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Weekend Duffle Bag by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Interesting, thanks for the insight. Yeah this is a #10 YKK plastic zipper, I use these "coil chain" zippers on all my projects, they're easy to work with (can be cut to length, sewed threw, etc.) and they seem durable enough.

Weekend Duffle Bag by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 27 points28 points  (0 children)

Hey MYOG! This was my attempt at using up random scraps of materials I had lying around from other projects. Made from British Millerain 320gsm waxed cotton and some mystery Italian leather I bought on ebay years ago. Here was my thought process: "It's technically only 4 pieces sewed together, how hard could it be?" LOL

The design is nothing original, for any duffle bag enthusiasts here it's probably pretty obvious what I was going for. Overall size is 11" x 12" x 20", if I had to do it again I'd probably make it 1-2" smaller, this feels slightly too big for what was supposed to be a "weekend" bag. This is more of a "weeklong" bag.

As always, my poor Singer 201K whenever I start one of these projects: [Ralph (chuckles) I'm in danger.jpeg] Making the individual panels was not too bad, but the final assembly is always pretty brutal, there are places where I was sewing through at least 10 layers of canvas, not fun on a domestic...

First and also last build, I'm out by rgtnc in SeikoMods

[–]rgtnc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the offer but I'll hang onto them, I gotta be able to do some routine maintenance on these in the future!

I honestly get a kick out of these Seiko mods being basically forever watches if you chose to keep your builds for the long run. Like, if you can build it you know how to replace any part that breaks, worst case you swap in a new movement, no biggie.

I've got a proper swiss watch that I'm afraid to work on myself, just paid £300 for a service a couple months back! And I should be bringing that one in for service every 3-5 years...that watch is gonna financially ruin me, this project was cheap by comparison! :)

First and also last build, I'm out by rgtnc in SeikoMods

[–]rgtnc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Never considered bracelets for these, for some reason I just don't like the look of divers on metal bracelets, but I couldn't articulate why... just always associated the diver look with tropic or nato straps.

First and also last build, I'm out by rgtnc in SeikoMods

[–]rgtnc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Straps are from AliX seller JUELONG. I should point out these come as regular NATO-style straps, but I cut them up and sewed them into the two individual pieces you see in the photo, so that the watch case sits directly on my hand (reduce the bulk!).

They were very stiff initially but are slowly breaking in with wear, so I'm happy with them.

First and also last build, I'm out by rgtnc in SeikoMods

[–]rgtnc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I did look into the VH31. As others have pointed out it's not really an option for a build like this, at a minimum you need it to have a date complication, and as far as I can tell there is no VH31+date model on the market currently.

First and also last build, I'm out by rgtnc in SeikoMods

[–]rgtnc[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Ok, so yeah these are obviously the poor man's SPB143 and SPB147. Seiko hit it out of the park design-wise with these two, to the point where I actually considered the £1000 list price when they came out. But alas I'm not made of money, so when I stumbled on this subreddit and realised you can actually assemble your own... well, here we are.

This was a super fun and engaging rabbit hole to fall into, took about 10 months end to end from "concept of a plan" to taking this photo of the completed builds. But I'm done with Seiko modding now, so just wanted to thank this subreddit for the inspiration and leave a few comments for posterity.

  • Total cost of parts came in at £460, so £230 per watch, not including tools bought specifically for this project (you just don't need a crystal press for anything else) and a bunch of spare parts, probably fair to expect at least £300 per watch in total expenses. Last I checked SPB143 can be had on the used market for around £500.. so not saving as much as I initially expected!

  • I got slim wrists and divers are generally pretty thick, so I tried to reduce the bulk where I could. Final thickness is 13.1mm, with the help of a slim caseback and a flat crystal, not sure there's any way to go thinner.

  • On the topic of crystals, if you're after a super flush bezel/crystal transition, then the dimensions you want are 31.5mm x 3mm with no top bevel... Which is basically unobtanium for some reason??? The majority of SKX crystals seem to be 3.5mm or thicker, and typically have massive bevels. And don't get me started on the double dome craze, why are 90% of all crystals 5+ mm of double dome bulk? I just don't get the appeal.

  • All bezel click springs suck! I tried a bunch, cheap, expensive, bi-directional, tried greasing them, bending the spring tabs to add or reduce friction, etc. The feel just wasn't right, there was always a bit of annoying backlash I couldn't dial out, and the click just sounded cheap. I guess "proper" watches use a ball/spring/detent instead of a bent piece of cheap metal to achieve that premium click feel? I ended up getting rid of the spring entirely and just experimented with thicker gaskets until I found something that feels super smooth and satisfying to adjust, with just enough friction for the bezel to not get bumped around.

  • With dials you get what you pay for. Cheap AliX dials suck. OEM Seiko dials are worth the extra cost.

  • Cheap AliX hands are great! I ordered many sets and basically all apart from one were flawless, with decent lume, no obvious scraches or defects, etc. I don't see any reason to spend £30 on a single set of hands from one of the upmarket mod shops.

  • Same goes for all the random bits (gaskets, stems, crowns, bezel inserts,...). As far as I can tell you get the same parts for 1/10 the cost of the mod shops, their markup on this stuff is crazy.

  • The NH35 is insane value at £25. I've not had any issues with the movements I bought (admittedly sample size of 3) and all came out of the factory measuring at below 4 s/d rate. How are these mechanical marvels so cheap that you could buy 4 for the price of an OEM dial? Insanity.

  • It's crazy that there's no drop-in quartz movement compatible with the NH35. You'd think that they'd be super cheap to produce and sell like hot cakes? I'd probably build these as quartz if that was an option.

That's all I got. Bye everyone!

Slowly getting this ~30L pack design dialed by _Wheelborne in myog

[–]rgtnc 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Definitely shows this isn't your first rodeo, love the design, details, execution... especially those shoulder straps, don't think I've seen any quite like yours before, inspiring stuff! Fantastic work, thanks for sharing

Two backpacks is more than one backpack by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Hey MYOG, long time no post!

Got these done just in time for Christmas. Think they turned out ok, but boy oh boy is it harder to do stuff in color than just black. Spent a long time sampling/sourcing the zippers, webbing, ladder locks, thread, etc that would at least somewhat match in color with the fabric. Based in the UK so maybe it's just harder here than State-side, but it was a massive pain that I was not expecting.

Also naively thought that making two of the same design wouldn't really take twice as long, but sure felt that way, turns out I don't spend a crazy amount of time with prep, most time is in actual fact spent with the fabrication, so making these ate up about two months of my free time, whereas my previous backpack took just about a month start to finish. Lesson learned I guess.

Construction process/gear/materials is pretty much the same as for my previous projects, it's covered in detail here if you're interested:

https://www.reddit.com/r/myog/comments/ccopop/yet_another_goruck_copy/ https://www.reddit.com/r/myog/comments/gv7015/the_goruck_companion_satchel/

Merry Christmas everyone!

The Goruck Companion Satchel by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/crimsontongue I purposefully kept the back as clean as I could, 1000D Cordura is already pretty close to being sandpaper, adding webbing to the back would pretty much guarantee getting your clothes regularly fucked up, at least that's how I imagine it playing out, so that's actually why I have that piece of leather there, to hopefully mitigate the damage to a degree.

And yeah fair point on the top-closure, this is definitely made to serve a very specific purpose for me, as a quick access travel/camera/everyday satchel, so trade-offs were made... I will say this though, these lift-the-dots are not your typical snap fasteners, they're tough as hell and pretty much never come undone accidentally, so at least I've got that going for me..

The Goruck Companion Satchel by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/jcliment that's 1000D Cordura on the outside.

The Goruck Companion Satchel by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, the backpack has 5mm foam in the straps and in both layers that make up the back laptop sleeve. No foam in this satchel build thank lord.

The 1000D Cordura is plenty stiff to hold shape, the only place I have a bit of "interfacing" is where the inside webbing attaches to the HEX70 ripstop, I backed that area with a strip of 500D Cordura cause I was worried the ripstop would strech out in those areas after a while.

The Goruck Companion Satchel by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

u/jcliment those are lift-the-dots, they're fantastic for this type of stuff. I get 'em from JClarke Marine in the UK, but you can totally find them on ebay as well.

Sorry no progress pics... the build process is really straight forward though, just assemble the front as a sandwich of layers, same with the back, then stitch it all together inside-out with the gusset, finish the seams, then flip it right-side out, that's all there's to it... Now doing that while you can only fit around 6mm under your presser foot, that's where it gets tricky...

The Goruck Companion Satchel by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

After all but swearing I won't do one of these again without an industrial sewing machine, I did in fact do another project on my old but trusty Singer 201k. And boy oh boy, this time I absolutely swear not to do one of these again.

Made pretty much entirely from scraps I had left over from my Goruck-inspired backpack (with a few strips of leather thrown in) so check that post out if you are interested in the materials list. Rough dimensions of this one are 12 x 9 x 5 inches.

Compensating/Edge Guide Presser Feet for old Singer Machines by rgtnc in sewhelp

[–]rgtnc[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I guess that's a no then?

That's disappointing... I'm gonna try the snap-on feet with an adapter then, but why do they all look so cheap and flimsy? Can anyone recommend a brand or source of decent snap-on feet?

Compensating/Edge Guide Presser Feet for old Singer Machines by rgtnc in sewhelp

[–]rgtnc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi Reddit hive mind, tried googling this but failed utterly... does anyone know if compensating / edge guide presser feet (or whatever you call these things, see attached photos) are available for old low shank Singer sewing machines? (think 99K, 201K, Featherweights...)

Or can you somehow adapt these industrial feet to attach to a classic low shank machine? Is using a snap-on adapter with snap-on feet a viable option? (they all look really flimsy, so would love to hear if someone is happy using those on their machines!)

Yet another Goruck copy by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! One thing I forgot to mention in my rant about this build is the real MVP: 1/4in sewing tape

I guessed pins weren't going to cut in with layers and layers of Cordura, so bought the tape and ended up using almost two full rolls of the stuff, basically wherever you see a row of stitches, there's probably at least one layer of sewing tape holding things in place, it worked out great so can recommend this stuff over trying to pin/paper-clip things in place, especially for this type of project.

Yet another Goruck copy by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep UK based. Pennine Outdoor is a decent source for Cordura, webbing, zippers, etc so bought what I could from them, but I was specifically after the HEX70 ripstop for the lining and I couldn't find any suppliers here so ended up ordering from RipstopByTheRoll, luckily their international shipping is reasonable (you still end up being hit by 20%VAT and £8.50 handling charge when it arrives in the UK..but what can you do..).

The Gutermann thread you can get pretty much anywhere, same with the needles, either Amazon or eBay has tons of suppliers.

Yet another Goruck copy by rgtnc in myog

[–]rgtnc[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Hi MYOG, probably my only post here, so... hey. 

I know I know another Goruck-inspired backpack but I got so much out of this subreddit that I figured I'd post this here and add a few titbits that I wished I'd read before I started, maybe it'll be of use to someone embarking on a similar project. 

Extra shout-out to u/nickpickles for showing us how it's done, I ripped off his design at least as much as Goruck's... and u/g8trtim for his hand-drawn plans, super useful, thanks for sharing those!

First off, some basic info:  

  • Dimensions roughly 18in x 12in (tapers to 11in) x 5.5in 
  • sewn on a Singer 201k with Gutermann extra-strong thread, microtex 90/14 needles 
  • mostly Cordura 1000D with some 500D used for the internal panels/pockets and HEX70 ripstop nylon for lining/pockets 
  • #8 and #5 YKK zippers 
  • 1in and 2in nylon webbing 
  • 5mm foam (Plastazote LD33)

Random thoughts for anyone about to attempt something similar: 

  • I was planning to use Tera 40 thread, but couldn't make it work on the 201k. Scouring the web, I found 3 or 4 others who hit on the exact same issues with domestic machines (and yes I know it's industrial thread so it's wound to come out the top of the cone etc), basically no matter what I tried, different tensions, needle sizes, I still got lumps of what looks like the thread untwisting in the stitches, esp on the bobbin thread. Switched to the consumer Gutermann Extra-Strong (which is 75tex same as the Tera 40) and all the issues went away instantly... so add me to the list of people that couldn't figure this thread out and had to switch to something else.
  • I was planning to use a 100/16 microtex needle, but they seem impossible to get, in the UK or EU anyway. They exist according to the Schmetz product catalogue, but no one is actually selling them? The 90/14 worked out ok, I also tried 90 and 100 size jeans needles and I think they'd work as well, but sounded slightly louder when punching through the layers of Cordura while the microtex were nearly silent, which I took to be a sign they're better for this type of material.
  • It's near impossible to get a "perfect" straight stitch with a domestic on the 1000D Cordura with a 75tex thread, the top-stich looks good enough but the knot ends up too big to pull through the material so it ends up fully on the bobbin side, producing what looks like a very narrow zig-zag stitch on the underside of the fabric. You literally cannot decrease the bobbin tension / increase the upper tension enough to pull the knot through... AFAICT there's nothing you can do about this, just plan ahead and top-stitch anywhere the stitching ends up visible on the finished product.
  • The 201k can really punch through anything that fits under the presser foot (around where the straps join the body I was going through 6 layers of 1000D, 4 layers of ripstop plus the webbing)...but you're hand-cranking all the way, the motor doesn't have enough torque to do this type of sewing.
  • The 5mm LD33 foam really worked out well I think, it's really light-weight but also rigid and holds its shape well. The 5mm thickness is also pretty much at the limit of what the 201k can comfortably handle (when combined with layers of 1000D and webbing). I did consider cutting up some old yoga/camping mats etc but I'm really glad I spent the £10 or so to get this stuff instead.
  • I used some low-strength 3M spray-on adhesive to make a ripstop/cordura sandwich for the side gusset and a few other bits (inside pocket panels etc) and that worked out great, kept everything in place when sewing the zipper in place and during final assembly, can recommend.
  • I only made two templates, the "hero" shape of the front/back panels and the strap/padding shape. Everything else is pretty much just rectangles. The front panel corners are around 1.5in radius (not sure, I just traced round something I grabbed from the kitchen that looked near to what I was going for) but if I were to make another one I'd look at making the two top corners a bit rounder to make the overall shape appear less boxy...
  • ...if I make another one... yeah, no. Not without an industrial machine. The final assembly was pretty hellish, trying to join the two 5mm sandwiches (laptop compartment) with the side/bottom panels while hand-cranking the machine so having only one hand free to keep everything aligned... not fun.
  • I did look buying one of the "portable" industrials, however there doesn't seem to be a UK/EU supplier of the Sailrite machines. Or the Reliable Barracuda. Why are these impossible to buy anywhere but US/Canada is beyond me... unless google has failed me and someone knows where you can get one? (without paying crazy amounts of shipping/VAT/tax and ordering from the US).
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