PU leather keychains are cheap to buy from wholesale sites and they look like a premium product once they're engraved. They're perfect as gifts, or to sell with your own business.
This is a quick one on the xTool F2. I'll take you through holding the blank, adding a name that curves around the bottom, my settings, and framing it so the design stays on the keychain.
Jump to: The blanks · Placement and focus · The design · Curved name · Settings and framing · Engrave
1. The blanks
These come in lots of colors. I've got three here. They're PU, which is a synthetic leather, so it's not technically leather, but it engraves really well.
One warning: PU gives off a lot of fumes when you engrave it, so you need good extraction.
2. Placement and focus
You can place a keychain straight on the bed, but with items like this you often get an uneven surface.
I use my PU Leather Keychain Jig, which fits the xTool F1, F2 and F1 Lite. The keychain sits in its pocket nice and straight, and you can do up to three at once. Once you've set a design up for the jig, you can save it and know it will line up again next time.
As always, focus your laser. Turn the knob on the side of the laser head until the two dots join together.
Then in xTool Studio, click New project in the top right. You'll hear a beep as the machine connects. Make sure it shows green. You can also click the little ruler with the A on it to auto measure. The head moves up and down slightly and the lights dim while it works out the distance, then the picture updates. Both ways work the same.
3. The design
I used a vector design I already had. Vectors always come in bigger than you need, so resize it first. The F2's camera makes this a lot easier, because you can see the keychain on screen.
4. Add a curved name
- Click the text icon, click on the canvas and type your name.
- Click Engrave so the letters are filled in, not just outlined.
- To curve it around the bottom of the keychain, select the text and find the icon that looks a bit like a rainbow. Left click and hold on it, then drag up or down. It changes how much the text curves.
- To change the gap between letters, click the arrow next to the spacing control (the one with a little a either side) and click down to bring them closer together, or up to spread them out.
- Pick a font. I went with Aclonica.
- Move it down slightly so it doesn't overlap the design. Then select both parts and choose Horizontal align center so the name sits centrally under the design.
5. Settings and framing
Select everything and click the material box. I have my own tested material for these keychains (F2 PU Leather, brown) with a preset called Vector Engraving, because these are vectors:
| Setting | Value |
|---|---|
| Laser type | Blue light |
| Power | 82% |
| Speed | 655 mm/s |
| Lines per cm | 140 |
| Passes | 1 |
| Engraving mode | Bi-directional |
Different PU colors react differently, so run a quick test if you're trying a new color. These settings are in my free Laser Settings Library, along with the rest of my xTool F2 settings and settings for other machines.
Now frame it. The default frame is a rectangle around the whole design, and on a shape like this that isn't good enough. You want to be sure nothing overlaps the edge of the keychain.
- Click the arrow next to the framing button and choose Outline. It frames the actual outline of your vector design.
- Click frame and check it all sits inside the keychain.
The F2's camera is very good, but you can't always guarantee placement from the picture alone, so always frame to be safe.
6. Engrave
- Do a last check: material set, framing off.
- Click Process. Mine showed a 19 second engraving time. Click the path option if you want to see the order it will engrave in.
- Click Start. When you hear the beep, the file has been sent, so press the button on the side of the F2.
Close the lid while it runs, and keep that extraction going.
It came out really clear. They're cheap to buy and quick to make, so it's easy to see the potential.
Any questions?
If you try this, I'd love to see it. Ask me anything in the comments on the video.
