Shopping for a Clicker. Any input?

[JerseyFirefighter]

The Weaver's 8 ton is $2000. Ive watched the videos and seem to be ok with going that route. I was also looking at say the Cobra ($$$$) looks a little overboard for my production needs (but really cool) Also i'm not running a new 220v line for it or hauling around 1k lbs 

Looking at the hydraulic bottle jack press, it would seem that it would take considerable time just to punch out once and reset. I wasn't sure if there was anything comparable or more productive within my price range. There is a lot less info on selecting the right clicker than say the right sewing machine, so your guys info is invaluable. 

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

For years I used a $250 shop press with a bottle jack. It was slow but a heck of a lot faster than cutting intricate little pieces by hand.  It was a great job for the kids. Slow enough that they couldn't get in too much trouble.  I upgraded to a regular hydraulic clicker about ten years ago, but STILL have my shop press and use it occasionally when I need just one part cut and don't want to clear off my clicker bed or start it up for one part.  The shop press gets used for a lot of other things also. I wouldn't get rid of it for anything.  If you are ONLY going to click parts, the Weaver manual clicker is probably better suited for that than a shop press.  If I had the room, I'd probably have one of those too for clicking those occasional small items!

 

[Ferg]

I Bought a used but very good "bottle jack" press last year that was already modified for clicking. I replaced the hydraulic jack with an air over Hydraulic 20 ton jack. I click with mostly steel rule dies I have made. The dimension between the steel plates on the press is very consistant so I made "stops" so the die doesn't bury itself into the cheater plastic board. I quite often want to click a number of pieces from same set of dies. For each cut I stack several pieces of leather so I can cut them all at once. I can click a half dozen pieces with no problems, taking about 30 seconds.

BTW: It would be great to have a good sized clicker but my set up cost me less than $200 and suits me just fine. I also have a pancake compressor dedicated to the press. When I am not using the press I use this compressor to keep the multitude of tires on equipment I have, "Pumped Up".

Ferg

[JerseyFirefighter]

Perfect examples! This in addition to everything else so far is the type of advice im looking for. While I cant spell out how my business will change over the next few years... I can ultimately say that the near future will be served clicking two to three dozen "sets" of parts (4 parts per set) every 2-3 weeks. I love the notion that I could finally include my wife in doing menial projects while im away to improve overall production capability. If I got 3-4 hrs of help a week i'd consider myself on easy street. 

 

Unfortunately.. Im at the cusp of "business is doing well" vs "not busy enough" to take on some part time help. Ive heard the old adage of being busy so prices go up.. OR some businesses just hold orders to catch up. To me.. getting some tools that the wife can use can help reduce some of the backlog would be A-OK for me. This seems to be the next logical progression.