Embossed leather belts can be deliciously stylish. However, the tooling for making these fashionable items is not always easy to come by, and it rarely comes cheap. What do we do when a tool is expensive and obscure? We 3D print our own, as [Myth Impressions] demonstrates.
The build is based around a Harbor Freight pipe bender. However, instead of the usual metal tooling, it’s been refitted with a printed embossing ring specifically designed for imprinting leather. The tool features raised ridges in an attractive pattern, and the pipe bender merely serves as a straightforward device for rolling the plastic tooling over a leather belt blank. Once cranked through the machine, the leather belt comes out embossed with a beautiful design.
It’s a neat project, and the 3D printed tooling works surprisingly well. The key is that leather is relatively soft, so it’s possible to use plastic tools quite effectively. With that said, you can even form steel with printed tooling if you use the right techniques.
We’ve seen some other neat leatherworking hacks before, like this nicely-modified Singer sewing machine.
Very nice. Really.
Agree!
em-Boss level perhaps?
One of the best uses for 3D printing, IMO. Plastic isn’t a great material, but it works great for molds and forms.
There’s a few materials that might be up to this task reasonably.
But, alternatively there’s a few options for using 3D prints as molds to make dies for this. Ceramic comes to mind.
Also, use it for a trial run of design, if it’s popular get it machined into a metal die. Cost wise it might not be too bad if you could get it done by a company like PCB Way. (Relatively speaking I mean. If you’re doing 10,000 belts)