Thursday, February 23, 2012

Simple fix for a common problem...

I have fixed a few cases since I started building them. But first thing I usually ask, is the case worth fixing? Usually the case is actually worth fixing. In some instances it may not be, but I'll do it anyway to see how the case was built, and see where the failure was. It usually ends up being a bad stitch, or just generally cheap materials.

In this case, I was asked to fix a Giuseppe case strap that failed. I've done these before. It is a fairly simple fix.

First thing - the case needs to come apart. These Giuseppe cases are glued to an inner structure of tubes and cardboard. Sounds cheap, but it works. Anyway - I need to separate the outer material from the inner stucture. A very simple tool can be used - a thin aluminum ruler.

Separate all the glued parts and begin to slide off the outer material.


Once the outer is separated, you're left with the this...


Once the outer shell is removed, I can pull the stitching and cut off the bad section. The amount of strap removed is actually less than an inch, so the owner won't see any real difference in the length. This is glued in place and ready to stitch.
The perfect machine to stitch this is a cylinder arm machine. A flat bed machine would work, but just the ease of sliding the case over the arm and being able to stitch around is a breeze. I used #138 thread and matched the exisiting stitch length.


It's pretty simple from here. Just stitch around the case, and be sure to hit the strap. Now that we are done, just slip the outside of the case back over the structure and glue it in place like before. Not bad for about an hour's worth of work (Yes - I did clip the thread hanging off the bottom).

Thanks for looking.
Brian

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Wow...

It has been a while since I've been on this thing. Hopefully I remember how it all works!

I have a lot of stuff to add here in the next few days. Stayed tuned. I'll probably spend less time updated the web site and focus on this for a while.

Thanks for looking.

Brian