Engraving on a faux leather book cover

Hi All!

So I have done 2 prints in my new machine wood & glass. Both are amazing. Now I want to do a faux leather book cover and spine. Has anyone figured out settings? I don’t want a fire. :rofl:

Any help would be great!

Best,
Jeffrey

Search is your friend, there have been plenty of discussions on this.

Just ensure it does not contain PVC, which will destroy your machine.

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Yes, please research all materials you use to ensure they are laser safe!

The best thing to learn early on is how to make a test print and test out various settings. What I do is start with the proofgrade settings. Then, adjust based on the results I get. For example, If a setting is not cutting all the way through, try slowing it down in various increments to see what setting will cut through reliably but have the least amount of char. There aren’t many things that haven’t been tried out and mentioned somewhere here in the forum. I try to find something that has worked for others and then do a test print as mentioned above here. Remember, there can be variation between materials (even when you buy the same thing).

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Do not engrave or cut any material that you are not 100% sure is laser safe. Cutting just a tiny amount of vinyl can be catastrophic to your Glowforge and potentially damaging to your lungs. There are many sources of laser safe faux leather so I suggest getting your faux leather from those sources.

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*sigh

It’s not the “vinyl.” It’s the chlorine in PVC, polyvinyl chloride, that’s dangerous when it mixes with the hydrogen of the water in the air and makes hydrogen chloride: the extremely potent acid. What people present as “vinyl” is usually PVC.
Marketing just doesn’t want to call PVC “PVC” due to everyone knowing it has inherent dangers as a plastic. So vinyl doesn’t sound like it’s dangerous….because it isn’t. Until marketing lies to you about something’s makeup. Purposeful deceptive misleading by omission is lying.

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