American LS440, splitting thin leather

[Waxx]

Howdy, folks. I recently came by an American 6" crank splitter and, after an extensive cleanup operation, I am finally ready to tune and use it. I am primarily a small goods maker, wallets and other carry items, so I primarily am working with leathers in the 3-4 oz range. Many of my colleagues are using the Landis 30 to split these thinner weight leathers and as I understand it, the American is practically the same machine for all intents and purposes. I am hoping to get the same use out of mine.

That said, I am having trouble getting my rollers to close properly at the desired width for these thinner leathers. I can get good grip and tension on the non-crank side, but for the life of me I cannot get the rollers on the crank side to adequately close up. I have read the Landis P30 PDF about adjusting the splitter for use but I still have been unable to get it dialed in. The splitter originally came with the larger of the two lower tension springs placed on the non-crank side; I have tried it both under the crank and opposite it, but neither way seems to make any difference. Am I asking too much of it?

I apologize if I'm too vague, this is my first experience with one of these machines, so I'm doing my best to articulate the problem. Any thoughts? I'm happy to provide photos of anything needed.

Thank you much!

[bruce johnson]

Post some pictures. The tension springs should be the same size. There are is an adjustment to close up the gap between the bottom roller and blade, and another adjustment to close up the gap between the top roller and blade. Then there is factor that the bottom bearing block is part of the gear cover so that gear cover needs to be able to float up and down. A lot of things could be at play here. 

[Waxx]

This is the only photo of it that I have handy right now. I will be able to take some more detailed photos when I get home. In this photo the tension is way out of balance, so please try to ignore that.

When I say one spring is larger, I mean it is larger in the gauge of thickness, dimensionally they are the same size. I have the larger spring under the crank.

The biggest problem I have is that adjusting the top roller on the crank side also seems to move my bottom roller, and vice versa. Adjusting the bottom roller up on the crank side also lifts up the top roller on the same side. I do not have this problem on the non-crank side.

[bruce johnson]

Then is it likely because you have the rollers as close together as they will go on this one. The teeth on the gears are long enough to allow for some expansion and still engage. Once they bottom out with each other, that is apt to be the limiting factor in your case. 

To clarify for for me, are you feeding 3/4 oz leather in and trying to split that further? I have not seen very many that will feed much less than maybe 6 or 7 oz leather very well. You can sure start thicker and take a lot off to shave down to almost paper thin grain splits, but can't start too thin and feed thinner leather to end up the same. 

[Waxx]

You are correct. I was afraid that might be the case, which means I will just have to order heavier weights and split from them. I can live with that. Thanks much for your time!

[Matt T]

Can you stack another piece of leather to add the thickness needed to make the machine work on thin leather?

[Big Sioux Saddlery]

On ‎11‎/‎13‎/‎2017 at 1:44 PM, Waxx said:

You are correct. I was afraid that might be the case, which means I will just have to order heavier weights and split from them. I can live with that. Thanks much for your time!

I'm sure you have a good reason, but I have to ask why don't you just order your leather in the weight you need it?