Some advice on building the hide softener please

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hy2Da8uo5dU

I am going to make mine pedal powered as I have a three wheel bike to attach it to and I don't have the skills to make the offset flywheel bar thingy that the motorized one has. I really did want to use an old treadmill as my motive power but no space or skills to pull that one off. :roll:

But I should be skilled enough to hook a bar onto each pedal so as I pedal, so the stampers go forward and back. Will be talking to a welder today (if he is home) and asking about getting two bars about three feet long with O rings welded onto both ends. Slip one end onto the pedal assembly and the other hook a D ring through and screw to the stampers.

A few questions though................

1) How close to the end of the section the hides go into should my stampers go? The one in the video seems to have a good couple of feet but as I wont be doing that volume of hides my rig is going to be smaller and, as its going to be me powering it, mine will be slower as well. :lol:

2) Should the end be round like in the video or do you think a box end will work? Is it the rounded end that makes the hides tumble, do you think?

3) Do the stampers have teeth? Are they angled? Or are they flat ended? I keep watching the video but cant tell for sure.

Any and all help? Priceless!

I can't really picture how your setup is going to work with the bike pedals. Want to draw me a picture? :lol:


1) It's going to depend on how many hides your doing at once. You could put the drive on a plate and move it forward and back to adjust for how many hides your doing.

2) I think it's actually a combination of the rounded end and the shape of the stampers that produce the tumbling effect. So yes I do think the end has to be rounded.

3) It looks to me like the end of the stampers are shaped like this.



I'm going to ask hubby about the drive when he gets home. Many times you can buy parts like that prefabricated.

Ya I would guess by my knowledge of hand work softening and looking at that video that there is some kind of shaping to the 'stompers' like above pic. I would think probably more of a crimped shape though. Seems the idea is to make many edges to break the hides from instead of hand doing it over a single edge. If that makes sense. And there seems to be some sort of rotating or tumbling action on the side opposite of the 'stompers' to keep the hides moving and rotating to get softened all over.

alforddm":a3p9pzzv said:

I can't really picture how your setup is going to work with the bike pedals. Want to draw me a picture? :lol:


1) It's going to depend on how many hides your doing at once. You could put the drive on a plate and move it forward and back to adjust for how many hides your doing.

2) I think it's actually a combination of the rounded end and the shape of the stampers that produce the tumbling effect. So yes I do think the end has to be rounded.

3) It looks to me like the end of the stampers are shaped like this.



I'm going to ask hubby about the drive when he gets home. Many times you can buy parts like that prefabricated.

Click to expand...

I can draw you many pictures, I just cant post em!

If you look at the drive rods on the actual hide softener, imagine them longer and instead of being attached to the offset shaft (or whatever its called) imagine each one ending in a circle that is slipped onto the rod that holds the bike peddle on. Each time the peddle goes round the breaker goes in and out.

Any help?

Am going to make it better and say I have figured out how to use old wrenches and a couple of one by ones to make my driver with instead of having to pay a welder to make me up something.

But as I got busy with butchering three huge turkeys this weekend I didn't get to the flea market to pick up the wrenches so will have to wait till next weekend to put this together. <br /><br /> __________ Thu Mar 09, 2017 1:24 pm __________ <br /><br /> Isnt it frustrating how life gets in the way of our projects? Have all the bits collected to make the breaker but no time to do it in. Have even brewed up a super strength tanning solution to use as soon as the breaker is made.

Argh! No time, no time!

Well, yes and I forgot to ask hubby about the drive. He said it's called a cam shaft and it's about the same as what is used to drive pistons in engines. The problem is when I did a search for it engine parts are all that came up...

Actually what you need is a crankshaft (not a camshaft) for a 2 cylinder engine to make this. Try a boat shop that maybe has a blown up outboard motor they'll give you.

You'll have a lot of pedaling to do my friend.

Homer":265j1sxb said:

Actually what you need is a crankshaft (not a camshaft) for a 2 cylinder engine to make this. Try a boat shop that maybe has a blown up outboard motor they'll give you.

You'll have a lot of pedaling to do my friend.

Click to expand...

Thankyou!

Well, pedals on a bicycle are a crankshaft, that would work with bars attached to them (if they are not colliding with your feet).

For such a low power application it doesn't need to be very sophisticated (if you condsider duplicating the machine in the video), some pieces of iron pipe and bars welded together, with two ball bearings would work, no need for much strenght or accuracy. Even a bent iron bar would do(If you have the means, for me, welding is much more simple). Ok, it depends on who improvises that thing, someone who does maintanance on farm machinery should have no problem setting the drive part up, that woodwork shown in the video is made to last for generations, can be done simpler and cheaper.

I typed "wood crankshaft" and did and image search. seems like with some finagling you could probably find some combination of strong wood and a design to fit your needs. or if you figure out something that would work but would work better as something thinner and metal and welded.. you can try finding a local person who can weld..?

You guys are great! So much imagination and helpful to boot!

I have three kids always greedy for money, peddling is NOT going to be a problem! :lol:

With all the bits in place to build it and over 200 dried hides to experiment with, now I have flu.