Welcome, Guest. Please Login
SLINGING.ORG
 
Home Help Search Login


Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
New toy (Read 2155 times)
NooneOfConsequence
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2983
Texas
New toy
Nov 12th, 2020 at 8:07pm
 
Well, I just leveled up on my leather working capabilities this week. I picked up a leather press! For some reason the price on Amazon temporarily dropped below $200 for a few days, and I couldn’t pass it up. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07H2ZZBK3/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The crate on my doorstep weighs 38 pounds!  I’ll post photos when I get it up and running.
Back to top
 

“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
IP Logged
 
Kick
past-moderator
****
Offline



Posts: 4451
Finland
Re: New toy
Reply #1 - Nov 13th, 2020 at 2:23am
 
Wow! That's definitely going to speed up production Cheesy
Back to top
 

You are a great guy Kick but also slightly scary at times. - Morphy
"Nothing matters, but it’s perhaps more comfortable to keep calm and not interfere with other people." - H.P. Lovecraft, in a letter to Frank Belknap Long, 7 October, 1923
 
IP Logged
 
vetryan15
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline


Slinging Rocks!

Posts: 1913
Northern Maine
Gender: male
Re: New toy
Reply #2 - Nov 13th, 2020 at 6:06am
 
Awesome,
Back to top
 
WWW  
IP Logged
 
Morphy
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline


Checkmate

Posts: 8102
Re: New toy
Reply #3 - Nov 13th, 2020 at 1:53pm
 
Is this for making and selling slings? Looking forward to seeing it in action Is the idea to get cleaner faster cuts?
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
NooneOfConsequence
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2983
Texas
Re: New toy
Reply #4 - Nov 14th, 2020 at 11:37pm
 
It’s mostly a hobby toy. I would love to successfully sell slings one day, but I have plenty of other things to sell already, so slings would just be a bonus. Besides, if I got serious about selling my sling designs, I would probably contract the manufacturing out and go bigger than what one guy can do with a manual press in a garage. I give my slings away as fast as I make them, and the leather cutting is one of the slowest steps, so I really just bought this to save myself time and/or give away more slings for fun. 

Before any of that happens, I will have to order a custom ruler die to put in the press. Based on the quotes I’ve received so far, the die is going to be more expensive than the press was, so it’s starting to look like an expensive hobby... on second thought maybe I should sell some slings just to pay for the new toy!
Back to top
 

“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
IP Logged
 
NooneOfConsequence
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2983
Texas
Re: New toy
Reply #5 - Nov 15th, 2020 at 12:09am
 
I suppose I should clarify, Morphy. You asked a simple, straightforward question and I don’t have a simple answer. I would absolutely use this press and a die to crank out a bunch of slings to test the market before going bigger,... or just to give them all away, but the idea of scaling a hobby activity up at home is a meta-hobby itself, or at least an intellectual experiment of sorts.

Lately I’ve been pondering this idea of manufacturing things on a medium scale in a small space like a garage. All the supply chains broke with Covid lockdowns, and I like the idea of extreme local manufacturing capabilities for consumer goods.  I haven’t really fleshed out the entire idea yet, but, especially with 3D printers and low-cost computers and electronics, it’s become easier than ever to tool up for small production batches of items that you would traditionally have to buy from large-scale mass-production facilities.
Back to top
 

“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
IP Logged
 
Morphy
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline


Checkmate

Posts: 8102
Re: New toy
Reply #6 - Nov 15th, 2020 at 7:38pm
 
Sounds fun. My big issue with selling handmade crafts is while people usually admire them they never want to put done anything close to what they are worth.  But if you can make them fast enough and cheap enough I guess that wouldn't matter.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
NooneOfConsequence
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2983
Texas
Re: New toy
Reply #7 - Nov 15th, 2020 at 7:52pm
 
That’s the whole idea... set up a cottage industry that uses modern technology to work like a mass production facility and see if you can actually make it worth the time. You can’t make any real money selling a sling that people will only pay $20 for if it takes two hours to make one. You can make more money working at McDonalds... but if you can tool up and make 10 per hour then it might be worth it to sell at prices the market is willing to pay.
Back to top
 

“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
IP Logged
 
joe_meadmaker
Slinging.org Administrator
*****
Offline


Slinging Ice is Cool!

Posts: 2889
PA, USA
Re: New toy
Reply #8 - Nov 15th, 2020 at 8:30pm
 
That does look like a nice piece of machinery.  The need to get customized cutting dies is too bad.  Although if you had one for your asymmetric pouch, and possibly a second one to make the pieces for an Aussie-style pouch, that would be a pretty nice variety in only two pouches.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
NooneOfConsequence
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2983
Texas
Re: New toy
Reply #9 - Nov 15th, 2020 at 9:07pm
 
You don’t really need a die for Aussie slings. You can just buy a strap cutter or purchase leather in strips and use a half-round cutting tool like this:

https://www.amazon.com/Hanperal-Leather-Half-round-Cutter-10-40mm/dp/B01A0LNBTA/...

The leather press actually has a tool holder that works with the half-round cutter, but a hammer works just fine for that too.

The press can do a lot more than just cut leather. It’ll hold arbitrary tools, stamp/emboss
and also function like a light duty arbor press.

I plan to laser engrave some embossing patterns in live oak (because it grows in my yard and is a ridiculously hard hardwood) and make my own custom logos and lettering to use with the press too. My laser engraver is pretty limited though, so I can only do small tools (about 1” square).
Back to top
 

“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
IP Logged
 
joe_meadmaker
Slinging.org Administrator
*****
Offline


Slinging Ice is Cool!

Posts: 2889
PA, USA
Re: New toy
Reply #10 - Nov 15th, 2020 at 9:53pm
 
Yeah, on second thought you're probably right.  With a strap cutter and punches it's essentially back to hand-making.  But an Aussie pouch can definitely be knocked out much faster than a complex pouch design.  So not that much of a time saver there.

I have a friend who recently got a 3D printer and laser engraver combo.  He's only done a couple trials, but says it's working well with engraving on wood.  I'm planning to take a couple pieces of leather to him for some testing.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
NooneOfConsequence
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2983
Texas
Re: New toy
Reply #11 - Nov 15th, 2020 at 10:10pm
 
I bought some strip tooling leather on EBay and the half-round tool makes a strap into a sling pouch really fast.  Two whacks on a half-round with a hammer, two clicks with the hole punch, and two pulls of the eyelet press... that’s all it takes for each part of the sling pouch. The pouch pieces can be finished in under a minute unless you want to emboss the leather. If you set up an assembly line and didn’t get too fancy with terminating the cordage, you could probably make more than 10 Aussie slings by hand in an hour.
Back to top
 

“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
IP Logged
 
NooneOfConsequence
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2983
Texas
Re: New toy
Reply #12 - Nov 15th, 2020 at 10:24pm
 
On the cordage front, I already built a custom solution for fast paracord cutting. I rigged up a hot knife that cuts and melts the ends of paracord in one step. There’s a pre-marked stick on the hot knife so I can measure the cords to length and cut them all at once. I can cut a 100’ hack of 425 cord into enough cordage for 20 slings in about 10 minutes, and that’s slow because I don’t run the hot knife hot enough (trying to avoid too much burnt plastic fumes).  With a good ventilator (or if I moved the operation outside) I could at least double the cordage cutting speed.

Did I mention that the hot knife runs on rechargeable  batteries?  I can set it up just about anywhere!
Back to top
 

“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
IP Logged
 
a
Senior Member
****
Offline


a

Posts: 325
a
Gender: male
Re: New toy
Reply #13 - Nov 20th, 2020 at 7:02am
 
You should outsource and just concentrate on marketing, minimum wage here is equivalent to $1 USD an hour. I'm guessing a large chunk of the World is similar.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
NooneOfConsequence
Slinging.org Moderator
*****
Offline



Posts: 2983
Texas
Re: New toy
Reply #14 - Nov 20th, 2020 at 8:08pm
 
I’m not opposed to it, but that’s a different business model than the local garage factory system I’m playing with. Either way it’s just a hobby idea right now. I already have a day job, a side hustle, and four young boys in the house who need a lot of attention (3 still in diapers). I don’t really have time to fly around the world to set up production, but maybe some day.
Back to top
 

“My final hour is at hand. We face an enemy more numerous and cunning than the world has yet seen. Remember your training, and do not fear the hordes of Judas. I, without sin, shall cast the first stone. That will be your sign to attack! But you shall not fight this unholy enemy with stones. No! RAZOR GLANDES!  Aim for the eyes! May the Lord have mercy, for we shall show none!“  -Jesus the Noodler
 
IP Logged
 
Pages: 1 2 
Send Topic Print
(Moderators: Bill Skinner, Rat Man, Curious Aardvark, Mauro Fiorentini, Masiakasaurus, Chris, David Morningstar)