I’m trying to find a replacement for leather to use as part of a key fob design I am making. It needs to be laserable (of course) and sturdy enough to fold over itself and hold the weight of a key ring. Here is the original design with the part I am trying to replace in leather.
Check out Acadia Leather on Instagram. They’re having a flash sale on some stuff right now. I’ve ordered from them a few times, and it is good stuff. Not all they carry is laserable, but you can ask.
I wasn’t a hundred percent clear why either, but I have some of the stuff linked to by dklgood and I think it is what you’re looking for. It is a synthetic that is laser safe.
0.15" is 9-10 oz leather; I don’t think I’ve ever seen a synthetic that thick. The Johnson stuff is very floppy.
Some other ideas:
Engrave the fob onto proofgrade maple ply and use the Johnson fake leather for the strap.
Use a heavy weight canvas for the fob and use the fake leather as trim. Not sure if you could get that fine of an engrave on canvas or not (I’m thinking the canvas threads will be too thick for good definition.)
That fire hose material then? They make dog toys from it that cannot be “wrecked”, except they can. I have some well chewed fire hose material, no idea about laser safety though.
I’ve been trying to find rubber forever and have had no luck. If you find something let me know. I did find out that linoleum is laser safe. It’s hard to find true linoleum though. Most of it is PVC.
Is this actually used? Or pretty much just hung up or stuck in a drawer? If it’s not going to see wear and tear, why not a little living hinge out of wood. You could cut a couple of holes and tap a rivet into it.
I want to err on the side of caution and have something which will survive a pocket. Hence, a living hinge will not do what I need (and wasn’t what I had asked for in terms of replacing leather).
I wonder if cork fabric would hold up? Or there is also Ultrasuede, a synthetic suede. It’s pretty floppy but you could cut two layers and glue or stitch them together.
Any thick fabric or canvas would work with a fabric stiffener applied after. (Basically just a specialty glue…when it dries, the fabric will keep the shape.)
Alright, I got a number of sheets of the Saddle Collection Buckskin. It has a look and feel of leather on the front, and the back is fabric-like. It cuts easy and lasers well. However, while they listed the thickness as .046", it is actually .032" with no compression. I am annoyed about this and contacted Johnson to bring it up.
That being said, I was able to cut two pieces for what I needed and put them stacked on each other for the loop of the fob.