Custom Fabrication for Belt Making – Anyone Using 3D Printers or Lasers?

[PastorBob]

19 hours ago, charleneanswers said:

Curious—anyone else using 3D printing or laser cutting to assist with leather belts or other projects? Would love to see how others are blending tech with traditional work!

I use my CO2 laser to make all kinds of acrylic stamps and templates for rifle slings, holsters, guitar straps, and belt templates.  I have also done some for folding knife sheaths.

Occasionally, i am asked to laser engrave knife handles, holsters, and sheaths which I can do on my CO2 laser.  I recently got a Fiber / Diode laser which allows me to engrave metal.  So now I have added the ability to laser engrave the blades as well as other metallic items. 

[kgg]

3 hours ago, fredk said:

Resin printers are safer than filament types. The filament type heats a coil of plastic and lays it down. If the plastic gets stuck it can overheat and start burning giving off toxic fumes and potentially setting fire to your building - it has happened. The resin does not need heating at all

Yes and no. It comes down to your particular situation. However I do agree with the cheaper 3D filament printers the filament can get clogged when the nozzle size is to small for the speed or the filament type or using cheap filament can be a problem particularly with printers that don't have monitoring or give you notification of problems. I rarely do overnight prints as I still don't like leaving 3D printers unattended just in case. In my case I just didn't want to deal with fluid.

3 hours ago, fredk said:

Takes the same time to print as a filament printer.

Very doubtful. This comes down to what type of 3D printer is being used and it's speed capabilities.

3 hours ago, fredk said:

Bu you are not sitting there very minute. You set it to print and go for lunch/make a belt/get a coffee

That is the beauty of all 3D printers do your design, ship file to printer and go do something else. If you are using .stl you have to do another software step but if your printer is capable of accepting .step then it is just a straight export.

3 hours ago, fredk said:

I wanted it for printing DnD figures as well so a better sharpness was needed than I could get with the filament printers.

I do totally agree when doing certain items like DnD figures a resin will give better print quality / detail but the gap is closing. 

kgg

 

[AlZilla]

3 hours ago, PastorBob said:

Occasionally, i am asked to laser engrave knife handles, holsters, and sheaths which I can do on my CO2 laser.

I can definitely see the advantage of laser engraving letters on leather instead of trying to keep stamped letters  straight, uniform, etc. Usually laser engraved leather that I've seen is burned/blackened on the bottom and I just don't like the look.  Is the fact that yours isn't blackened just advancing technology and/or technique?

I could see a laser in my work room if I can avoid Cajun blackened cow hide

[Hildebrand]

On 7/31/2025 at 5:24 PM, dikman said:

Todd, I'm curious about your process for making that stamp as I'm assuming you either scanned the logo or photographed it?  How did you turn it into the .stl file?

I got the logo as a .png file then used the adobe free program to convert it into a .svg file. I imported it into tinkercad and added a little text, I increased the height of everything then I made a base for it not as thick as the logo and text. Then I put the base on the logo, evened the top of the base with the top of the logo, this leaves what you want to make the impression with sticking out of the base, I combine all pieces then rotate it 180 degrees so it is lying on the base with the impression parts sticking up. This lets you print it without supports. Then export as an .stl file and you are ready to print.