I have been working on a simple method for making custom 3d printed leather stamps. Thank you to @Lordrook and @j801496 for pushing me in this direction. I’ve gotten mixed, but generally positive results. Here is the process I used and my results.
First, get your image. It should be a monochrome image with hard edges and as few gradients as possible. If you need to edit it to be all black and white, then now’s the time to do that. When you’ve got the image cleaned up, import it into Inkscape.
Once you’re in Inkscape, trace the image to get a vector file. Save this file as a .svg
Open Fusion360 and import the SVG to the XY axis. It is possible to do this in Blender as well, but the process is more complex and difficult to explain simply.
Press E to open the Extrude menu. Select all of the parts you want pressed into the leather and extrude them. I find that 2-3mm is enough for this. If you want to set the taper angle to make the pressure focused on the center, now’s your chance.
Now to create the base. Under the Create menu, make a cylinder (or square or whatever shape you need) big enough to cover the new model. This should be fairly thick because it will be under a lot of pressure. I’ve had good results with 3mm. Position cylinder directly under the model so that it’s flush to the bottom.
WITH THE BASE SELECTED, select Combine from the Modify menu. You should have “1 Selected” under the Target Body. Click Select under Tool Bodies and select ALL of the other bodies. You should have something similar to this.
Save the model and export it as an STL. Now you should be ready to proceed with a normal 3D print.
And that’s all there is to it! When you’re pressing this stamp into the leather, I don’t think it’s possible to put it under too much pressure. For the example logo, I put it under as much pressure as I could in a c-clamp and there were still a couple of areas that could have been better defined. It might be worth it to maximize the number of thin lines and sharp edges to concentrate the pressure. Smaller stamps seem to work better, but I’m curious to find out if making very large stamps is feasible.
