Leather laser engraving machine: how to

Contents:

Laser markers can process a lot of materials, and today we will talk about leather. What kind of peculiarities it has, which machines are suitable for working with it, and what is crucial when laser engraving leather. And there will be approximate parameters for setting various types of leather laser engraving machines at the end of the article!

Leather: features

Genuine

There are many types of genuine leather, and they have different characteristics. Thickness and durability vary, the surface itself may be uneven or have a natural pattern. In general, the material is porous and has a moisture fraction of 10-18%. 

All of that can cause troubles during processing since you have to individually set parameters for each leather type or even shipment batch. 

Artificial

This type is less sensitive. Additionally, it allows us to avoid using animals in production. However, there is a minus. The main problem here is the leather’s compound: lasers have a thermal impact, and some of the evaporation may be harmful for people.

Not all types of artificial leather are suitable for engraving. If there is a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the workpiece, then don’t work with it. Burning PVC is toxic and is dangerous. If you are choosing an artificial one, then use eco-leather or polyurethane.

General

• Laser engraving is most commonly done on full and top grain leather, vegetable or chrome tanned, and bonded leather. Nubuck, suede, and exotic leathers like ostrich or alligator can also be used.
• Patent and oil-tanned leather can be challenging to work with.
• Carbon deposits appear during the process. It’s quite complicated to get rid of that, and occasionally it’s impossible, for example, on light-colored leather.
• Thermal impact can deform the workpiece; therefore, we recommend using either neodymium magnets or other types of fixation.
• Defocusing will allow you to get different color shades of engraving.

Sniff, sniff… What is that smell?

We are highlighting this point separately so you definitely won’t miss it. The leather is unbelievably smelly, and not in a pleasant way, when being heated by a laser. Thus, when working with it, you need to have a good extraction system; otherwise, you are going to consider the change of material for your production. Trust us.

What leather laser engraving machine to use

Wattsan produces markers with CO2, fiber, and ultraviolet sources, and all three of them can be used for laser engraving leather. What’s the quality, though?

Ultraviolet markers are considered universal due to the amount of materials they can process. Additionally, this type has the smallest laser dot diameter; thus, you can get miniature images.

CO2 laser markers are widely and most frequently used in manufacturing. These markers are working on a CO2 laser tube basis and are suitable for processing organic materials, and leather is one of them.

Next, fiber is also used for the majority of leather types and gives a good result. However, the edge of images and inscriptions ends up looking harsh and can become frayed easily.

Settings

A few notes

The most difficult part when laser engraving leather is getting through the top layer. Occasionally the natural unevenness of the surface can become an obstacle. To achieve success, you need to properly focus the laser and set a higher power.

Furthermore, you may need to do several passes: the first one to penetrate the top layer, the second one for the depth, and the third to correct the shape. But everything is based on the processed leather and desired engraving depth, so you may reach your goal in two passes or even one.

Leather is engraved better on a ‘high frequency pass’ when a low frequency damages the material and is a little bit harsh.

Before processing, we recommend preparing the workpiece, meaning to clean it from any kind of contamination. Plus, always perform a test engraving before working with the workpieces themselves.

Settings for CО2 marker

• A power for laser leather engraving should be from 20 W and up to 50 W, a speed is in the range from 10 up to 50 mm/s.

Settings for FL markers

Here are a few examples.

• Speed of 600 mm/s, frequency 30 Khz, Q pulse width 12, Hatching 0.04. 
• Speed 1000 mm/s, Q pulse width 60, Hatching 0.04. Lens F254. 
• Speed 500 mm/s, power 30%, Frequency 200 Khz.

Settings for UV markers

• Speed 600 mm/s, Frequency 30 Khz, Q pulse width 12, Hatching 0.04 mm.
• Speed 1300 mm/s, Frequency 30 Khz, Hatching 0.03 mm/

Once again! Do not forget to use the extraction system!

Wattsan leather laser engraving machines

Wattsan offers models with each type of laser source to meet your production needs.

CO2 marking machines have a working field from 75×75 mm up to 300×300 mm. A laser tube here may have a power of 20, 30, or 50 W. Material table, except for the leather: wood and workpieces out of it, fabric, rubber, plastic, and others. Additionally, the marker has servomotors to provide fast work (up to 7000 mm/s) with maximum precision.

FL and UV laser markers have several variations—Box, Gantry, Compact, TT—and are chosen based on the client’s demands.

All fiber laser machines can be equipped with the source from JPT, IPG, Raycus, or MaxPhotonics and have power from 20 W up to 300 W, depending on the model. Their main application field is metal processing; however, they can work with stone, ceramics, leather, plastics, etc.

UV TT marker can process almost everything in a wide range of colors, from metals and plastics to even food and diamonds. It can create serial numbers, QR codes, and other identifications, as well as detailed and miniature images. Furthermore, this machine achieves the highest precision among all of the laser markers due to the size of a beam—it’s 30 times smaller than that of CO2.

All of our laser marking machines are equipped with scanners from Sino-Galvo. This company has been making optics for laser equipment since 2001. Their scanners provide high-precision results at high speed. They are made of solid metal, unlike the analogous, and have high-quality components inside.   

Also, machines come with EzCad software. It has many preinstalled modes for creating barcodes, QRs, serial numbers, dates and time, etc. And it has an intuitive interface and settings.

Our equipment itself can have auto or dynamic focus, and a rotary device can be installed. If needed, Wattsan can integrate a machine in the conveyor mass production. 

Some leather laser engraving machines have a water cooling system working on the basis of the TEYU S&A chiller. These work properly for the whole marker’s lifespan period: the brand has been present at the laser marker for more than 20 years and has many customers in more than 100 countries.

Conclusion

1. There are many types of genuine leather, and they have different characteristics. All of that can cause troubles during processing since you have to individually set parameters for each type or even shipment batch. 
2. The main problem of the artificial leather is its compound: If there is a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in the workpiece, then don’t work with it. Burning PVC is toxic and is dangerous.
3. The leather is unbelievably smelly, and not in a pleasant way, when being heated by a laser. Thus, when working with it, you need to have a good extraction system!
4. CO2 lasers are the best ones to work with leather, then UV and FL markers.