How to Make Leather Goggles With 3D Printed Molds

Hello!
Today I will show you how I make a pair of leather goggles using a molding technique based on 3D printed molds.

A video tutorial is also available.

I hope you will enjoy it!

Vegetable tanned leather - 2.0-3.2 mm (5-8) oz

Leather lining (0.8 mm (2 oz) suede or pigskin)

Acrylic lenses

Leather glue

Edge dye or Tokonole for burnish

1 mm waxed polyester thread

15 mm roller buckle

2 rivets

Edge skiver

Edge beveler

Cutting pad

Rubber mallet

Brush

Needles

Sand paper (60 grit, 400 grit)

Dremel or Flexible shaft

(Access to) 3D printer

PLA

I put together a tutorial for showing you more details about the whole process. Thank you for watching!

I use a 3D Prusa Mk3. Any other 3D printer that accept PLA will do.

I print the molds at 100% infill because I want to use them to make many pairs of goggles.

If you intend to reuse the mold for many projects I recommend printing at 100% infill.

If you want to use it for a project I recommend still going for at least 25% infill + 8 layers thickness for the walls.

Protect the mold when using it with woodworking clamps.

I make a pair of molds for the exterior of the goggles and one pair for the lining.

You will need approximately 1800 g PLA (900 g for each pair of molds) if the infill is 100%.

I start by cutting the pieces of leather for the molded parts of the eyes.

I use 2.4 mm (6 oz) vegetable tanned leather.

I put the leather parts in hot water from the tap and let it soak for a few minutes.

For our project, we only need to soften the leather, form it into a desired shape, and allow it to dry and harden such that it holds the shape of the mold.

I put the soaked leather in the 3D molds I printed in the previous step.

I press the leather in the mother part of the mold, push it with fingers and be careful not to wrinkle the leather. I use pieces of yoga mat to minimize them. You can use something similar you can find around the house like neoprene or EVA foam.

Vegetable tanned leather take the shape of a mold better than other kinds of leather so I highly recommend it for a perfect result just from the first attempt.

I press the father mold on the mother mold than already contains the leather pressed with fingers and the pieces of yoga mat that keep them in place.

I then put the molds in the clicker press and press once.

I press once and check again. We want to get rid of the wrinkles. You will see the water zesting out of the pressed leather.

Then I press it for some minutes without the yoga mat. I take out the mold and let the leather in the mold for few hours or till next day.

I recommend you to watch the video tutorial so you see how I do it.

I cut the shape of the goggles from 2.4 mm (6 oz) vegetable tanned leather.

This molding technique allows you to obtain almost the same results with semi vegetable tanned leather.

I cut the lining from a 0.8 mm (2 oz) leather.

I will now punch the holes for the lenses both in the eye and in the lining of the eye.

I prepare some cardboard circles as I will use the same father mold to make the cuts. The cardboard are used to protect the mold when I punch the holes.

I use my clicker press, but you can use also a hollow punch and a hammer.

You can refer to the video tutorial for more details.

I prepare the lenses from the round sunglasses you can find on Amazon or AliExpress.

I mark the contour on the lenses with an awl.

I use an expanding wheel and 60 grit sandpaper for reducing the lenses to the desired size.

I leave like 4 mm edge so I can glue together the goggles with the eyes parts.

I use an improvised device made out of a silver pen and a plastic circle to make a guiding line around the edge of the eyes.

Now I start to cut the excess leather. I prefer to cut it in many strokes and then smooth the edges. This way you can obtain smooth, curved edge.

I use a very sharp knife to thin the edges, then a Dremel. You can go really thin, but be careful not to chip the edges.

I cut the lining with the scissor as it is manageable, since it is thin.

Again, refer to the video tutorial.

To avoid to scratch the visible part of the lenses, I glue a leather circle on them.

To improve adherence to the eyes, I scratch the edges of the lenses. I use a flexible shaft, but it can be done also by hand with sandpaper.

I finish the edges of the goggles and the eyes with edge dye or by burnishing them.

Then I glue the lenses on the eyes and the eyes on the goggles.

Please refer to the video tutorial for further details.

I mark the holes on the goggle.

I use a compass for marking the holes on the line.

I punch holes in the goggles with a 1.5 mm hollow punch.

I put a thin layer of glue on the eyes and on the goggles, and glue them together.

I use an awl to make the holes on the eyes part.

After I glue the eyes on the goggles, I go through the holes diagonally with a hole punch or an awl. It is no big deal if the holes don't look perfect on the inside as it will all be covered with lining.

I saddle stitch the eyes to the goggles. I use 1 mm waxed polyester thread.

I glue the inside lining of the eyes and press it between the father lining mold and the mother leather mold.

I use the Dremel for thinning even more. Be careful not to ruin the stitch.

I glue the lining of the goggles over. This way I cover all imperfections and the finish will look perfect.

The video tutorial presents in detail how I do it.

I use an edge beveler to round up the edges. For a smoother look, you can use also a Dremel or a Flexible shaft.

I finish the edges with edge dye (if you use chromed or semi veg tan leather) or burnish them (if you use vegetable leather).

This is an adjustable strap, assembled with 2 rivets and 1 roller buckle.

I remove the protective leather circles. I clean them with isopropyl alcohol, lenses cleaning solution, alcohol and so on.

This are my take on leather goggles.

I hope you enjoyed the process and you'll try to make your own pair.

Drop comments, questions or DM on my Instagram.

You can find the link to the PDF pattern, STL files for the molds and 3D printed molds in the description of the video tutorial.