Molded leather tray

[scooterdup]

Experimenting with molding a leather tray.

Here are my steps so far:

1. 3D printed the two halves of the mold.
2. Glued 2 pieces of medium proofgrade leather back to back so that I would have finished surfaces on inside and outside of tray.
3. Soaked leather in water for a couple minutes.
4. Clamped the wet leather in the mold.
5. Trimmed excess leather around edges.
6. Left tray clamped for a little while then removed the core side so leather could dry more easily.

I have some finishing to do on the tray and will post more pictures as I make progress.

[ellencadwell]

Clever idea! Can’t wait to see the finished product. Would also be cool to engrave a pattern in it before you place it in the mold. Sweet!

[scooterdup]

Been thinking about the engraving part.

May be tricky getting it clamped in the mold right if engraved before molding.

Engraving after molding is doable…I just need to make sure the head clears the tray sides.

[evansd2]

Hmm this is interesting, the leather is that supple that it just forms like that? You didn’t have to remove any material in the corners to get it to be smooth? It seems like it would bunch up?

@scooterdup

make sure the head clears the tray sides

This can expand your possibilities:

Deep focusing the lens

So I had this idea for a while and finally got to it: an extension spacer for the lens so that you could engrave/score (or cut) the inside of a tray up to about 1” deep. Normally you are limited to trays no more than 0.5” deep because of the limited focal sweet spot of the Glowforge, but if you physically move the lens down and lie to the Glowforge about the height of your material, it will happily do the job. Here’s a quick makeshift “tray” that’s about 0.75" deep, a really shallow cardboard …

[scooterdup]

I put a 15 degree angle on the tray walls which helps prevent the bunching. Soaking the leather in water for a couple minutes helps also.

Thanks for the “deep focusing” link. Looks interesting.

[ptodd]

A vary cool experiment! Nice going!

[Thumper369]

I look forward to following along

[MakerMatthew]

That is very clever! There is always more to do!!

[scooterdup]

Finished tray. Decided to deboss/emboss the Mini logo instead of engraving.

[Xabbess]

That looks wonderful!

[ellencadwell]

Really turned out sharp!

[ekla]

Saw nearly identical leather trays at a Japanese stationary store recently for . Yours are just as nice, well done.

[scooterdup]

I try not to think about how much some of my projects cost. I enjoy working with leather, but it is not cheap. Which is why I usually only order any of the proofgrade when it’s on sale for half price.

[jamesdhatch]

@scooterdup

Which is why I usually only order any of the proofgrade when it’s on sale for half price.

Tandy is a good source for leather. I usually buy a side but they have lots of small cuts and the remnant bags are a good deal for small pieces.

[scooterdup]

3D printed a couple more molds. These should turn out to be some nice trays.

[ellencadwell]

Nice! Can’t wait to see how they turned out!

[techquest89]

Did you make the STL for these molds? If not can point me to the location I can download/purchase them?

[scooterdup]

I made the STL files. Check the “Everything Else” category. I uploaded the files. Enjoy.

[scooterdup]

Here is the final result for the round tray.
Molded the tray, embossed the monogram with stamp made out of medium acrylic, dyed with Fiebing’s Pro Dye Chocolate.

[dklgood]

That is an elegant result.