gottaknow Report post Posted September 4, 2015 I posted this in the tools forum, and thought I'd share it here. This sheepskin is for hood trim on a few styles of our down jackets and vests. It buttons into the hood brim. The sheepskin is die cut and needed to have the edges trimmed in order to put binding on. I set up a Singer 153K103 with a binding folder that finishes at 1/2". We then put several buttons through the binding using a Brother lockstitch button tacker. The trim is then inserted between two facings on the hood where it can be buttoned into place. My buttonhole machine is and old Reece S2. Our design department basically handed this to me and said "figure it out", which is what I do. Our engineers had no clue how to accomplish trimming these in a timely manner that could be done in production with a piece rate. Total expense using parts I had on hand including the heavy duty Wahl clipper was $150. Build time was about 4 hours. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Wizcrafts Report post Posted September 4, 2015 Great idea Eric! And low tech. Now, try to imagine one that wheel feeds the sheepskin into a bevel angle mounted reciprocating fabric trimmer blade and vacuums the cutoff on the way out. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted September 4, 2015 Funny you mention that Wiz. It was my original intention of doing just that. We do most of our leather edge dyeing and beveling with a conveyer system. This was a real rush project, so it required a quick solution. These down jackets and vests will be repeat styles for us, no by next year I'd have time to re-design it. Ideally we should do it in Seattle right after it's die cut. Production costs are pretty low with my primitive set up. The operators got it down to about a minute per piece. I'll post a pic when I get time of the binder detail and the finished product. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Constabulary Report post Posted September 4, 2015 how about modifying a leather skiving machine or something like this: Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted September 4, 2015 They had tried our Fortuna skivers and some other equipment. The sheepskin hide is pretty soft and very thin, I'd say 2-3 oz. Everything they tried wanted to grab and jam. The heavy duty Wahl clipper do a really clean job, as long as you can hold it firm. I do think I can adapt an old Fortuna belt dyeing station, but with the trim time down to a minute, it may not be worth my time. The engineers that work for us tend to way overthink things. I tend to take a problem, break it down into smaller pieces and solve each issue individually. Once I figured out how to clamp it, the rest was easy. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Colt W Knight Report post Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) How do you keep the trimmer cool in a production setting? When we shear sheep we actually have to use shaft driven shears. Are your clipper blades designed for people or animals? The ones designed for animals will perform a lot better on that wool than people ones. Edited September 4, 2015 by Colt W Knight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted September 4, 2015 Hey Colt! The clippers I bought are made by Wahl. There are heavy duty hair clippers and have not even gotten slightly warm during an 8 hour shift. The operator cleans them with compressed air and lubes them with Wahl oil once per hour. We have done at least 700 trims without issue. These clippers are pretty amazing. All metal, made in the USA with replaceable blades. I had 3 days to get this thing into operation before it started holding up production. I think if I take the time to redesign it for next season, I'll look into the other shears, I simply didn't have time. I trust all is well with you. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Colt W Knight Report post Posted September 4, 2015 Glad to hear your clipper aren't gettting hot. Wahl and Oster both good heavy duty clippers and they typically market to Home Users, Barbers, Livestock folks, and pet folks. The barber and livestock models are generally the same bodies ( but they market them as different) The real difference is the blades made for people are finer and the blades for livestock accomodate the thicker hair better. When we trim livestock and sheep, we have to contend with natural oils and dirt on the animals, and they dull very quickly. Human blades typically wont last through one job. Sheep shearers go through so many blades while shearing they carry their own sharpening station. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ferg Report post Posted September 4, 2015 I remember when I was a small boy,long time ago, I watched men shearing sheep. The difference? they done it by hand. The clippers looked like grass trimmers. Those old guys could fly with the shearing. Wonder if they sharpened with a stone? ERIC, Some day I am going to make a point to come to your area to see your shops. ferg Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gottaknow Report post Posted September 4, 2015 That would be cool Ferg. Anyone here is welcome if they are ever in the Greater Spokane WA area. Regards, Eric Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Colt W Knight Report post Posted September 4, 2015 (edited) I remember when I was a small boy,long time ago, I watched men shearing sheep. The difference? they done it by hand. The clippers looked like grass trimmers. Those old guys could fly with the shearing. Wonder if they sharpened with a stone? ERIC, Some day I am going to make a point to come to your area to see your shops. ferg Those hand held shears only worked if they were razor sharp. They did use stones. Its a miserable job with motorized clippers, I couldn't imagine doing very many with those hand shears. Edited September 4, 2015 by Colt W Knight Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
