Funded in part by a MassDEP 2020 Reduce, Reuse Repair Micro-Grant, Friends of Reusable Bags now owns a fleet of equipment that may be borrowed to make bags, or to do other projects, such as adding grommets to banners. Be creative! (Sign-out sheet coming soon.) We currently own:
3 Hiker brand standard grommet machines. These are used, generally with feed or malt bags, in the structural applications of forming the bottom of the bag and attaching handles to the bag. Modified from how they come from the factory, these machines have had the metal of the front end narrowed to allow them to fit in tighter spaces (compare to how a sleeve board works instead of a full sized ironing board), they are adjustable to match the thickness of material, and they are mounted on a wooden base that gets secured to a work table.
1 Giraffe grommet machine. As the name implies, this machine has a very long “neck”, which allows the user to get a grommet into the center of the bottom of a bag without bunching up the bag more than is possible with a standard unit. One of only 5 in existence, this endangered giraffe was constructed by The BagShare Project. Currently yellow, we dream of painting it with proper brown splotches.
2 Bates brand eyelet machines. Eyelets are like tiny grommets. They are used for non-structural applications, especially holding the folded rim of a bag together. They free up the other equipment and allow more people to make bags without waiting in line.
4 Wooden forms. We currently have 2 “tombstones” and 2 “pushers” made in house. (Thank you Bob!!) The tall tombstones are used to help turn the stiff bags inside out, though one can use the back of a chair if it is the right shape. The pushers look like a little rectangular-top stool, and serve a couple purposes, including making a shape against which to fold the bottom of the bags like one would wrap a present (short ends in first, farther than you’d think, then long sides, clip, then grommet.) We hope to add more and smaller sizes of forms for some of the narrower feed bags.