Hello,
Does anyone tried to engrave on leather without getting a bad smell ?
I was wondering if there is a way to treat the leather, tried to engrave couple of times but ended up stopping the engraving as the smell is to bad ( i have a 20W diode engraver without any enclosure or air filters.
I have read somewhere that leatherette might be an alternative to leather which does not smell that bad, did anyone tried it so far ?
Kind Regards,
Daniel
I engrave and cut leather all the time. (CO2 laser)
The smell and fumes is something that cannot be avoided. But the leather objects that are laser cut or engraved have that burned leather smell only for a few days… then it dissapears and no more bad smell.
I always, always run laser work with an exhaust running.
Leatherette isn’t leather. With that you just remove the top part of fake leather.
I found some genuine Naugahyde at a flea market from the 70’s! It was well tanned, and made a great seat cover for my motorcycle, hehe…
And be careful of Leatherette. Some ( most ) may contain pvc and will result in corrosive gas that will affect your equipment not to say hazardous to your health. Be very careful with that. Always verify with the manufacturer that it is safe to use in a laser. I do a lot of leather cutting and engraving… and yup… it stinks … but I have ventilation to the outside …
That, btw, is something to be said for every synthetic material. While wood smoke isn’t exactly great for you, our bodies evolved in a world where stuff burns from time to time. So we can tolerate that to a certain extend. But synthetic materials play in another league, they may emit any number of toxic substances when heated up.
For post processing odor removal:
I have a 30 watt ss that I used to run with lightburn. I figured it was worth about 3 watts out…
Found it where everyone else finds stuff, Internet 
When I read that I assumed Solid State (as in diode), but I could be wrong.
Yes, solid state. And co2 is ir.
Had to design and 3d print the mount for it, I think it’s a Neje. I think the spouse saw how I enjoyed it, she suggested I buy the China Blue machine. Got stuck out in the pacific off Long Beach for two weeks waiting to unload 
The CO2 laser produces a beam of infrared light with the principal wavelength bands centering on 9.6 and 10.6 micrometers (μm).
Another good and short read:
Alternate Wavelengths for CO2 Lasers - Formatted v2 - 4.15.19.pdf (synrad.com)
And one more:
By this, a diode laser is also in the IR spectrum.
That is for lasers toward the visible red spectrum. The common engraving blue/violet diode lasers are in the 445 nm ultraviolet spectrum.
I was fooled by these charts:
Didn’t mean to cause such a mess… just stating a fact.
I always have to take a double look at these. Most graphs are read going left (smallest) to right (largest) and these charts are setup going the other way, based on frequency. What missing is the X axes which is probably in wavelength, going from small (left, higher frequency) to large (right, lower frequency). Always seems backwards to me, I still think in frequency
I knew my ss laser was in the visible range, because I could see it.
Ever been around cattle when they are getting branded? I have. Its a smell you will not forget so don`t forget you are doing the same thing.
A burning body is a burning body. That smell is never forgotten
and the possibility of Formaldehyde makes it even better lmao
I work in the operating room and smell it all the time!
Dear all,
I am first time here on the forum and I need you support and help.
I have atomstack A10Pro and 10w output laser head.
When I want to engrave on PU leather wallet test file, I am getting those strange lines…
Please see the picture attached…
Can someone tell me where I am doing mistake, what settings do I need to change…
Uploading: 20221116_222710.jpg…
