I’m considering purchasing a CNC machine from Carbide for our business and would love your input. We manufacture 100% American-made leather gear and products for both first responders and everyday use.
Could this machine effectively cut our leather materials as an alternative to our current laser cutter? We’re also interested in using it to create leather stamps and for other applications. Has anyone used a Carbide CNC for leather cutting or stamping, and if so, what was your experience?
I haven’t done it myself, but I’ve seen it being done in automotive leather shops. Big CNC with a drag knife. Not sure if they used a tacky-mat or vacuum to hold the leather down. I suspect either will work.
Had to manually code the corner cuts w/ small loops to get them to cut cleanly, and had to program a ramping in move (these days, Carbide Create Pro would allow the ramping in at least).
Regarding cutting leather, I’d wonder what your current laser cutter is and what kind of problems you hope the CNC would solve.
If the laser doesn’t present any problems and the CNC is just an extra bit of productivity with a bunch of other nice to have benefits then it’s a strong contender for sure. (Folks have also strapped diode lasers to their tool heads which could probably do thin leathers and general marking though it’s not officially supported by Carbide 3D as far as I know )
For embossing and other kinds of stamping, a CNC would absolutely work for you. I imagine you could get away with delrin/acetal for your tooling which is a pleasure to machine and tends to be very forgiving to learn on. (I mean, even a good hard wood would probably work as well )
made this key hanger for my wife’s 2021 Jeep Renegade when she got it, she uses it relentlessly every day.
I used double sided tape, and a small diameter bit.
Looks like I uploaded all of the videos I shot to Youtube already. There were only two more. I guess, for me, the main issue I had was holding it down, and the tape and CA glue method worked great for me, and then using a down cut bit instead of a diamond rasp gave a better edge.
I would also leave a bit more room between the edge and the lacing holes so you can sand the edges flush after they are sewn together, because even if you drill the holes in both pieces, it’s difficult to get them perfectly aligned. I ended up using a couple of sewing needles to line them up to glue them together before sewing and ended up having to sand the two edges smooth before chamfering and burnishing the edges with Gum Tragacanth.
Okay, here are the pics of the completed flashlight holder. I made a big mistake with the application of the waterproofing though. Put it on and left it to soak in. That was a horrible mistake. Apply it in small areas and rub it in, then wipe off the excess immediately.
Thanks for posting the results, very nice looking flashlight holder for sure. The several times I have used leather waterproofing products it specifically stated to wipe on and rub in and then wipe off in small areas at a time. The rivets look clean with the stitching. Good job!
Thanks! Yeah, I watched videos on how to do the stitching and bought a nice stitching pony and a few different needle sizes and thread sizes / types and practices stitching on scrap pieces…
And when it came to the waterproofing, I was like “How hard could it be?”… (sad trombone)
Anyway, as far as the overall build went, it came together just fine, was functionally exactly what I wanted, but ergonomically it failed for me.
The belt loop was too low on the holster. Because I am fat, the top edge of the holster dug into my side because it protruded so far above my belt. When I get around to making another one, I will move the belt loop as far up as I can.
It held the flashlight without any play, but the flashlight could be removed easily with thumb and pointer finger.
The guard on the outboard side of the flashlight head completely covered the head so that when I walked / bumped / turned into doors and door frames and other objects the metal head would not hit and Mar the surfaces.
The holster extended below the flashlight, preventing the tail cap buttons from being depressed, turning on the flashlight. That is a big issue with my current holster. When I sit down, I sometimes turn on the flashlight, and because my current flashlight has a strap over the lens, I don’t know it’s on until the Nylon strap gets hot enough to melt. Then I start smelling melted plastic and have to figure out where it is coming from. The first couple of times were very scary - suddenly smelling melting plastic. Now, that is the first thing I check.
Anyway, I still have plenty of everything to make another holster - except time. Oh well, maybe someday…
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There were only two more. I guess, for me, the main issue I had was holding it down, and the tape and CA glue method worked great for me, and then using a down cut bit instead of a diamond rasp gave a better edge.
(sad trombone)