Can anyone suggest power and speed settings for use on leather? It’s thin.
For 3-4 oz leather I use Speed: 100, Min/Max Power: 70/70, Laser through mode: off
What does “Laser through off” mean?
Sorry, on the Thunder Laser it’s one of the settings when setting the power. It’s a checkbox on that window.
Thank you. One more question. I’m trying to make a patch so I need to cut out the shape of the patch (Line). I also want to etch the lettering (Fill) but I also have a small design that I just want to outline. What do I set that as: Line, Fill?
Depends how thick an outline you want. If you just want it the width of the laser, then outline and drop power. Wider you’ll need to fill / etch like your lettering.
I vector cut line art in 3-4 oz vegtan for notebooks and knife sheaths with good success.
I’ve also done patches for ball caps.
The line art and lettering on both of these were vector (not raster) cut.
My settings for the DMS lasers are a bit dated, but can serve as a starting point:
3-4 oz vegtan Leather lasering
(power/power/speed)
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11 Oct 2020
Etch: 10/10/200
Cut: 50/50/100
If the leather is very thin (2oz?), you may want to test the power/speed settings before committing lest your burn thru on the corners.
Making a simple 1/2” square pattern to test with (or putting a few in a row with different colors), will allow you to dial in your settings before cutting the larger piece.
Note that vegtan is OK, but chrome tanned leather is not permitted on the DMS lasers.
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Nice work. Thank you for the info. I’m making patches to go on binders. Yes, I used vegetan leather.
My settings for “engraving” leather on the thunder are:
speed: 100
min/max power: 5/5
looks like mine equate to what Mike uses
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Good to know. Didn’t know if aging of the laser tubes changed what power is now needed.
they do, as well as cleanlyness and focus.
@barnzcharmz make sure you always do a test cut/raster to make sure you have the right settings for the day.
you never know what mood the laser is in
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Curious for those of who have etched in leather. I am needing to make some belts with a repeating pattern on them but they will be dyed black when done. Has anyone dyed an etched leather product with a dark dye afterwards and has the etching remained visible?
Laser cut, opened up with a swivel knife, tooled, and dyed black.
Without the tooling and knife work, the laser cuts would still be visible, but subtle.
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When you laser cut and detailed. did you also make the stitching holes with the laser?
Yes I do on all my laser projects. I prefer it to the traditional hammering technique. Also allows me to do nicer curves in my opinion.
I laser 0.05” round holes for stitching, usually 5-6 per inch. To space them in InkScape by placing a bunch of holes, then using a circle (perhaps 0.15” diameter) as a spacer, arranging each stitch manually. Once I have 10 or so laid out and evenly spaced, I remove the spacers and clone the stitch holes to make the remaining stitches.
Once cut out, I enlarge the holes with a diamond awl prior to stitching.
For an example, the InkScape SVG file for this knife sheath pattern is available in the Leatherworking folder on the Committee drive.
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Thank you both, I took a class a while back on the Thor, but we couldn’t get the tension right. I design with Corel Draw so I think I can do this. I’ll take a look at your sheath on the wiki. I appreciate your help.
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In inkscape I’ve found it much easier to use the generate pattern along a path. Design one stitch hole, lay down a path where your stitching is going to go, then it lays down each stitch hole along that path.
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Inkscape is free and pretty easy to pick up. I’ve found it very easy to design leather projects with it. It’s also nice being able to plan out multiple layers of leather digitally for things like key chains, notebook covers, or wallets.
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