Vinyl cutter question & leather

24 views
Skip to first unread message

Matt Amue

unread,
Aug 4, 2026, 8:53:03 PMAug 4
to Area515 - Des Moines Maker Space
Hello everyone,

Introducing new member Carroll to the google group. Carroll was wondering if the vinyl cutter can work with thin leather? Like 4 to 5 oz, which is about 0.4mm around 1/8th of an inch.

Thanks--Matt

Bailey Steinfadt

unread,
Aug 5, 2026, 9:09:37 AMAug 5
to dsmhack...@googlegroups.com
I’m thinking there’s a typo. 1/8 in is about 3mm and 4-5oz leather is 1.5-2mm.

In any case, no the vinyl cutter cannot handle it. The recommend max for the thick material blade is about 12 mil, or 0.3mm. You’d be pushing it to even get 1oz leather through it. 

There are attachments to make it possible on some vinyl cutters, but we do not have them and someone would need to do research to see if they work on our model and what parts would be needed. Any consumable components for that setup would be the responsibility of the user to acquire. You’d also need a sturdy adhesive cutting mat as leather is stretchy and stretchy is a recipe for disappointment on the vinyl cutter. Those mats are also consumable. 

You can put veg tanned leather on the laser cutter. If you don’t know how it was tanned, assume it was chrome tanned and therefore dangerous to laser. 



Bailey Steinfadt
runne...@gmail.com


--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Area515 - Des Moines Maker Space" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dsmhackerspac...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dsmhackerspace/1a229dcf-0afd-4e57-8af3-87f4848a21adn%40googlegroups.com.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages