Tandy's New Clicker Press

[strathmoredesigns]

Has anybody seen Tandy's new clicker press? When I first heard it was coming and going for around $950 with business pricing, I was really excited. But after going out to see it last week, I'm really disappointed. I figured they just put their name on something that was already being made and we'd end up with one in the same style as the Weaver Mighty Wonder or Cowboy's manual press. But that's not what they did at all. As best I can tell, they must be having this thing made just for them. I was so disheartened I didn't even bother to take a picture, but they're rolling out into stores nationwide, so it should be on the website shortly.

If you haven't seen it yet... it looks kind of like the Tippman and the Weaver merged into one. It looks like it's about the same size as the small Tippman and, like the Tippman, it has a fixed and relatively short opening height, but it's not pneumatic. It's got a lever like the Weaver, but it lacks the Weaver's ability to swing side to side (it's best feature in my opinion). If that's not bad enough, it actually has walls on either side (the whole thing looks like it's about 8 inches wide), which seriously limits what you could ever use it for. I'm shocked Tandy chose this route actually. If there's one thing I've learned hanging out in these forums, it's how thrifty and resourceful this crowd is. I don't think I could do anymore with this press than I could with my Harbor Freight Arbor Press, so why would I pay $900 more for it? 

Edited November 13, 2018 by strathmoredesigns

[koreric75]

Agreed, I played with one briefly last weekend and was not impressed... The size leads me to believe they're catering to a crowd that cuts small shapes, I used the round dye that they have and while it makes a nice circle that's all it is... Was going to play with the tipping machine but didn't have the time... The clicker may be suited to wallet pockets and leather earnings, but the fact you'd have a hard time getting a holster out of it turned me off immediately, also it's a cumbersome setup with out the swing away too, I'd spend the extra $$ and go for the Weaver or similar rig 

[strathmoredesigns]

I forgot about the tipping machine. I didn't pay too much attention to it as I don't do belts and I wasn't familiar with the machine. Your mention of it did inspire me to look it up though. Apparently it won a design award. It's coming out of Ivan Leathercraft in Taiwan and is the brainchild of an industrial designer named Erik DeMelo. If I had to guess, I'd say this guy probably also had something to do with Tandy's clicker press (he also did their Pro Hand Press). They claim they do market research on these products... I wish I'd been in that focus group. Anyway, including a link to the tipping machine here... it looks pretty similar to the new clicker minus the walls on either end. 

https://competition.adesignaward.com/design.php?ID=63637

Edited November 13, 2018 by strathmoredesigns

[Matt S]

Anyone got a link to the product? My Googlefu seems weak this morning.

$950 for a manual clicker press isn't too bad, considering the price of a Weaver, Lucris or Noya. Assuming it's not one of those tiny ones with two pillars like this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Manual-knife-die-press-pressure-cutting-leather-undercutting-machine-manual-leather-mold-die-cutting-machine-1pc/32829732177.html?ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_2_10152_10151_10065_10344_10130_10068_10324_10547_10342_10325_10546_10343_10340_10548_10341_315_10545_10696_10084_531_10083_10618_10307_10059_100031_10103_10624_10623_10622_10621_10620,searchweb201603_51,ppcSwitch_5&algo_expid=c0c7fc0a-494c-4ea8-8e8f-3808fce5ae9e-29&algo_pvid=c0c7fc0a-494c-4ea8-8e8f-3808fce5ae9e&priceBeautifyAB=0

[strathmoredesigns]

@matts $950 is a good price, which is why I was so disappointed by the outcome. The actual Tandy press look more box-like like the new tipping press, but because it has walls at either end, it's like it has the pillars in the one you shared. It would be good for like keychains, but you'd never be able to do anything very large on it. It lacks the swinging head that the Weaver, Lucris, and Cowboy have. 

As for a link, I don't think it's on their website yet. I know it arrived in my store last Monday and I didn't make it out there until Friday to check it out. When I saw it, it was out of the box on a table, but it didn't have it's handle on yet. 

Speaking of the Noya, has anybody ever seen a price on the one they have with the swinging head? I've come across it on a couple of Asian websites, but I've never actually seen anybody selling it. I've only seen the little one Matt shared for sale, sometimes branded as Noya. 

[Matt S]

6 hours ago, strathmoredesigns said:

@matts $950 is a good price, which is why I was so disappointed by the outcome. The actual Tandy press look more box-like like the new tipping press, but because it has walls at either end, it's like it has the pillars in the one you shared. It would be good for like keychains, but you'd never be able to do anything very large on it. It lacks the swinging head that the Weaver, Lucris, and Cowboy have. 

As for a link, I don't think it's on their website yet. I know it arrived in my store last Monday and I didn't make it out there until Friday to check it out. When I saw it, it was out of the box on a table, but it didn't have it's handle on yet. 

Speaking of the Noya, has anybody ever seen a price on the one they have with the swinging head? I've come across it on a couple of Asian websites, but I've never actually seen anybody selling it. I've only seen the little one Matt shared for sale, sometimes branded as Noya. 

Thanks for the info. I was excited about the idea of a swing-arm press for under 1k. I should have known better than a useful tool at a decent price from Tandy.

I've not had much luck getting a price, or any response, from Noya. Nor have I found any resellers. There is one recently come up second-hand on eBay UK but the seller wants £1400, which is almost the full price of a Lucris and a little more than a Cowboy. I've seen full sized, good condition "real" clicker presses go for far less money. One day I'll have enough space and access to get one of those. In the mean time I'll continue with my £60 bearing press.

[strathmoredesigns]

Looks like the clicker press and some dies are starting to show up on the Tandy website: https://www.tandyleather.com/en/search/?sSearch=clicker

[LeatherLegion]

I tried the press using some of my dies ...few billfold wallet  dies along with the  pockets , card holders , key chain, watch straps dies , and it work just fine .Using a larger cutting board after removing the two small pins on the back of the bed will probably allow larger dies too. 

I was hoping for a swing arm too

[strathmoredesigns]

Glad you liked it. I didn't get to see any of the dies when I visited, but I might be interested in them if they go on sale sometime. 

I don't doubt that the press will work as advertised, I just think the swing arm lets you sneak in slightly larger dies than the press can accommodate in one pass more easily. That's what I was hoping for and thought we'd get as there are some already being manufactured that could be rebranded as Tandy. I also know a ton of folks here have arbor presses (not even counting the ones with shop presses) setup to click and I'm not sure that this press adds enough extra value to justify the extra cost. 

[ErikDemelo]

Hey Guys,

I figured I respond to this post,  who better to talk to then the designer himself right...

So yes this machine is exactly as strathmoredesigns mentioned.  I will be the first one to tell you that swing head clicker presses are by far the best solutions for the vast majority of leather workers. Lasers have their place as do other types of clickers this one being the "other" type. Here at Ivan Leathercraft, we do resell the Lucris MA series 3 http://lucris.com/pages/clicker-spec.php 

It's a great little machine it's just a beast to ship and move. We use the weaver one in our store. It is also a pretty good option to consider but the same problem. Our factory uses Atom industrial clickers.  There are a lot of great swing head style clickers out there already. So why in the world design this clicker press?!!?  The answer to that is quite simple really. This clicker tandy is selling is really designed for cutting small scrap leather (of any weight) and not too much more. We have also found that there has been a trend towards people buying small A4 sheet leather cuttings for jewelry type stuff wallets etc. That's all good and all but, to be honest, my biggest challenge was the weight and power requirement this machine had to meet.  This guy can put down over 6 tons of power before things get dicey from a structural standpoint ( that translates to a person hanging on the end of the handle without feet on the floor).  On top of that keep the whole thing below 70lbs packaged. Trust me it not easy. But I am not here to defend the design just letting you serious guys understand the product intent.  I do appreciate reading all the comments. I foresaw many of these things from the seasoned leather community but its good to hear none the less.  The Tipping machine and the Clicker press share the same dual drive cam design so the power output on both the machines is the same. The Clicker thou uses four stabilizer trunnions to keep the plate level and power delivery across the plate even. If you have any questions let me know. 

 

So like Tandy we are dedicated to teaching leathercraft to schools and students of all ages.  Some of the machines we have been putting out of late tries to help simplify and speed up some tedious processes on a small scale.  

 

Who knows maybe in my spare time I'll revisit the swing head clicker press. 

 

Best,

 

[bikermutt07]

@erikdemelo thanks for the r and d insight. From what I see (in my hobby shop) is a need for a clicker priced in the 5-700 dollar range.

I'm not knocking development costs or profit margins, but some of the designs out there have been paid off for decades. I recently contacted Wuta leather about bringing one to the American market. Haven't heard back yet.

When you look at a 4 ton swing arm press objectively, there just isn't a whole lot of materials going into them. If it wasn't for the tooling needed to process them we would all be making our own.

Sure they speed up the process, if you have another 500-1000 to put into dyes.

You see the predicament? This is a lot of up front investment for a hobbyist or small business.

[bermudahwin]

Shame its at the equivalent of $1600 in the UK

[alpha2]

The belt strap cutter one is fine, but if that's all it does it's very limiting. The clicker, if there was an opening in one side or the other, just enough to slip a strap through, it could function as a belt strap cutter too! That should leave plenty of steel to take the 4 tons of force.

Jeff

[Matt S]

1 hour ago, bikermutt07 said:

From what I see (in my hobby shop) is a need for a clicker priced in the 5-700 dollar range.

When you look at a 4 ton swing arm press objectively, there just isn't a whole lot of materials going into them. If it wasn't for the tooling needed to process them we would all be making our own.

Sure they speed up the process, if you have another 500-1000 to put into dyes.

You see the predicament? This is a lot of up front investment for a hobbyist or small business.

I use a 6 ton hydraulic bearing press as my clicker. It's not as fast as a "real" one, nor is it a C-frame. However for £60 delivered I can't complain -- and it's still a damn sight faster than cutting by hand. I've been talking with a welder friend about building a C-frame with a swing-away top arm that holds the hydraulic jack. He's a bit leery about the forces involved. I'll probably just pony up for one of the Weaver/Lucris/Noya/Cowboy type swing-arm clickers. A single stroke (rather than 3-4 plus release) would be handy.

I've got about a dozen cutting dies, which I designed myself with a vector-drawing package. Mainly from one supplier, but recently emailed the top dozen Google UK results for a quote for two simple dies that I needed quickly. Quotes varied from £60 to over £400. Now admittedly I think the top quote was for a forged feed-through die and the lowest a standard strip knife but that's fine for the relatively small volume I produce. Shop around, find an inexpensive supplier and $1000 would buy you a lot of dies if you're not looking for something too complicated.

58 minutes ago, hwinbermuda said:

Shame its at the equivalent of $1600 in the UK

Even with business pricing it's £1100. That's most of the way towards buying a Lucris.

[bikermutt07]

@Matt S, I hear what you are saying. And, I have considered that route. But, with my current leather room size, even a smaller bearing press is going to be too big.

And I may have to go that route. Eating in front of the TV every night, my wife doesn't really need the dining room, right???