Matt S Report post Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) For a few years now I've been using a small 6 ton hydraulic bearing press for my clicking needs. It was cheap, doesn't take up much space, capable of many jobs and doesn't consume electric or make noise. It's also fairly resistant against attack by idiot. However it's only got 13" of daylight between the two uprights. It takes about 4-5x pumps of the handle to cleanly click leather up to 4mm thick. I have 12x12"of steel as a bottom plate and a few upper plates up to the same size. I have to take multiple "bites" at anything longer than that. Now I could live with the slowness but the awkwardness of having to nibble away at longer pieces, let alone splitting up hides into pieces small enough to fit within the frame, is getting rather old. I'm also getting some distortions in the clicked pieces from moving the leather mid-cut. So I'm looking at my options. It occurs to me that this is a topic that could interest a lot of leatherworkers. My essential requirements are: Able to click pieces up to 12"/300mm without moving the leather (4mm thick). C-shape (open) frame or a very large O-type frame. No slower to "click" than my current press -- say 3 seconds. Machine no wider (or easily broken down to be no wider) than 26" due to access issues. Machine no larger than 36" wide when assembled (space available in shop). Desirable requirements: as low initial cost as possible (say under £500). Quiet running. As low weight as possible (say under 200Kg), or at least easily broken down to lighter pieces (access!). Able to click longer pieces as long as 30" (750mm) in one hit, or at least not having to move the leather to do so. I'm not ambitious or anything am I... Obviously a professional swing-head or beam press would be my best option. However I have extremely narrow and awkward access to my workshop and only the smallest swing-head clickers will fit. The Atom SE8 is typical -- a bed 24" wide by 12" deep and 12x12" head. About 430Kg, which is potentially manageable. I'd have to click anything longer than 12" with multiple hits, but that's a compromise I'm willing to make. SE8s and similar 8 ton clickers don't come up very often and a new one would be well beyond my means. Second-hand they can be as little as a few hundred up to several thousand £ depending on age, condition, model, location etc. There would also be additional costs of moving, refurbishing and phase conversion on some examples. Tippman pneumatic clickers have an open frame, an acceptable weight and size, and cycle pretty quickly. I even already have a compressor. However they are very expensive to import (only ever seen one second hand and that was on a Hebridean island, which is about 12 hours' drive and a ferry trip away... weather permitting...). Further while the Tippman designs are C-frame they are not swing-head presses and the size, even of the larger model, means I'd have to move the leather (with knife embedded) for longer cuts. Manual toggle-link clickers like the Lucris and its various cousins (Cowboy and Noya) would be quite lightweight and easy to setup onto a bench, which allows storage underneath. Maybe I could even integrate it into a layout bench. No noise (apart from grunting). Cost about £1500. However I'm worried about the size and the 4ton capacity -- seems a bit wimpy. There's also limited ceiling height in this workshop, which might be an issue if I extend the handle. There's a small manual clicker press that's got 4x pillars, a toggle on the top and a capacity somewhere around the size of my nutsack hand. It's not something I will even consider. I've looked at building a simple open-frame press with a bottle jack that swings out the way but realistically it's beyond my enginerding abilities and paying a professional to build one would proabably work out to be an expensive option, and I wouldn't have the fancier features of some of the other options. I can't find a bearing press any wider than 24" between the uprights. Other than that such a thing would most of my other requirements, so long as I fabricobble some upper and lower plates. However it occurs to me that if I bought one that had a bolted rather than welded frame I might be able to produce some longer upper and lower frame pieces, essentially giving me as large an O-frame as I can fit in the space. Not much change out of £500 for such a machine that fits my size desires, and no improvement to the clicking speed -- in fact potentially a slower speed if I can't find a smaller/faster bottle jack than my current one. (Air-over-oil jacks are limited availability here and all seem slower than my humble 6tonner.) If I am able to leave the jack just loose enough to slide along the top rails I could have a poor man's travelling head press... maybe... (Something like this... just longer/wider... and a worse paint job...) Sealey import a 10ton C-frame bearing press that might work with a little modification. About £300. Very compact. However I'm worried the manual pump might be a bit slow and I would be dubious about hooking up a hydraulic powerpack. Mostly cos I'd prefer not to spray hydraulic oil all over the shop (again). Is there an option, a solution or a problem that I've missed? Do I need to just pick one or man up and deal with my current situation? Am I overthinking it? Do I need more coffee? Edited May 29, 2019 by Matt S Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikesc Report post Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) The Sealey looks like you could weld the same kind of thing up from RSJs..I beams or C beams, or combinations thereof..some flanges, your bottle jack ( or a bigger one with more "tonnage" ), some steel plates and re-inforcers ( to avoid twist )..some lighter C beams or C section over 5mm, for guide channels..Hammerite*..few nuts and bolts .. Voila.."Bob est le frère de ta sœur." :) If you don't have a welder ( stick, MIG, TIG , Bottles, whatever )..you should..a welding rig ( and an "instant" black helmet and goggles ) is like a penknife, or tools ( hand or powered ) or brushes, ..or an industrial sewing machine ..everyone should have one, or two, or more..preferably more..or lots.. :) *May not actually be the correct spelling.. Do I need more coffee? Nope..you need more beer..it is beer o'clock somewhere in the world..you are somewhere in the world.. Edited May 29, 2019 by mikesc Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chrisash Report post Posted May 29, 2019 Matt Harry rogers has a video of him using one of the Manual toggle-link clickers i think a cowboy version he lives in Sevenoaks Kent, may be worth talking to him about how effective they are Give you a nice drive around the M25 as a day out !!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikesc Report post Posted May 29, 2019 (edited) the M25 Funny the things one doesn't miss at all :) ..left the UK for good in 87.. :)) I remember that video by Harry..I remember thinking if he welded a really solid reinforcement flange into the "crook" of the "elbow" of the lever..and bolted the thing down to a bench with some additional weight low down ..it would be a useful bit of kit..resembles a stronger tee-shirt transfer press ( another tool, that I have here in "the collection" ) in many ways..minus the "hot bits".. Edited May 29, 2019 by mikesc Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matt S Report post Posted May 29, 2019 1 hour ago, mikesc said: The Sealey looks like you could weld the same kind of thing up from RSJs..I beams or C beams, or combinations thereof..some flanges, your bottle jack ( or a bigger one with more "tonnage" ), some steel plates and re-inforcers ( to avoid twist )..some lighter C beams or C section over 5mm, for guide channels..Hammerite*..few nuts and bolts .. Voila.."Bob est le frère de ta sœur." If you don't have a welder ( stick, MIG, TIG , Bottles, whatever )..you should..a welding rig ( and an "instant" black helmet and goggles ) is like a penknife, or tools ( hand or powered ) or brushes, ..or an industrial sewing machine ..everyone should have one, or two, or more..preferably more..or lots.. A welder is actually on my shopping list. I agree a bloody useful skill to have but I haven't welded in 10+ years, and I'm not sure I'm going to trust any of my beads to hold several tons of pressure at chest height any time soon... Suppose I should call up my welder friend and see what he'll do for a bottle of whiskey... 1 hour ago, chrisash said: Harry rogers has a video of him using one of the Manual toggle-link clickers i think a cowboy version he lives in Sevenoaks Kent, may be worth talking to him about how effective they are Give you a nice drive around the M25 as a day out !!! Yes I guess it might be worth it to see if Harry will let me have a go on his, just to see what the capabilities are -- even if I do have to traverse half of the world's biggest circular carpark. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rockoboy Report post Posted June 1, 2019 On 5/30/2019 at 5:35 AM, Matt S said: I'm not sure I'm going to trust any of my beads to hold several tons of pressure If you take your time to design, cut out and pre-assemble the components with light duty tack welds, that could assist the welder, and reduce your cost. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
