Contributing Member fredk Posted September 19, 2020 Contributing Member Report Posted September 19, 2020 There was a recent discussion on how to centre and align oval hole punches on belts I noticed that nobody mentioned this very simple jig thing. They are easy to make up out of scrap material. I made these three last night/evening as my originals have gone awol. Basically, a piece of clear or semi-clear perspex or acrylic sheet. Even a bit of board will do. Three holes drilled through it. The two at the ends take some sort of bar. The most important part is making sure the hole drilled between the two outer ones is dead centred between them. I used a bit of frosted perspex or acrylic. The pins in the outer holes is 1/8 aluminium tube, long enough to go thru the perspex (5mm) plus 5mm for going over the strap. The hole in the centre is a tight sliding fit for one of my scratch awls. I made three sizes as the larger one is bit OTT on small thin belts/straps, and one is devoted to my game boards An alternative to using a scratch awl to just mark the leather is to make that centre hole big enough for your favourite hole punch. Push it thru and mark the leather then come back and punch on the hole outline. In use, you simply slip over your belt/strap and swivel it until the pins touch the edge, then push a scratch awl or similar through the centre hole and you make a mark exactly in the centre of the strap width If you want to you can put a mark on the perspex so you can slide it along, align the mark with your previous hole and you then have the place for the new hole Look at the image below. The tab of tape is 2 cm from the awl hole. After making a mark with the awl if I slide the jig over until that bit of tape is over the mark then the jig is set for me to make another punching mark 2 cm from the first Quote Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Members dikman Posted September 19, 2020 Members Report Posted September 19, 2020 Elegant and, like all good things, simple. Once I'm mobile again I'll have to make a couple. Quote Machines wot I have - Singer 51W59; Singer 331K4; Seiko STH-8BLD; Pfaff 335; CB4500. Chinese shoe patcher; Singer 201K (old hand crank)
CFM chuck123wapati Posted September 20, 2020 CFM Report Posted September 20, 2020 very cool tool! if you could find a way to add circles or a circle like a target scribed into the plastic at what ever intervals you want for hole spacing you could do away with the tape. I love the K.i.s.s. method of making functional tools. Thank you for posting this. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Members paloma Posted September 20, 2020 Members Report Posted September 20, 2020 (edited) They can even do 2 in 1 by inverting the two pairs of pins on the same plate. Wide and narrower. another simple idea: https://www.instructables.com/id/center-finder/ Edited September 20, 2020 by paloma Quote time does not respect what is done without it https://tradisign.blogspot.com https://www.instagram.com/tradisign/
Contributing Member fredk Posted September 20, 2020 Author Contributing Member Report Posted September 20, 2020 6 hours ago, chuck123wapati said: . . . if you could find a way to add circles or a circle like a target scribed into the plastic at what ever intervals you want for hole spacing you could do away with the tape. . . . yup, but I'm not clever enough to have worked that bit out yet 6 hours ago, chuck123wapati said: . I love the K.i.s.s. method of making functional tools.. . . yup, k.i.s.s is best, especially for me Quote Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
Members Retswerb Posted September 20, 2020 Members Report Posted September 20, 2020 This is great. Love the additional ideas of double pins and the target, super simple and effective. Quote
Members McCarthy Posted September 20, 2020 Members Report Posted September 20, 2020 If you take one of these center finders and drill out the hole in the bottom it holds the small C.S. Osborne punches perfectly. I mark the leather with a divider, sight down the hole and center my mark on the x axis of the sight picture. Then I stick the punch down to make a mark. I only make marks with the tool, I take the punch out to drive it through. This is the only way I can make neat holes, because I can't manually center the punch on a dot to save my life. Quote
CFM chuck123wapati Posted September 20, 2020 CFM Report Posted September 20, 2020 (edited) 49 minutes ago, fredk said: yup, but I'm not clever enough to have worked that bit out yet yup, k.i.s.s is best, especially for me 40 minutes ago, Retswerb said: This is great. Love the additional ideas of double pins and the target, super simple and effective. i was thinking a stud the size of your middle hole through a piece of scrap wood or plastic then screw a sharp screw through it to act as a scribe at the desired length, turn it over stick it in the hole of your jig and turn it to scribe the line for your perfectly centered target. Edited September 20, 2020 by chuck123wapati Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
Contributing Member fredk Posted September 20, 2020 Author Contributing Member Report Posted September 20, 2020 1 minute ago, chuck123wapati said: i was thinking a stud the size of your middle hole through a piece of scrap wood or plastic then screw a sharp screw through it to act as a scribe at the desired length, turn it over stick it in the hole and turn it to scribe the line for your perfectly centered target. I was thinking - I used a small sized drawing compass to mark the distance of the centre hole from the outer ones, then I drilled a 0.8mm pilot hole. I could put one compass point in that small hole and scribe a line, or lines, with the the other compass point ? Would that work? Actually, that compass point may fit tight in that centre hole now. I'll maybe try it out later Quote Al speling misteaks aer all mi own werk..
CFM chuck123wapati Posted September 20, 2020 CFM Report Posted September 20, 2020 1 minute ago, fredk said: I was thinking - I used a small sized drawing compass to mark the distance of the centre hole from the outer ones, then I drilled a 0.8mm pilot hole. I could put one compass point in that small hole and scribe a line, or lines, with the the other compass point ? Would that work? Actually, that compass point may fit tight in that centre hole now. I'll maybe try it out later yes if it fits the center hole would be very easy to do i don't think it will have to be a very large or deep scribe line to be easily seen. Quote Worked in a prison for 30 years if I aint shiny every time I comment its no big deal, I just don't wave pompoms. “I won’t be wronged, I won’t be insulted, and I won’t be laid a hand on. I don’t do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.” THE DUKE!
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