BenjaminEstberg

Does anyone have or is familiar with the Boss laser engraver? Specifically laser engraving chrome tanned leather.

Much agree! Don't cut your self short! Besides, made in the USA goes a long way for quality and longevity of product!

we had the same problem. and just buy new ones for a hundred dollars. The problem we found when you have them planed a couple of times is that they start to bow if you are not constantly flipping them. Just a thought.

What dimensions and material are you in need of cutting? Have a clicker press that we use for leather and other materials. Best, Ben

Acetone works well to get the boogies off if you dont mind white fingers.

Yes, we glue then fold to width and then sew the webbing on. Sorry for no pic...still new to this computer stuff. Could you give me the name of the machine that you use? Thanks, Ben

Does any one know if there is a machine that folds and glues leather in 1" and 1.5" straps? We sew poly webbing on the back / folded side to hide this and add strength. I am spending too much time doing this by hand. TIA, Ben

Try tandy leather or the hide house out of california.

nice work! i make radio holders for a company called Green Valley Products. They are made out of nylon tho.... not as slick as the one you have shown us. Did you laser engrave the lettering on the strap, then fill it? Or....

The more i think about it, I think the best bet for your padding is 1/8" closed cell foam. it comes in rolls and sheets. not too costly. so if i'm not mistaken...i just got a shoulder of English Bridal and it is 7 to 8 oz which =1/8" thickness if not a lil better...this is going to be a pretty heavy/sturdy bag to begin with let alone the electronics that will go in it. Are you sure you don't want to use a 5-6 oz? would give you the strength you need and a lil more room...just a thought. Best, Ben

we make shoulder bags that hold 6 full bottles of wine at once plus 2 lbs of chill packs. They have hand straps to carry also a shoulder strap that connects to 2 d rings one on either side of the bag. we mainly make them out of 600d, 1000d, 1680d ( ballistic nylon) but we do make them out of leather (chrome tanned)as well. when we make them out of leather for the shoulder strap we use a nylon webbing that is sewn on to the underside of the leather strap. gives great strength. as far as taking the thickness of leather into account, if you cant skive the edges.... then its going to be thick not sure of a way to thin it out per say. ?? Keep us posted Best, Ben

You could always get some closed cell foam 1/4" to 1 " and use that as the padding. closed is a lil stronger than open cell but i would think either would work. We make special cases for medical equipment to chain saw bar covers and everything has some padding ( foam) in it. hope it helps

Maybe try The Hide House out of Napa Valley to source leather. Ask for Rodger, he is our sales person. Good stuff. For Chrome tanned we use Eureka Leather in Rancho Cordova Ca. Hope this can be of some help. Ben

We engrave chrome tanned leather quite a bit at my work. Just started to get into the veg stuff. With my experience on chrome some can have a mask put on before the laser process but some will discolor when the mask is removed which is bad. i havent really had a problem with the soot sticking to the veg tan other than the white color. Pledge works ok. Also if you can mask off the leather and then engrave it there is a product called Eco-flo cova color which if you leave the mask on then you can fill the burned areas with the color let dry then remove the mask. looks sharp! hope it helps! Tom G is on the money another tip is get a packing tape gun and remove the blade it makes for a nice roller to seal the mask to the leather.

When we sew leather to leather , if it isn't already tacked together with some barge glue then we have to put a piece of lining ( backing for embroidery) in-between the leather to keep it from slipping against itself during the sewing process. Maybe this will help... Keep at it...moving forward never backwards....and CAN'T MEANS WON'T!!!!!

Parott1, I only work with chrome tanned leather. We laser engrave first and in some cases put an inlay in the logo. it gets tricky with the specific type of leather that you are working with. we use Barge rubber cement for any of the glue applications. Red and yellow can is the strongest in my opinion.

Do you have a web site that we can purchase from?

So on the topic of chrome tanned leather, I have been racking my head to find out which leathers that can have a tape or mask applied to protect from the soot without causing the color to look faded when the tape is removed. I think that it is not removing the dye or color rather then stretching the leather when removed. I have no problem with Capri or cowboy leather but when it comes to Laguna.......I think that a super low power like 10 doesn't mark but 11 will is the only option I have. this means no tape or mask which in return leaves no way to fill the engraved area with inlay. I tried the lemon pledge idea from Studio-N.( thank you) removes the soot well from blue, brown, timber wolf(gray), dark green and other darker colors. The biggest problem is with the red and light tan. it seems that the area cleaned (to me at least) still looks dark or discolored. If I do the logo at 11 pwr, 500 speed and .089 int I can see the logo and there is no burn, the leather is still reddish when done. But it has no depth to the logo/ pattern. and again this leaves no option for inlay. For the other leathers I put down a 2" wide piece of blue painters tape, roll it real good with a rubber wheel roller ( a tape gun that I Mcguivered), hit it with the laser, then ( thanks Fed Ex) press a fed ex label over the logo/ pattern a couple of times to pick up the soot with out removing the tape. apply the inlay, let dry and remove the tape. Awesome results so far. I did 13 logos this am and have ohhh about 107 more to go. Any pointers are more than welcome!! Best, Ben

Thank you for this advice. I have sprayed some pledge on a paper towel and wiped on 3 different types/ colors of our leather. The soot does come off nicely but ( maybe I'm being too anal ) I can see a slight difference in the color on the lighter tan leather. On the job I am working on now I am using a black Capri leather and the customer wants a gold inlay in their logo. Blue painters tape seems to work if... ( I have modified a tape gun into a roller) I roll the tape real good, am careful when applying the inlay and let it dry for an ample amount of time. I will look into another air source to provide more pressure at the burn site. The pump that came with the unit is kinda chincy, or maybe it isn't and I just don't know the difference. I'll have to go to a engraving place to feel their pressure to tell a difference. As far as the focal point, the laser came with a 2" lens and a 2" gauge. When I test it I do have a fine burn circle. We are using a 2" lens which I believe is only 20mm. We have a 4" on the way. Again, thanks for the advice.

HI, I am new to laser engraving leather. We do not offer veg tanned leather products, only chrome tanned leather. I was interested in obtaining any knowledge in this process. I seem to be having a problem with some of the dyed leather as I cant put down a tape/mask to catch the soot with out marking the surface of the leather when I remove the tape/mask. Any info would be appreciated! Thanks, Ben