3D Printed Mold for Leather Pocket

[Scoutmom103]

I'd be interested in seeing the molds you made and the pattern and the pieces.   The bag looks nice.   

[sbrownn]

On 11/17/2019 at 3:28 PM, kgg said:

Nicely done. Simple and reusable that gives nice consistent results. It is pretty amazing how 3d printing is changing things. I would expect in the next 5 years as the metal 3d printers become more reasonable in price 3d printing will really move forward. Problem, design solution, and print it.

kgg

The 3D printer and press are the most used leather machines I have.  Together both cost about half as much as a new Cobra splitter or sewing machine.  

2 hours ago, Scoutmom103 said:

I'd be interested in seeing the molds you made and the pattern and the pieces.   The bag looks nice.   

Thanks,

I'll post them over the next few weeks.  I'll also make the STL files available to anyone who wants them.

[dikman]

2 hours ago, sbrownn said:

I'll post them over the next few weeks.  I'll also make the STL files available to anyone who wants them.

That is very generous of you, given the time you would have put in developing them. The bag looks very nice.

A heat gun wouldn't be much use as it would tend to heat the whole thing and soften it. As an aside, I recently used PLA to make a shade to fit on my Garmin GPS in the car. The .stl came from thingiverse and it fitted well. My wife took the car out and left it parked in the sun, it wasn't an overly hot day, about 26*C. I went up to the car about 2 hours later  and the shade was soft and sagging!! Bugger!

[Bert51]

Can you use a more heat resistant PLA or Nylon with your printer or would you have to upgrade to a different printer?

Bert.

[chrisash]

Think the problem is UVA rather than just heat, here in the UK are some possible solutions you might consider, guess they are available Down under 

https://www.makershop3d.com/282-filament-outdoor-use

[dikman]

Hmm, never come across that stuff before. I thought UV generally took time to affect material (my floors certainly took months to fade!!). This happened within a couple of hours. The dashboard top in a car here in Oz gets bloody hot in the sun!

[chrisash]

How thick and what colour was the PLA, I guess the car interior by the windscreen could be close to double the outside temp, Also temp is normally given as in the shade by our met office measured in those littl white boxes with slatted sides

Edited November 19, 2019 by chrisash

[sbrownn]

16 hours ago, Scoutmom103 said:

I'd be interested in seeing the molds you made and the pattern and the pieces.   The bag looks nice.   

I'll post them over the next week or so.

[sbrownn]

12 hours ago, Bert51 said:

Can you use a more heat resistant PLA or Nylon with your printer or would you have to upgrade to a different printer?

Bert.

Would not have to upgrade but seriously, I haven't needed to smooth the molds.  I have designed the molds and worked out a process where the pattern doesn't imprint on the leather unless I want it to.  One of the nice things about 3D printing the molds is that they can be pretty exact dimension wise and you can put a draft on them.  Adding draft makes the mold halves easy to separate and helps minimize sidewall abrasion.  

[sbrownn]

7 hours ago, chrisash said:

Think the problem is UVA rather than just heat, here in the UK are some possible solutions you might consider, guess they are available Down under 

https://www.makershop3d.com/282-filament-outdoor-use

Not sure how UV would have any effect on a leather pattern or mold unless you were going to leave them out in the sun.  In any event I have made and used over a hundred molds and patterns and never had an issue with either temperature or UV.  There are some strength issues which could probably be resolved by using nylon but I've never made enough of any one thing in enough quantity to wear out a mold.  A few years back I made about 50 pocket and flap type knife sheaths and while the mold started to show a little wear, it was still functional.  I would think that 3D printed molds and patterns would be a boon to a small shop producing limited quantities.