lasers

LaserShark is a Homegrown Laser Projector

LaserShark is a Homegrown Laser Projector

Over at Baltimore Hackerspace, Jeffrey Nelson has been designing a showcard laser projector.

Continue Reading
Turning Ordinary Objects into Dubstep Loops

Turning Ordinary Objects into Dubstep Loops

An Instrument for the Sonification of Everday Things is an electronic device that consists of a retractable spindle that will accept most any readily available item. Then a scanning laser reads the distance of the object as it rotates and translates that data into musical notes.

Continue Reading
Tropical Fruit-Powered Laser

Tropical Fruit-Powered Laser

Over at the Maui Makers hackerspace, member Ryan K showed up with a mess of Lilikoi fruit (also known as passion fruit). Using anodized bolts (source of zinc), some thin copper pipe, wire, switches, LEDs, and a capacitor, he built himself a battery from the fruit.

Continue Reading
Laser Tracks Snail’s Path

Laser Tracks Snail’s Path

Snail Trail by Philipp Artus tracks the journey of a snail, visualizing it using a phosphorescent glow. The results are a visual representation of the snail’s circuitous journey.

Continue Reading
Lattes And Laser Cutting Under One Roof

Lattes And Laser Cutting Under One Roof

Shibuya, Tokyo is now home to Fab Café, a coffee house with a public use laser cutter. Just walk in with a vector design and your material and enjoy a cup of coffee while the laser does its thing.

Continue Reading
How-To:  Add a Laser Head to a CNC Mini Mill

How-To: Add a Laser Head to a CNC Mini Mill

David Prutchi, whose surplus plutonium probe shenanigans we covered last week, received Micro-Mark’s branded version of the popular Sieg X2 mini mill for a recent birthday, then retrofitted it with a CNC kit from CNC Fusion, and then retrofitted it again with a CO2 laser head he built himself from a surplus tube. David writes: […]

Continue Reading
Laser Ball Is Life of the Party, Makes Regular Tennis Balls Feel Inferior

Laser Ball Is Life of the Party, Makes Regular Tennis Balls Feel Inferior

LeoneLabs on Instructables posted this fantastic how-to on adding 14 lasers to a regular tennis ball to make a Laser Ball. Why? He says that it’s fun to build, it can be done in an afternoon, and “lasers are cool.” The lasers are driven by a Teensy USB Development Board, which is stuffed inside the ball and controlled from outside with an infrared remote control. The Instructable shows you how to make your own in painstaking detail, but you can also follow the build step-by-step in this fun video.

Continue Reading