drill press slicking

[tazzmann]

Is there something I can chuck up in my drill press to slick up the edges on stacked leather? An aluminum bar, plastic rod, cocobolo ??? Doing it by hand is getting tiring.

Oh, I am talking stacked leather up to 3/4" thick or more.

Thanks!

Edited April 7, 2008 by tazzmann

[rsg3]

Weaver Leather sells a slicker made of plastic or wood (whichever you prefer) that you can chuck up in a drill press. It has several angles and grooves for slicking leather. I don't believe it has a groove large enough for 3/4", but if you know someone with a wood lathe they could make the same thing to your specifications in a few minutes. Hope this helps

[Jordan]

Older style Wood thread spools, newer plastic ones no good. on an arbor mounted in the DP chuck works good

[bruce johnson]

Tazzman,

I went through probably three of the Weaver models. The plastic melts or deforms. The wooden ones eventually chip out from the chuck on the spindle and get out of round before they eventually break off at the spindle. In their defense, they do have a space above the three provided grooves to add a wider groove. Turn it on and hold a round file there until you get the depth and profile you want. I had Norm Lynds make me up one a few years ago with the grooves I needed and a metal spindle. It has held up well. Pretty sure Norm is a member here. He makes some other handy tools also. I am attaching a photo of my Weaver one with the added groove, and Norm's below that.

[tazzmann]

Tazzman,

I went through probably three of the Weaver models. The plastic melts or deforms. The wooden ones eventually chip out from the chuck on the spindle and get out of round before they eventually break off at the spindle. In their defense, they do have a space above the three provided grooves to add a wider groove. Turn it on and hold a round file there until you get the depth and profile you want. I had Norm Lynds make me up one a few years ago with the grooves I needed and a metal spindle. It has held up well. Pretty sure Norm is a member here. He makes some other handy tools also. I am attaching a photo of my Weaver one with the added groove, and Norm's below that.

Thanks Bruce, that gives me some ideas. I was thinking of getting some hardwood dowels and drilling a hole through the center and then using a file to do just that, but wasn't sure if the dowels were the right kind of wood. On the other hand, I am sure I could buy a piece of cocobolo from a knife maker friend of mine and see if I can come up with someone that has a lathe that I could use to turn that into a slicker.

I have one of Tandy's nylon circle slicker that has finally given up the ghost after 15 years of doing belts and wallets and such, but it is much too narrow to do some of the stacked leather things that I do.

Thanks for the pics. I now have some ideas.

Edit: Also, with the wood, what speed are you running on the drill? Mine is a five speed that I can run from about 610 rpm to about 3100 rpm.

Edited April 7, 2008 by tazzmann

[superchute]

we have a cocobolo with a shaft mandrel in it and it hooked to a 1/2 1750 rpm motor and it work great. But if i make a new one going to make it with more sizes of groves in it and would like to try one about 6 inches arcrost beening a lot biger then the one I have now

Russell

[gtwister09]

We have used a couple of cocobolo ones for years that we made. We used a 3/8" X 3" lag bolt for the neck and cut the head off so that it could be turned on the lathe and later chucked into the drill press. Using the lag bolt fixed the issue with the neck getting chewed up by the jaws. It also provided a means to turn the slicker true.

Regards,

Ben

[bcurrier]

How long or how much has anyone here run a drill press mounted slicker like this? My concern would be for the quill bearings. Drill press bearings aren't built for side thrust. I doubt that it would ever be an issue for a slicker a couple of inches long or so, but would think it might be on a longer spindle due to the increased leverage.

Bill

[gtwister09]

How long or how much has anyone here run a drill press mounted slicker like this? My concern would be for the quill bearings. Drill press bearings aren't built for side thrust. I doubt that it would ever be an issue for a slicker a couple of inches long or so, but would think it might be on a longer spindle due to the increased leverage.

Bill

Bill,

From an engineering and machinist standpoint you are correct that these bearings are generally not set up for side thrust. However the amount of thrust is nothing like what we would consider if you put an end mill in the drill press and faced off a piece of steel or aluminum. These are performing slicking and not cutting operations. Cutting metal generally has the cutter climbing. We have used these in a smaller 12" drill press (conservatively about 100-125 hours of slicking) as well as using it to drill more holes than I care to remember over the past fourteen years (metal and wood drilling). The drill press is still being used today by one of our friends. We upgraded after 14 years to a 16" Rigid.

Regards,

Ben

[AlcoveShop]

We have 4" Diameter Rounds (4-5" in height) with various grooves turned on a lathe for stuff going on up to 3/4 - 7/8".

Your friendly woodworker with a lathe can make them easily on a lathe. Pick your wood and go to town.

A cheaper method involves digging up chair spindles with various funk for groove to them- they do work.

FYI you can buy a descent drill press at Harbor Freight for 30-40 bucks!.