How To: KAM Snaps

KAM snaps are very useful for many sewing projects - baby clothes, bibs, nappies, ladies' sanitary products, toys, bags, organisers, and many other accessories and items for around the home.

What are KAM snaps?

Our KAM snaps are size 20 - the most common size. Other sizes are available , but not from Willow Ranch. All our snaps include all necessary components, including fun and useful colour combination sets, which contain 20 full sets of each colour. To put snaps on your project, you need one full set per snap, a full set being comprised of two caps, one socket, and one stud.

Here you can see one full set of KAM snaps - the two caps are at the back, the socket at the front left, and the stud at the front right.

How do you attach KAM snaps?

We sell not only the KAM snaps, but also the tools for putting them in - the KAM snap press, the awl, the size 20 T5 die set, or a set of all three for the beginner.

Setting up your KAM snap press

Note: To preserve the beauty and quality of your project, it is recommended that you wipe over your new KAM snap press before use to remove any residue grease or dust from the manufacturing process.

Your KAM snap press will come in two pieces - the press and the arm. To assemble, undo the nut and bolt at the very top of the press. Holding the arm piece in the slot with all the holes lined up, insert the bolt and do up the nut until tight.

Doing up the nut and bolt to hold the arm in place

The calibration bolt at the top of the press is not normally necessary unless your material is thin and the snap is punching through. If this occurs, set the calibration bolt so the arm stops when it touches the bolt before the snap can punch through your fabric. This may need to be changed with different thicknesses of fabric.

The calibration bolt

The arm nicely touches the callibration bolt when I put all my weight on it

Setting up the die set in your press

Your die set comes in a nice little box, and has three pieces - the cap die, the socket die, and the stud die. The socket and stud die come with snap pieces so it is easy to tell which is which.

To set up the die set in your press, first insert the cap die in the socket at the bottom of the press.

The snap cap lines up perfectly in the cap die

Both the stud die and the socket die screw into the press the same way.

How to attach KAM snaps

First, mark your project where you want to put your snaps. Count out the snaps you want to use, remembering to collect all the pieces for each full snap set.

Next, use the awl to make a hole at the centre of your marking. Insert the prong of the cap into the hole.

This is what your snap will look like on the outside of your project

The prong of the cap piece inserted in the hole

When putting a snap on a project, the cap is the bit that you usually see on the outside of the project. On the wrong side of the fabric of the top of your project is usually the stud, with the socket opposite it on the right side of the bottom piece of your project.

To put the stud half of the snap on your project, screw the stud die into your press. Click the stud into the die, as shown.

Line up the cap on the bottom of your project perfectly into the cap die. Press the arm down as hard as you can, and remove your fabric from the press.

The inside of the stud on the snap should look like this:

Putting the socket half of the snap on your project is much the same as the stud. Screw the socket die into your press and click the socket into the die, as shown. Line up the cap on the bottom of your project perfectly into the cap die. Press the arm down as hard as you can, and remove your fabric from the press.

The inside of the socket on the snap should look like this:

Now your snap is done!