Laser Engraving Stamps for Leather Debossing with MDF and Acrylic

In this project overview, we engrave some MDF and acrylic to make stamps for debossing leather. With an Epilog Laser, you can create beautiful, crisp engravings, but you can also achieve a unique debossed effect by using custom-made laser-engraved stamps. Watch the video or check out our write-up to see how we did it!
Full Project Overview:
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Laser Machine: Epilog Fusion Pro 48
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To receive your free Epilog Laser engraved samples and a brochure visit:
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Epilog Laser
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[@GoLightly01100]

Wow, another use for my laser! Thank you, very informative!

[@FunDumb]

I love it. This takes very little effort to accomplish, yet has amazing results.

[@ronaldmeyn2618]

thanks I bought large format laser to transition to Semi retirement business . Videos like yours make transition easier and less frustrating . Thank You

[@adammaciorowski]

I love the way you edit this video, especially when laser engraved stamps. Love the camera movement and the way to skip on the proces. Nice shot :)

[@Geeksmithing]

awesome idea!

[@craigdarpino2722]

Great video! Thanks!

[@laserprojekte]

Incredible....

[@dennishillman6205]

Nice video! Dry leather can’t be stamped effectively nor can saturated leather. Try spraying rather than wetting under facet. Spray leather and watch water absorb. Keep wetting until absorption slows. Then wait until just starts to change color. This will give best contrast.

[@sli200827]

Muito legal! Gostei desta forma de trabalho.

[@aulamongi2020]

I like the back music

[@mikekiske]

Thank you.

[@antonyi4739]

Greetings, thanks for showing us your art, what fantastic technique is it possible to further deepen the recording by redoing the recording process 3 or 4 times in the same piece?

[@JOYBG]

You can put moment glue on MDF and it will be strong like a stone and water-resistant. You can use a tick plastic for warping - between leather and the stamp and result will have better finish - try it :)

[@caryandrae9952]

You dont wash mdf with water cause it absorbs water. You only wipe them with abit of alcohol to clean up some soot residue. Alternatively can use hardwood.

[@pufferfish0567]

Nice technique for making leather embossing stamps. If you want a darker contrast between the embossed portion of the leather and flat areas, you will need to case the leather. It is not enough to just wet the leather.

[@antonyi4739]

Greetings, thanks for showing us your art, is laser able to create this 3D depth just by going through the acrylic or does the drawing need to be in 3D too?

[@colinsphoneemail]

wish my laser had a camera like that

[@jerrodlopes186]

Tape or Velcro a cheap 4k GoPro knock off to it. $30-$50 on Amazon. They work great!

[@luvnotvideos]

Quick note about wetting your leather, don't try to stamp the leather if it's still soaking wet. Once wet, allow it to dry to the point it's cool, but not damp on the surface. This is called "casing" the leather and it will create a much better impression. You just need the water to help glue the fibers together. Too much water makes it too spongy and it will not hold the shape as well.

[@epiloglaser]

Great tip!

[@Rosinah52]

great video...........I'm new to Lasering. any chance you could give settings.

[@cashmeer216]

Could I use this Same method on fabric using silicone and heat as a treatment

[@angelomelcarne2315]

can I use a heatpress turned off to press it?

[@fabiantrz]

how you mask mdf? what material did you use?

[@hassanelfayoumy51]

Great job sir, I want a favor from you I would like to know the name of the design and drawing software you are using Do you have lessons that explain how to design these images and how to implement them from the beginning until they are designed because I need help to help me implement my ideas 🙌🙏

[@hadigherbal3392]

Can I know what the engraving sitting you use?

[@elendiel0101]

Hi there, love your video, whats the optimal leather thickness for this kind of work?

[@benjaminsieber1589]

Hi there back at ya! During the experimentation for the leather debossing how-to project, we found 1/8" and above to be the thickness that yielded the best results, as well as unfinished leather products and sheets. We also experimented with various clamping and press methods. A good quality arbor, roller or platepress will save you an enormous amount of time.

[@andrewdebo5656]

Question, What do you do if you want to make 500+ of them? Is there an alterative way of doing this on the leather? More efficient and less time consuming?

[@TrainingWithJoshua]

use a press, attach the mold to the press and press away

[@me12youable]

How do you add a darker colour into the debossed logo?

[@benjaminsieber1589]

You may have to experiment with various types of dyes to achieve a specific look. The debossed area looks darker in this video because the leather is still wet and hasn't dried yet.

[@guypomnongsan671]

how deep did you engrave the Acrylic piece with your laser cutter? I'd like to set my laser the same and try it out

[@HassanAJan]

Did you find out?

[@jrard92]

Does this work equally well for Leatherette/ artificial leather as well in terms of impression quality

[@benjaminsieber1589]

Hi jrard92 - through our tests, it seems to work better on thicker genuine leather products. We did test a few leatherette products, but the thickness was a big factor when it came to the depth of the debossing we produced.

[@dianesawyerdooley4424]

You can really only get this effect with vegetable tanned leather. Chrome-tanned or artificial leather won't take the impression.

[@gerisyandrayusman9595]

2:08 Where is the cutting process scene?😄

[@jking5008]

I'm kinda surprised with the depth of the stamps. I know you made two passes, but the difference in the depth between the first and second passes seems relatively large. Did you adjust the focus for the second pass? Did you adjust speed or power or DPI? THANK YOU!

[@epiloglaser]

Hello, we ran three passes total to achieve the depth you see in the video, but in hind sight, it was probably only necessary to run two passes. For each pass, we quickly refocused at the laser then ran the job again.

[@jking5008]

@@epiloglaser When you say you "refocused the laser" are you referring to refocusing on the just-lasered area instead of being focused on the original surface area? Does this mean that you would raise the table very slightly? THANK YOU!!!

[@epiloglaser]

@@jking5008 - Hi yes you are exactly right. We refocused by bringing the table up slightly (approximately .0625") to focus the beam to the newly engraved area. Each time we ran the same Speed and DPI.

[@jking5008]

@@epiloglaser EXCELLENT! Thank you very much!!

[@devidaspasalkar7291]

What is the cost of this machine..?

[@idankk]

Can this be used to create stamps for paper?

[@epiloglaser]

Hi Idan. Yes, you can use a similar technique to create debossing and embossing stamps for paper. Depending on the effect you are trying to achieve, you will engrave your stamp, then invert the graphic (black to white, white to black) and engrave the negative side of the stamp. These techniques usually require an embosser type device to get the positive and negative stamps to line up correctly, but you may be able to set something up yourself as well.

[@luvnotvideos]

Quick question - How thick was your Acrylic and MDF sheet?

[@epiloglaser]

The leather was apporx. 1/8" thick, and the acrylic and MDF sheet were 1/4".

[@artschool8327]

How much ?

[@Scadaboy]

MDF doesn't like water. How would this stamp fare over multiple impressions?

[@epiloglaser]

The thicker MDF has been holding up quiet well and much less expensive for one-off stamps, but you can use a variety of materials for your debossing stamps. Delrin, acrylic, solid wood, and mdf are all great candidates. In the case that you do use MDF for your stamps, you can use a wood sealer to prevent any water from penetrating the MDF over time.

[@758Redwhulf]

How long did you press the leather?

[@epiloglaser]

Hi Jeremy - We pressed the leather for about 15 second, but once you're happy with the amount of pressure during clamping, you should be ok to remove the clamps after just a few seconds. We recommend testing the technique on some scrap leather first until you achieve the results you like most.

[@orsu2001]

Can this be done with 4.5w diode laser on mdf? 🤔😬

[@redwolf9563]

Maybe with a lot of patience and a million passes. Where there is a will there is a way!

[@brianburrell2667]

What is the thickness of the acrylic that was used?

[@benjaminsieber1589]

Hi Brian - we used a .25" acrylic for the stamps.

[@elvspretzl]

@benjamin • What is your experience on using Delrin for this process? Someone suggested to me that acrylic is too brittle for fine detail and will crumble with pressure.

[@benjaminsieber1589]

@@elvspretzl - Hi - yes Delrin is a great choice for pressing and inking stamps. When engraving Delrin for stamps there will be less "powder debris" created as well, which provides quicker cleanup. As for the brittleness of acrylic vs Delrin, Delrin is a bit more flexible and would flex a bit more during clamping.

[@elvspretzl]

Benjamin Sieber • Thank you for your response!

[@TheSlipknot227]

Good if you own laser cut machine, but if you using laser cut service company like me, that might cost so much. Here in Indonesia, the service cost per minute is about half a dollar. Engraving usually takes a long time, and cutting process is more fast, the solution for that is just to make the graphics to all cutting work, and then stack it with the same thickness material base.

[@epiloglaser]

Cutting and stacking is certainly an alternative method to use in some cases. For our graphics, which had distinct logo and text components, cutting out the shapes would have separated the letters from each other and from the logo. This would then require stamping the components individually, or reconnecting them to a base prior to stamping. Engraving away the negative space ensures the components remain one solid piece, and that all components are spaced properly relative to each other. If you are working with a graphic that is one contiguous shape, the cutting and stacking method becomes much more viable and is an alternative approach worth considering depending on your time constraints and where you’d like to focus your efforts. Thanks for the feedback!

[@gerisyandrayusman9595]

Ade aulia rahman apalagi potong mdf setebal ini ya mbaa😄

[@ashishkhandelwal2517]

can you pls tell me the power and speed you used for this

[@epiloglaser]

Hi Ashish - which Epilog machine and wattage do you own?

[@ashishkhandelwal2517]

100 watt leser machine and using rd wprk software for leser

[@juanhunna9280]

What was the depth on this by chance?

[@epiloglaser]

Hello Juan - the depth of the engraving was pretty deep for an engraving, but anywhere around .0625 or deeper should work well. Within the Epilog Software Suite you'll want to select the Deep Engraving settings option for the best result. We also suggest additional passes to achieve deeper depths in acrylic or hardwood.

[@austingifford8433]

Mdf is not conducive to water. Mdf soaks in water and then falls apart. Your mdf stamp will not last long.

[@epiloglaser]

This is true, that MDF will absorb water. We recommend not exposing your MDF stamp to water for very long during cleaning, or cleaning it with only a dry or damp brush. Water expedites the cleaning process, but you do not need much. Our MDF stamp’s exposure to water was limited and it has held up very well during and after its use, with no degradation. We’ve updated the write-up on our website with a note to be careful during this part of the project. Thanks for the feedback!

[@gerisyandrayusman9595]

I agree. I think the wet cloth is better.

[@jerrodlopes186]

Thanks for the ideas. I have to say, though, that there are so many cheap and free materials that would be a better alternative to mdf.

[@MikaelJSandersson]

Did you use any special kind of leather for this? Veg tan or chrome?

[@gerisyandrayusman9595]

Mikael I think only veg.

[@benjaminsieber1589]

The leather featured in the video is veg-tanned leather. The thicker nature of the veg-leather makes it easier to deboss. We are going to test more leather types with a table vise setup for quicker pressing and debossing - stay tuned to see how it goes!

[@jerrodlopes186]

Harbor freight shop press $100 is stupendous for this purpose.

[@redwolf9563]

@@jerrodlopes186 Exactly what I was thinking!

[@dianesawyerdooley4424]

@@benjaminsieber1589 The thickness has nothing to do with it. Veg tan will take carving and tooling whereas chrome-tan or PU will not. Simple as.

[@3D_Printing]

doesn't produce poison gasses when heated

[@valleypivot]

Why not just engrave the leather directly? I do.

[@dianesawyerdooley4424]

So you can sell maker's mark stamps to the public.

[@TheWhisleblower]

Why the background tune?