Hello everyone, I tried to cut through leather last night but did not see section for cut? I’m using like a 7 gauge leather, I was able to engrave the leather in 3 passes, but no cut through. Also do not want to burn leather. Thanks for any help.
That is how lasers work! The trick is making something you can clean up after. If you move light and very fast is will make a minimal burn but also not very deep. The more passes the more you will burn what you will have already cut. For myself I have found that if the leather is wet it will spend a hair more energy boiling the water, but right next to the cut the water will keep the leather from burning.
A lot of experimenting will tell you more. In any case, you are better off using and saving your results with non- that experiments will show you.
I’ve never had an issue cutting through leather. If you mean 7 oz leather, I’d start with the settings for proofgrade thick leather and adjust from there.
I have 3 different types of 4-5oz leather, each burn differently. Only one of them has almost no soot after cutting, but they all use the same settings. With that said, I don’t know that there is a specific setting to get around burning 7oz leather, if that is what you’re referring to, and not .07". I believe that @deirdrebeth is a leather afficianado and they may have some input on where to start, though.
I think the only way to get around burned edges “depending on what you call a burned edge” is to over size the design if needed and do a light sanding on the edge before burnishing. Do you have any photos of what your edges look like?
Sounds like your art is a raster - in order to get the score/cut options you’re going to need to have a vector line. If you’re a Premium member then the shapes they provide are vectors.
and yeah, I’ll echo what @caribis2 said - start with the PG leather settings, being sure to use Set Focus, and tweak from there. There is a lovely test cut that you can use once you have an idea of where to start.
I’ve been playing with some very heavy 9oz. leather for making some coasters. The cutting was definitely the issue. I have a GF Pro and worked all the way to 1 pass on 130 speed at full power before it would cut all the way through. I just made a small circle about 3/4" in diameter and took the time to systematically work through the setting until I got it to cut through. In the end, I didn’t see much difference in edge burn between 2 or 3 faster passes and 1 slower one. I’m really new at this also, so others with experience may have information about the benefits of multiple passes that I’m now aware of yet. I also use masking to protect the top. Once I get them cut, a little 220 grit sandpaper on the edge cleaned it up enough to burnish and finish pretty well with really no loss to size. It’s certainly a process of learning!
What setting did you find that works? I am using 8oz and burning.
It’s literally a laser - burning is how it works. Are you talking about smoke stains? If yes - you’ll need to clean those off. I use baby wipes and leather soap, some folks like @shrumgraphics (per their comment above) use sandpaper.
If you’re talking about something else, can you be more specific?