local HF often is out of stock on the things I am looking for.

Bruce, I already have a 12-ton press. Do you think that would work?

[bruce johnson]

Doug,

I would look it over pretty well. Seems like when I was looking the HF all had the ram welded on crooked. For me I wouldn't go hog wild on one. There has to be some other sources of them in "the cities" too. Check out "industrial supplies". Most farm shops have one, and a local farm supply/hardware supply might be able to get you one too.

As far as size, I think the Weaver benchtop hydraulic press is 5 tons. I got the 20 ton because it was not much more, and someone on another list had recommended 20 tons. I think at one time I was told the general recommendation was 200# minimum per inch of rule. The other thing is to make sure the plate you put on top of the die covers the whole die or you could bend it. Mine are 1" thick, but I would bet a guy could get by with 1/2" easy enough.

[Daggrim]

Bruce, thanks for the help. Who's the manufacturer of your press? That'd help me narrow down the search.

Doug

[bruce johnson]

Doug, No idea what brand. The only label is the safety deal - wear eye protection, etc. I think it had some stickers in the bag o' parts, but they are long gone. I have had it a couple years at least. It is Chinese, but that is about all I know.

[cem]

I put up an ad for a Lucris in the market place a few weeks ago, never got a reply though I didn't think I would. So I ended up going with what Bruce suggested as well though I haven't been able to find some metal plate as of yet (the quotes have been in the ridiculous amount and I haven't been able to find anyone who sells offcuts) so I've been using heavy plastic sheet out of an old work cryrovac machine. I'm only clicking 3mm leather though and would probably try harder to find some metal sheet if I was clicking anything thicker. Though I did buy my clicker knives from Lucris and are most happy with them so with the savings of buying the press over a Lucris Mach III, I'm going to be able to buy a heap more leather and get some more clicker knives from them.

My press looks exactly the same as Bruce's and has no brand on it either

[UKRay]

Anyone in the UK interested in the Lucris M A Series III Clicker Press press should call Alpress on 0141 848 7175 - current price including delivery and VAT is £851 see: www.alpress.co.uk

...and no, I don't work for them, but I have just ordered one!

Ray

[Daggrim]

Dudes! I found a shop just a mile away that carries a whole line of these shop presses at a competitive price, and they're made in the US.

So, I see that the dies are rather expensive in the Weaver catalog. Where do you buy them?

Just gathering info right now.

Doug