New to the space and not laser or 3d printing inducted so I thought I’d throw out this question and see if I could get any answers.
Has anyone tried engraving leather recently using the laser cutter? What precautions did you have to take? I’ve been wanting to make a travellers notebook for a while now and noticed the leather drawer in the textiles area has all the kit I need, not a hard task at all.
On personalisation I want to either engrave a cool design or print it using the UV printer as eufymake have a video on YouTube doing just that, this would be on the front
Leather is a fantastic material for laser cutting and engraving and there are vast aray of possibilites.
However, you must absolutely know your leather and be sure it is veg tanned, not chrome tanned, as chrome dyed leather is not laser safe, nor permitted in our lasers. It reacts with the laser and leaves a thick chalky soot everywhere and also creates toxic gasses.
That being said veg tanned leather is easy to get.
If you’re ever unsure about a material or leather, always feel free to drop one of us the laser techs a message and we can assist. - I am also at the space alot and you’re welcome to come ask in person.
I used the laser cutter to engrave the wedding logo onto the middle, cut the stitching holes and the shape of the ring itself. It went really well and I had no real issues with it.
Tips from my experience:
I use undyed veg-tanned leather to avoid having to understand what dyes were laser-safe (then dyed afterwards)
I found slightly dampening the back of the leather helped keep it flat against the laser bed
Leather seems to lave more residue in the laser nozzle than wood, so made sure to keep an eye on it when cutting in bulk
