Laser engraving / cutting of leather

[Bert03241]

On 5/24/2022 at 2:31 PM, Gulrok said:

150 W Laser here. 

I laser cut belts at this point in my business.

Some others have good experiences. I've been able to dial in the 'char' to the point that there is no soot leftover when I pull a belt off the laser bed. You're able to wipe your hard along the edge and have a clean hand afterwords.

I replaced the mirrors with higher quality mirrors. The laser head was replaced as well. 

I really cant believe you can wipe your hand down it and come out clean, thats just not possible

[Gulrok]

Just now, Bert03241 said:

I really cant believe you can wipe your hand down it and come out clean, thats just not possible

I posted a video....

[Bert03241]

wow I dont see how its possible to burn thru leather and hav no char i'd like to see that with natural veg tan done

Edited May 25, 2022 by Bert03241

[Gulrok]

25 minutes ago, Bert03241 said:

wow I dont see how its possible to burn thru leather and hav no char i'd like to see that with natural veg tan done

I don't work with natural veg. I do a lot of fire and Ems equipment and belts. The lightest thing I cut is like a chestnut (HO). 

[RockyAussie]

5 hours ago, Gulrok said:

Hey Rocky. Its 12/14 oz English Bridle from RJF leather. No top seal.

Thanks for the video @Gulrok I would not have believed that possible without seeing it. Now I am starting to think of going bigger than my little 2.5 watt diode laser. How big a size cutting area can yours handle? Must be fairly big if you can cut belts. I assume there is some serious $$$$ to spend to get that far.

[Gulrok]

44 minutes ago, RockyAussie said:

Thanks for the video @Gulrok I would not have believed that possible without seeing it. Now I am starting to think of going bigger than my little 2.5 watt diode laser. How big a size cutting area can yours handle? Must be fairly big if you can cut belts. I assume there is some serious $$$$ to spend to get that far.

So I don't do any handcutting or punching anymore. I've completely moved to lasering at this point. 

As for investment, I'm probably in the neighborhood of $17,500 USD. It wasn't the cost of the laser, but merely the upgrades, a fume extraction system (in a commercial space ,got denied venting outside, it has to be vented/purified in house). The air compressor, lines run throughout the shop... 

There was a lot to do to get it to cut so nicely.

The laser tube in it is a 150 watt tube, it has a 60" x 40" bed on it. 

--

I have a 4" lens on the laser when I cut belts and 2" when I cut wallet weight stuff. 




I have personally found that my cuts are the cleanest with a 4" lens. I hit that wide field of depth (they say the 4" lens can cut items up to 1"). Because we have that wide field of depth the laser does not create excessive soot since I'm in that perfect cutting depth band. The closer your material is to that - the better off you are. I've cut 3/4" plywood with 'light brown' charring and no soot. My personal experience is also that leather being tanned and so tough, is harder to cut cleanly than plywood. So there is some science to it.

A belt takes me... 2 or 3 minutes to cut per belt. About a minute is spent engraving our logo on the back of buckle end that wraps around to the back. 

 

Edited May 26, 2022 by Gulrok

[RockyAussie]

Thanks for sharing @Gulrok. It gets very interesting when you experiment and come up with good solutions. The few changes I have made on my little one have worked out very satisfactory for me and it gets a lot of use nearly every day. Putting a larger cooling system (2" fan) and a shroud to give some air assist as well allows me to run a full power for hours at a time. There seems to be no drop off in performance over the last couple of years to my surprise and I think the larger fan aside from keeping it cool, helps to keep any smoke away from the lens as well.I do run an extraction system as well which works very well as well. My bed I rebuilt to do poster size and that works well but I would not mind if it was a fair bit larger. Where yours will do it in seconds mine would take a lot lot longer but good thing it keeps going while I get to do other stuff instead. It started off as a 2.5 watt Elksmaker pro which was open air (scary) for just under $400AU and I think I would have spent about another $600 getting  it way larger and safer. Again I thank you for sharing 

[Ferg]

On 5/25/2022 at 4:53 PM, Gulrok said:

 I would have to disagree. See the video I just posted. 

I have personally found that inexperienced laser operators tend to have struggles when dealing with materials. I run test cards when I get new leather (a 6"x6") on the leather. I then pick the best settings from my test card. Depends on what thickness I cut - but I usually use my 4" lens on any belt leather. I have my laser dialed in to be able to cut 3/4" plywood without problems.

I cut 1/2" plywood boxes all the time. You can wipe your hand along the edges without soot. 

Yes the edges have char - but it goes away with burnishing and my normal edge dying process. 

You have to remember my laser is a 60/50W. I probably have issues and differences in abilities that you do not have with your laser.

Thanks for your outlining some of your experiences much appreciated.

Ferg

[Gulrok]

17 hours ago, Ferg said:

You have to remember my laser is a 60/50W. I probably have issues and differences in abilities that you do not have with your laser.

Thanks for your outlining some of your experiences much appreciated.

Ferg

 

On 5/25/2022 at 2:18 PM, Ferg said:

I am convinced that most any absorbent material such as wood or leather would/does laser better and relieve the operator of 

way too may hours of cleaning when the product is sealed and has a finish coat on it. My jigsaw puzzles prove that to me.

My lasers, I have a 3W Diode laser also, provides some fantastic product. The possibilities are only diminished by your imagination.

Ferg

Understandable, I'm not trying to be argumentative. I just want to clarify that it was I disagreed with the blanket statement in bold.

As for your laser. I think you'd be personally surprised what you can accomplish.

For example our laser is cutting at 26% power and 10mm/s for 12/14oz leather. You'd likely be able to hit 50-60% power on your laser by slowing it down. Definitely possible. The only reason we have the powerful laser is because of the bed size. We could easily downgrade the tube and still cut everything at the same speed but more power. Just keep your mind open to the possibilities.

 

[Ferg]

Thanks,

Every day I turn the laser on I am amazed at what is possible.

Have had a woodshop for over 70 years, I am 88 years young and taught myself to program our two head CNC beginning in the 80's.

I am to this day amazed at what I can accomplish with the machine we paid close to $150,000 in 1986.

Taught my kids to never look back. You can accomplish anything you put your mind to.

Ferg