Anyone using Laser Cutters at home for pattern making?

[bermudahwin]

I am looking at a laser cutter for the workshop and wondered if anyone was using them for pattern cutting.

I am interested in the materials used, the make and model of cutter and the quality of the finished piece.

Any comments would be welcomed.

Thanks

Harry

Edited November 18, 2018 by hwinbermuda

[chrisash]

Hi Harry, 

What a great day we are having Sun Sun and more Sun

Anyway I have never used this firm but did look at them a few months ago so guess they may be of interest

http://www.razorlab.co.uk/

[bermudahwin]

Thanks Chris,

Yup stunning day here.

Thanks for the link.

Harry

[chrisash]

Please let me know if you use it and any good

Thanks

[LatigoAmigo]

4 hours ago, hwinbermuda said:

I am interested in the materials used, the make and model of cutter and the quality of the finished piece.

 

I use a laser for cutting and engraving all of my leatherwork. The homemade CO2 100-watt laser will easily cut leather (have only cut up to 8 oz.), and after some fine-tuning have been very happy with the results. I don't know if this kind of machine is available where you are, but the parts are imported from China, and are available through dealers here in the states.

The laser leaves some smoke residue on the leather, which can pose a problem on some softer, lighter leathers, but can usually be cleaned off with a damp cloth (I don't cut veg-tan leathers). There are threads on this site that discuss this issue.

Here is my latest piece as an example of what can be done...

Edited November 18, 2018 by LatigoAmigo

[bermudahwin]

Thank you LatigoAmigo

That looks great, and the information is great.

I was also thinking of acrylic for making patterns to cut around. Have you used yours for this at all?

Best

Harry

 

[Matt S]

This is something I'm quite interested in too. My primary interest would be in making cutting templates, jigs and fixtures from acrylic, hardboard or plywood plus marking/engraving leather as an alternative to embossing/debossing. This would be especially useful for those situations where buying an embossing plate wouldn't be economically viable, or too big for my little embossing presses to handle. Any device I've seen within my budget is too small to take a piece of leather that doesn't need a lot of cutting down so I might as well cut it with a manual knife or a press knife.

I've looked at Razorlab, probably make an order in the new year for templates that I can't buy press knives for, as they would be too big to fit in my cutting press. Their materials charges are pretty reasonable but of course the cutting charge is added to this, which varies with the job. I'll report back with my experiences.

In the mean time I've just bought a large-format printer and will soon be experimenting with how heavy a card it can print on. I think it'll be handy for prototyping designs before I have press knives or templates made. Even if it can only print on normal paper I will paste it onto foamboard, which I have found makes an adequate marking template but is too easily damaged to use as a cutting template.

[LatigoAmigo]

I've had some luck cutting acrylic and plywood, but only very thin plywood and only certain acrylics. My particular machine does not do "fine" engraving, but some units can do very refined work, and even cut at varying depths. 

To get the leather to lay flat on the cutting bed, I adhere the leather to stencil board. This stencil board, or oilboard, is available at some art stores, and is a thin, but rigid, cardboard that comes in 24 x 36 inch sheets. Its durability would work as a template, and it is very reasonably priced compared to acrylic or plywood. 

[Matt S]

I still want to buy a desktop laser for various purposes. However, in the mean time I have ordered 2x pieces of laser cutting from Razorlab.

One piece is a set of 3x smallish cutting patterns in 3mm clear acrylic that fits on their P2 template. To my mind this will be the most popular sort of job for small-scale leatherworkers. Cost including delivery and VAT was about £20.

The other is a bunch of pieces of 3mm MDF from their P3 size (for low cost and some heat resistance) as drop-on guides for my embossing press. Cost including VAT was about £30.

Both designs consist mainly cut lines, with a little heavy raster engraving for labels.

Playing about with a few design variations, the "make cost" reduces substantially with a little optimisation. I took £2 off the cost of the acrylic piece just by "commoning" the cut lines on the acrylic design.

So far it's been fairly straightforward. The website checks each file as you upload it for certain things, like line thickness. This was the most frustrating thing -- I had to make a lot of adjustments to the files -- but was 99% user error.

Shipping and VAT were added at the payment stage.

Impressively, I placed my orders about 0200 this morning (yeah, I don't sleep much) and they had both shipped 12 hours later.

When they turn up I'll let you guys know what the precision and finish are like.

[coma44]

It is the direction I will go in the future. I will also be digitizing the patterns and may even draw new ones on the computer.  But I want to get competent to at hand work first before I spend huge money. Last week I went to a manufacturing trade show for Machining for work but spent a few minutes talking to high end later guys and liked what I saw.

[stormdevil]

Hi

I'm using a laser for many things. Have used it to "engrave" patterns on leather, but also for cutting acrylic template patterns. You can create the patterns on the supplied software, but I find it better to create in Adobe Illustrator and then import into the laser software. Have made some nice belt end templates in acrylic.

Laser is  an LS3020 desktop laser: http://hpclaser.co.uk/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=92 It's a hobby machine and not cheap - but my husband bought it for doing some wood work, so why wouldn't I take advantage of it :-)

Showing an ebook cover I did with it

[AmyK]

I cut and engrave with a Glowforge and I also use a Cricut Maker. 

The Maker can cut very thin garment weight leather. The Glowforge can cut much more- most I’ve done is 5-6oz veg tan but you might get thicker out of it. I’ve done tiny filigree earrings with the Glowforge  

I use Inkscape to draw patterns or digitize the ones I already have. Inkscape is FREE. Check out Punished Props Academy for a great overview video of digitizing patterns. 

[Paultalks]

AmyK, 

Thank you. It has been almost a year now. Do you still like the Glowforge? I heard it can ignite items. Can you really just use it to scan one image and then replicate that same image on the media easily? Also interested in reliability. I am disabled and can't carve leather very good anymore. I wanted to use it to cut multiple shapes like coasters and then carve the basic design. I can then go in with my craftools and finish. Thank you very much

 

[AmyK]

21 hours ago, Paultalks said:

AmyK, 

Thank you. It has been almost a year now. Do you still like the Glowforge? I heard it can ignite items. Can you really just use it to scan one image and then replicate that same image on the media easily? Also interested in reliability. I am disabled and can't carve leather very good anymore. I wanted to use it to cut multiple shapes like coasters and then carve the basic design. I can then go in with my craftools and finish. Thank you very much

 

Paul,

oh yeah, you’ll get some small flames from time to time. That usually means you need to adjust your settings. I’ve never had anything straight up catch fire- just flame up a bit and char. You do need to stay near it and watch for flames when it’s cutting. 

It’s very good for cutting out repetitive pieces. I hate cutting circles by hand so I think that would be a good use for it. Haven’t been able to use it recently because of Covid- it’s at a makerspace im a part of- and cutting some circles the other day I did miss it! I have lupus that makes my hands stiff and painful some days - I can’t use a swivel knife at all! I use a combo of a NT swivel cutter, wax modeling spoons, sometimes my Cricut. I don’t pretend to be good at carving, but with all these work around a I can usually make something happen! I prefer to burn in a design using the Glowforge, but like I said before, it’s across town and hasn’t been available recently  

reliability wise, ours takes a beating since it’s communal use. It’s been down a bit, but I can’t speak to how many of the breakdowns wouldn’t have happened if it was a single user machine  

as far as scanning, I do that with my phone, upload to Inkscape to clean up and manipulate the image, then export to Glowforge. it’s easier than you think. 
 

[Paultalks]

Amy,

So sorry you haven't been able to get to the machine. What model is the Glowforge? They have 3 and don't want to go with biggest and baddest if there is no need to.

Thanks again

P.S. I have a condition similar to yours that they have not been able to diagnose. It has the symptoms of Lupus and ME/CFS.

 

Do you knhow AmyK, 

Thank you. It has been almost a year now. Do you still like the Glowforge? I heard it can ignite items. Can you really just use it to scan one image and then replicate that same image on the media easily? Also interested in reliability. I am disabled and can't carve leather very good anymore. I wanted to use it to cut multiple shapes like coasters and then carve the basic design. I can then go in with my craftools and finish. Thank you very much

 

[AmyK]

We have the biggest mama-jama one. It’s got a bigger bed and a pass through slot. I wouldn’t buy the cheapest one, it has a smaller bed and (I think) not as strong of a laser. I’d do the midrange one if I could afford one. 
 

Best of luck to you with your health. It can be a slog to get things figured out diagnosis and medication wise. 

[AmyK]

I almost forgot to address your question about scanning. Most people use a free program called Inkscape to prepare files. It has similar (though limited) functionality as Adobe Illustrator. There are lots of YouTube tutorials on how to use it. There are also some free and paid svg files online.