Hello everyone! I did a quick search of the Forums and didn’t find anything related to using the Snapmaker’s laser to pattern velvet. So I did some experimentation and wanted to report back with initial results.
This is velvet I bought from Amazon, so it’s probably actually plastic-based. A couple of Google hits talked about high speed and low power. A simple pattern of lines I did was fine at 50% power, but when I tried to do a more complicated print (using dot vs. line), I ended up having to use 5% power with a 1ms dwell per dot.
Behold!
I like how it’s turning out so far - the pattern looks good, and it does not burn through the velvet’s base weave.
I will note, however, that it is a really, really long burn: 5 hours for a pattern that covers an area of about 6.5 x 4.5 inches. I have noticed that the Snapmaker estimates “1 hour 1 min” to start, and then perhaps four hours later it finally becomes a bit more accurate.
If I had to make more of these (I’m making a series of panels that I will stitch together to be the lining of a bag that, when opened up, lays flat), I think I would take another route entirely: I’d 3D print the design like a stamp, then lay the velvet nap-down on the stamp and give it a light iron (how to emboss velvet: How to Emboss Velvet | Better Homes & Gardens). I don’t know whether this will work with the plastic I got with the machine, so I’ll be giving it a try (but worse comes to worse, I could just have it printed for me as a stamp). I’ll report back on that, when I eventually get around to it, in case anyone’s interested in the process.
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I’m going to add that I selected autofocus and set the material thickness to 1.1mm, which seemed about right to me and is working fine.
I remembered this topic which was somewhat similar : Laser - Fabric/clothes? - #16 by cbardon
If you go with the ironing approach, I would suggest carving it out in a more heat resistant material (most woods will do probably) with the cnc.
But I don’t think you would be able to get the same level of detail that way.
Oh, what a great thread, thank you for the link! I’m super stoked about the idea of using this to transfer embroidery patterns to cloth – fantastic idea!
I forgot to mention in my initial post that I’m also using B&W and I see some folks are recommending greyscale – I think it has more to do with the power level and dwell time, and that there are a lot of roads to use to get to this particular Rome. ; )
For embossing velvet, I think you’re right about the material – this plastic is probably too melty, but I’m hoping it’ll hold up, especially if I spray it with water first and don’t linger with the iron. I do want to try it, because even though I’m really liking the results I’m getting, the burn time is way too long for any kind of production work.
I think you’re right about carving, although that’s a good idea too and worth a try; there might be a way to get some pretty fine detail but even the smallest bit I got with the SM is pretty huge in comparison to the detail I want. The alternate is to have a rubber stamp or some other kind of print material made with the .STL elsewhere, but I sure would like to keep it in house if possible. Maybe it’s time to look at seeing if there is heat-resistant plastic in the right size out there somewhere.
If PLA does turn out to be too melty, there are a couple of other things you can try:
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Print a higher-temperature plastic. Some people have successfully used the Snapmaker to print nylon (although make sure you’re using good ventilation if you try that, because opinion is divided as to whether the PTFE tube inside the hotend will outgas at the required temperatures). Even PETG, which is fairly common, will give you another 10 or so degrees Celsius of leeway over PLA.
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3D print molds and use them for silicone casting, which you can still do on a small-scale in-house, to produce something more like the rubber stamps suggested by your original link.
I’ll have to get PETG a try (if it doesn’t work). Thank you!
Doing mold-making and casting something was also something I’d thought about (I have mold-making materials), but I haven’t actually gotten around to learning how to do it yet. This might be motivation to finally do that. ; )
If you need the material to remain flexible, try TPU and other Flexibles. You should be able to find a few posts on how to bind the flexible materials to cloth, which usually includes using some sore of adhesive to temporarily affix the cloth to the build plate, and then adjusting the Z Offset prior to printing. You need to print pretty slow to ensure that the cloth does not come loose from the bed while printing.
