Elk Hide

[Mike Null]

This is one of two hides I'm doing for a new exhibit at the Missouri History Museum. The hides are roughly 5 ft. x 7 ft. and the engraving is 48" wide. A bit tricky since my table is less than 30". I engraved it in three sections.

The pics are from my cell phone, not that my digital camera would have been better.;)

[Connie Gill]

Nice work! My dad is a saddlemaker so he is always bringing down pieces of leather for me to play with. The elk hide is so soft, what power settings did you use? If I am doing garment/chap leather (which the elk hide falls under) I usually have to run very low power (10-20) and relatively high speed so it doesn't char. I like to use the saddle/tooling leather best - it takes photos beautifully and isn't as sensitive if the power isn't right.

[Tony Lenkic]

Mike very nice job.

Just wondering.... is that a bullet hole above "N"?

[Mike Null]

Tony

That is indeed a bullet hole. The other hide has one or two as well.

I engraved at 85P and 75S at 500dpi. My machine speed is 140 ips and power is 45 watts.

[Dee Gallo]

That looks great, Mike! You'd never know it was done in three parts, you did a perfect registration job. The whole thing has such a nice feel for a cultural exhibit, I'll bet the museum is really pleased.

cheers, dee

[Mike Null]

Dee

Thank you. Your keen eye found the problem with this job. I bid it with a set up fee. Little did I know the set up (registration) was going to take hours.

[Robert Walters]

Mike,

How did you end up maintaining the registration between the three sections?

All I can think of is stickers and a loom type frame.
And all that extra material to deal with, argh.

Very nice btw.

[Mike Null]

Robert

Good question. I used clear extruded acrylic on which I had vectored the outlines of the adjoining sections, I then layed this on the hide and tested for location. Take it from me, it was tedious. Joe Hayes, a member of the forum and a friend, reminded of the acrylic or I wouldn't have been able to do the job. I had used it before and completely forgot about it.

[Larry Bratton]

Good job Mike! I do suspect trying to get that registration right was tricky, but you nailed it.

[Amy Shelton]

It looks great, Mike! I hadn't heard the acrylic trick to align it, that's a good thing to remember.
I think no matter how large the laser is, there will always be someone that wants something bigger engraved!

[Frank Corker]

Brilliant job. Shame about that bullet hole, obviously this Elk didn't hide (groan).

[Mike Null]

Frank, after seeing examples of your many masterful works I appreciate the compliment. Those elks weren't too smart the other hide has a bullet hole too.

[Keith Outten]

Mike,

Nice job on the leather, it looks great. Thanks for the tip on using acrylic to register multiple setups.
.

[Mike Null]

Keith

Thanks, the other thing I didn't mention is that I built a platform about 5 inches high which allowed me to roll up excess hide under and around the platform so that it wouldn't interfere with the movement of the laser.

With your new machine you could just engrave the whole thing without moving it and worrying about registration.;)

[Dee Gallo]

keith

thanks, the other thing i didn't mention is that i built a platform about 5 inches high which allowed me to roll up excess hide under and around the platform so that it wouldn't interfere with the movement of the laser.


smart guy!

[Steve Clarkson]

Mike,

That came out beautifully!

Can you expound on that acrylic technique?

[Bill Cunningham]

Keith

Thanks, the other thing I didn't mention is that I built a platform about 5 inches high which allowed me to roll up excess hide under and around the platform so that it wouldn't interfere with the movement of the laser.

With your new machine you could just engrave the whole thing without moving it and worrying about registration.;)

That's what I do with Denim Jackets. Just spread it out flat on top, a few pins around the edges (not advisable with leather) to hold it tight and firm, then stuff the rest under the table..
Nice job on the Elk hide, and particularly on the registration. That acrylic is a good idea.. Hope I can remember it:p