Transferring Artwork to Leather

[Eric Adams]

Looking for tips on low-power vector (cut mode) engraving leather. My machine is 150 watts. I am wanting to transfer my artwork to leather, which I will then hand color.

Typically I would dampen the leather (case it), then trace the artwork to create an impression on the surface of the leather. After the leather is dry, I then slowly trace the artwork with black archival markers, then color the remaining artwork. The initial artwork transfer and tracing is very slow and tedious. So, I wanted to try the laser.....

I ran multiple tests for speed and power settings, but when I ran the actual project, the laser did not consistently burn through the blue masking tape. Unfortunately I didn't notice the inconsistency until I'd already pulled the piece off the laser. Rather than start over with more leather, I did my best to realign the laser and re-ran the job with slightly higher power settings. I really need to build an alignment fence jig.

If I can avoid masking the leather, that would be ideal (it took me about an hour to remove all the tape). I'm thinking I might dial back the blower almost all the way - just enough to keep the lens clean, then dampen the leather immediately prior to running the job. I can not seal the leather since I still need to color the artwork, then dye the rest of the leather.

Here's a video that shows what I'm doing... https://youtu.be/OWPzfbvdHAg

My settings: 150 mm/s, Min 7%, Max 9%, Blower on and at full strength.

Any tips or suggestions on things to minimize burning and "decrease" the power (by dampening the leather, or defocusing the lens??, etc...) would be great.

[Dave Vigness]

By blower, are you talking about the exhaust blower, or the air assist?

If you are talking about the air assist, then yes, all you need is enough to blow bubbles in a cup of water to keep the gasses out of the nozzle. For raster or vector engraving the exhaust is doing most of the work.

While I don't do leather, I've read enough on other forums to equate it to natural wood in messing with the laser as far as moisture content. My only suggestion would be multiple passes. If it needs another pass, run it again. Once the program dumps to the controller, you just hit the start to re-run.

[Eric Adams]

Thanks Dave - I was referring to the air assist. I forgot what it was called... I need to test it again without tape and adding moisture to the surface. Now that I think of it, seems like I saw someone mention placing a damp paper towel on the surface.

[Dave Vigness]

I don't know if adding moisture is the key so much as having the same moisture across the material. It goes back to wood moisture. I've had different ends of the same board cut / engrave differently because of different moisture content. I have no idea how you store the leather, but I would lean toward an enclosed container of some sort to make the moisture content even across the material. Maybe even some kind of moisture meter to get some consistency in the engraving.