Help a guy out with his new skiving machine!

[keithski122]

Looks the same as mine.Metal scraper on the right against the knife, leather scraper spring loaded against the feed wheel.

I don't suppose you can get a pic up on how the spring for the feed wheel scraper is fixed as mine has come off and the scraper is dangling loose in the air doing nothing. Many thanks if you could.

[Mark842]

I'm curious, did you sharpen it using the supplied instruction manual as a guide (hieroglyphs and braille) or by Al Bane's video? I had similar issues sharpening by the manual. Then I found Al bane's video on YouTube and everything works great. I skive mostly 5 oz oil tanned and have found that I need to sharpen the blade every two days or so depending on work load.

 

 

[YinTx]

13 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

You know if I were making that style of ejector wiper thingy I would have used a shaped out bristle brush to really scrape that fluff out of the grit.

yeah, I would have engineered it that way too.  I know a company that makes metal wire scrapers, I may replace it with one.  This one is frustrating.  It pulls the pieces in right away as they are getting cut.  Defeats the purpose a bit, I'd think.

 

2 hours ago, keithski122 said:

as mine has come off and the scraper is dangling loose in the air doing nothing.

Probably better than trapping leather trimmings!  But I'll try to get a photo later this week if I can.  Kinda hard to get the phone up in there and all...

9 hours ago, alexitbe said:

but is the scraper at the correct position and angle to the knife? 

I think so.  I imagine it has a lot to do with the fact that the spinning bell lifts the leather towards the operator and thus the scraper, causing it to fall down.  It seems to do it's job ok, the other scraper tho leaves a lot to be desired.

12 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Just another thought ....I think that plastic wiper thing will be spring pressured and with the plastic block being somewhat thick it may act as a funnel and be excellent at trapping the leather until it wears down to where there is no edge left and it is firm against the feed stone. Try having it run with the feed stone engaged until you can see no ledge. What have you got to lose?

I'll look closer, when I was looking at it last night I noted it was on a spring, but didn't seem to actually touch the stone.  Perhaps it is somewhere that I can't really see, like the backside, closer to the operator.  I don't hear any rubbing or anything while in operation tho...I'm just glad I am willing and able to troubleshoot this thing.  Otherwise I'd be one unhappy camper!

YinTx

[YinTx]

10 minutes ago, Mark842 said:

by Al Bane's video?

I had seen this video, and pretty much followed it. Thanks for posting it, others may find it useful.  I didn't have the issue he had with skipped sections, but the angle of the grind was off due to the bell being so far back initially.

Mr. Bane was freaking me out feeding that leather through one handed with his fingers right above the bell business end.  If that had bit into the leather there, he would have had red accents on the black.  I keep my fingers clear of that thing at all costs.

YinTx

[RockyAussie]

Do you not get any manual with this thing? I just spent ages going over the videos on skiving machines and .....mostly was horrified at the amount of misinformation out there. Why anyone that makes video's on how to set them up when they have just got  one is beyond me. These videos get thousands of views and that is a bit sad I think. I am not knocking that some may think they are helping perhaps and for that they should be commended. I saw one deler video that I think does some pretty decent video's on sewing machines but as for his skiving machine information .....IT is nothing but crap.For anyone that ever sees this post please understand that there should NEVER be an occasion for you to ever have to pull the leather through a skiver. If that feed stone or roller is not feeding it through by itself then you have unwanted friction that is distorting/stretching the leather and on finer leathers you will get a lot of inconsistency problems. If your leather is not going through smoothly as I show in this video then something is wrong -

By my standards the smoothness shown here is not even optimal but against many other video's I just looked at you'd think I might know what I am doing. My normal brass roller I made and use allows me better control than shown here. @YinTx I have to ask if it would be possible to do a short video of the machine in action? This may help to establish if you are getting anywhere closer. 

[Mark842]

1 hour ago, RockyAussie said:

Do you not get any manual with this thing?

The entire manual that came with my NP-4 is 6 pages. 4 of the 6 are illustrated parts breakdowns. The other two pages are basically what you would have if someone speaking Chinese used Google translate. An example....here is the entire section on how to sharpen the blade.

4) When Knife is blunt, set the clutch leveler at work position, and then slowly turn the screw to grind the knife.

That's it. I'm pretty good at figuring out machines but when I purchased mine, having never seen one in person and with the overwhelming amount of information in the instruction manual I have to say it was Youtube that taught me the basics. Am I doing everything right? Don't know. I am however getting very good skives daily with it. And no, I never pull the leather. I've never had to. Once I figured out which foot was for what by trial and error and how to properly set the presser foot tension the leather just glides through nice and easy on its own. And yes, I get nervous watching how close the operators fingers are coming to the bell knife on some of them videos.

 The only thing I have an issue with that may be because I'm doing something wrong or maybe it's the nature of the beast. Every couple of long skives I have to grab my handy dandy wooden pencil I keep right there and reach underneath to clear leather from inside and around the bell or it will start to jam up the works.

[RockyAussie]

Sounds like you are getting it figured out alright. Does the parts manual show a diagram of the feed stone wiper with a spring? Could you post a picture of it if so?

22 minutes ago, Mark842 said:

how to properly set the presser foot tension the leather just glides through nice and easy on its own

Where you say pressure foot pressure, do you mean the feed stone pressure? I am not aware of any pressure foot pressure adjustment . I only have a Fortuna and a F.A.V.2 skiver so perhaps these may have something else I am not aware of.

[jimi]

Here is a link from another topic that has a Campbell Randall manual, i think there is another topic which has a FAV one also, and i have one in PDF which i can send by email.

I have managed to take some pictures for reference if this might help. The metal guide on your machine is not present on mine so the only thing i can say about that is to bring it all the way back until your ejector in the knife is set then re set it. Personally it looks like it is just looking for something to get stuck on it?? 

If anyone is wondering, the spring on the scraper of the wheel feed is homemade and not original. It came with another homemade one but botched with less spring so i made one according to the parts sheet. (a slightly better botch)

Edited August 5, 2019 by jimi

[YinTx]

17 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

I have to ask if it would be possible to do a short video of the machine

I'll do what I can, but in past I have not had luck uploading videos.  Takes hours, and u-tube says too much data for a 3 minute video.  I am not sure how folks upload 1.5 hours of 1080p video - they know something I don't!

On 8/4/2019 at 12:27 PM, keithski122 said:

I don't suppose you can get a pic up on how the spring for the feed wheel scraper is fixed as mine

Better photos than I will get are above!  

Seems like this thread may be helping more folks than just myself.. Thank you all that are providing assistance!

17 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

Do you not get any manual with this thing?

Yep, the 6 pager.  Purty lame.

17 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

For anyone that ever sees this post please understand that there should NEVER be an occasion for you to ever have to pull the leather through a skiver.

yeah, I think I saw that video.  Had the bell set way back too if I recall.  I kinda trusted other videos more, didn't really follow anything from that one.

17 hours ago, RockyAussie said:

you'd think I might know what I am doing.

You do.  Lots of experience speaks volumes.  I'm trying to listen and learn here.  

 

[mikesc]

YinTX
What do you use to make / take your videos ?..and what kind of computer do you have windows or mac or linux..or ... ?

Edited August 5, 2019 by mikesc