Cheap? splitter,skiver and sander

[RockyAussie]

This is just a very handy tool I have come up with that I mostly use for quick removal of thickness when I do my Crocodile backstrap belts. I have found by putting in place a steady at the front it can be rotated back to act as a thicknesser. I have sandwiched a coarse sandpaper between the rotating guide/steady, and this works well to hold firmly in place wherever I set the steady to.The steady can rotate right out of the way to allow free hand sanding or right in to touching.See the pics. The newer model I am working on will have a foot pedal to allow it to be opened and come back to an adjustable stopper which will improve the input of materials.Although I have bandknife splitters and skivers this machine would get used between 1 and 2 full days per week and I have another similar 2" version which gets at least 1 day per week. Hope this can be of help to anyone starting off. Note it takes a bit of practice if sanding down soft chrome leathers to a thickness.

[Fat Dog Leather]

Rocky,

great pics and super idea. I too have a skiver and band knife splitter. But to be honest I sometimes have issues reducing my alligator material and my skiver is sometimes finicky and will for no reason grab the material and scalp it..... But only on costly leather - never the less expensive. The splitter is a cobra brand and is also sometimes too aggressive for alligator. So this sanding idea is a great alternative! Thanks for the info. 

[bruce johnson]

Is that a MultiTool attachment that you are using for the sanding? If so, where did you get the wider width model at? Thanks! - Bruce

[RockyAussie]

Hi Fat Dog Leather again I just found this post. Splitting on glaze skin will often be difficult and Still leaves the skin stiff and curly. I have to do a stack of bangles at the moment and I prefur to run them through the sander as it tends to break the tension and leave it in the end more flexible and able to conform to shapes better. I'll do a few pics of and send some tomorrow. Coming to skiving on edges - once it has been sanded and the tension broken you will find the skiving better. Do you have a roller foot on the skiver? I believe it is essential when working with glaze. With regards to the Cobra splitter I haven't seen or heard of one that is a band knife splitter. Have you got a picture of it you could post? Regards for now Brian.

[RockyAussie]

6 minutes ago, bruce johnson said:

Is that a MultiTool attachment that you are using for the sanding? If so, where did you get the wider width model at? Thanks! - Bruce

Yes it is please see the link and if you check it should lead to where in the US it can be bought. You would need to lathe back the back drive wheel outer rim in order to make the belt removal possible if you want to shroud it as I have done. http://www.multitoolaustralia.com/products.html

Regards Brian

[bruce johnson]

Thank you! I have had the 2x36 for a few years. It gets used daily and a great tool. There are times where a 4" wide would be good to have. I will check with the US supplier. I like the shroud and dust collector you have on yours - I'd still be masking up but shop cleanup would be a lot simpler. Several good ideas in your post and I sure want to thank you! - Bruce

[RockyAussie]

Bangle sanding pics as promised. 1st pic stiff and not sanded - 2nd pic setting for thickness-3rd sanding the croc - 4th results after sanding - 5th check for size - 6+7th stitched up - 8 ready to be glued up. Thankfully the matt ones I can split ok and they are twice as fast to fold and glue down.

That's all for now I still gotta do another 50 or so yet. Regards Brian

[Fat Dog Leather]

Hi Brian, I must have misspoke ....as what I have is a cobra splitter - 14 " blade;  that can be too aggressive on the gator ( see pic).  The skiver I have  is a consew and has the standard slightly curved foot. But I am going to go for the roller foot as you noted. Any advice on reducing the gator material on the two types of machines would be much appreciated. Thanks again on the above  sanding demo; I recently used it with great success! Also will incorporate the dust collection system. Thanks Jeanne

[RockyAussie]

Re the splitter. I had one like your's once and I was most happy when some one payed me half of what I paid for it. Don,t get me wrong as for saddlery type of operations they can be good but for bag work and such they are IMOP a waste of space. A Comoga or Albiko band knife splitter are both good machines and I would urge you to try and get one. With croc or aligator work mostly you could do a fair amount without one but for wallets and purses if you want to do the insides you would need one for sure. A splitter here with 5 people in total runs between 1 and 2 days a week. Can I see a pic of your consew and the presser feet as I only have a FAV and a Fortuna at present. Doe's it have waste suction on it?

[Fat Dog Leather]

Sad news on the cobra splitter for soft leather and exotics. The band knife splitter you note is a Big Chunk of Change....$12000. +.  Too rich for my blood right now. I also called cobra to see if there is any further adjustment on the  unit..... and no such luck! 

Here is my consew bottom feed skiver....No suction on it. The waste being cut off is always an issue unless physically removed from the bell knife area. Pls. Let me know your thoughts on the roller foot attachment for the alligator material . Thanks again!! Jeanne

[RockyAussie]

I am so sorry you have a no suction skiver as that can wreck a lot of good and expensive leather. I had one once. Maybe consider you could make up a suction method by following my pictures here. I think you can get a pvc elbow around 65mm nb for vent pipes. A bit of playing with a heat gun should produce some results I think. Don't forget the recess for the dressing stick if you decide to try it. Run the pipe into a box where the trash goes and use a gauze like mozzie mesh to stop any getting through to a vacume pipe set up high going out of the box. Pvc fittings can normally be pushed together and removed quite easily for emptying the box. Also don't forget to take and post pics of it as many others here would appreciate it I am sure.The idea of the roller is mostly to allow better feeding without friction and no scrape marks on the glazing. This helps to stop the rolling over, as the croc skin goes in and out of the scales.The roller I made but I think you can buy something similar nowadays I'd check first. If not and you want further "how to" let me know. Is the feed roller on yours stone or a rubber? A fine stone feeder is sometimes good to lightly remove a nasty burr after sharpening. As for the splitter I would think you should be able to pick up a good 2nd hand one around 4 to 5 K and sell your other to help recoup. You can split a bit with the skiver but thankfully for bag work you probably wont need to very much. Hope this helps and let me know if you need more. Regards Brian

[RockyAussie]

Just an after thought on this. Some prolonged sharpening and the sparks produced whilst doing this means that the pvc mouth area would need some heat paint such as used on motors and stuff.

[Fat Dog Leather]

Brain, much thanks for the suggestions above. I am moving into a new shop and will definitely incorporate the vac system on the sander and vac on the skiver .... Using the high temp paint. Appreciate all your advice. Jeanne

 

[Darren Brosowski]

I sell a slightly different roller foot but nobody really buys them!

[RockyAussie]

Hi Darren,
What machines does this fit onto and how many$? I know that I have found the roller style much better behaved and less need for maintenance than the solid type of feet.

[RockyAussie]

On 17/09/2016 at 11:15 PM, Darren Brosowski said:

I sell a slightly different roller foot but nobody really buys them!

Hi Darren, I am interested in a price if you would prefer to, you could pm me. regards Brian

[Trox]

Campbell Randall sell presser and roller presser for these types of skiving machines, he has many different types. They fit mostly every machine and are bought for the feed roller witdh. Some fit 50 mm roller and other 30 mm roller width...and so on, they are not very expensive. Tor

[RockyAussie]

Thanks for that Tor, I was hoping to get one from here in Australia but as you see above "nobody really buys them" . I guess that's because of the difficulty in getting a price here. I wish there was a Campbell Randall here or at least an agent.

[Trox]

Hi, yes and I wish there was one where I'm based too (Oslo, Norway). But I'm used to buy most of my parts/tools abroad. The shipping for a foot like that is not expensive. Just ask Dan Naegle in CR to send you a list/leaflet of every presser fot/ assesories he has for these machines. He is a very nice man to deal with. And other thing you can do is to search the Ebay for a foot like that. There are Chinese presser to be found on there sometimes and most of the times they give you free shipping all over the world. The Chinese still have some kind of trade advantage/ very cheap shipping posebilities. Most of the time I buy something from them (small things) they give me free shipping. Takes a bit longer, a couple of weeks. But your not far away from them. My guess is that the foot Darren has can't be more expensive than 50 USD, probably 30. Perhaps that's why it's difficult to get the price  Send him and PM or an email.

Here is some of my pressers. This roller presser is best suited for splitting operations, double skiving. That little adjustable one is very useful for firm leather short skives.

Tor

Edited October 25, 2016 by Trox
forgot something, pic