lasers

LasercutChristmas classroom project in development

LasercutChristmas classroom project in development

The original idea came from the work of several of my students in the Fashioning Tech class. Sam and Brooke were cutting images that they found online, and saw that the heavy black lines made image contours, which cut as a continuous line. What they saw as a horrible mistake, I thought looked really neat, and suggested they carefully glue the image outline to a backing sheet. They were hand cutting the background sheet, but it looks much more polished if they use the laser to cut the outline shape on the laser

Ultra-minimalist laser microscope

Ultra-minimalist laser microscope

The laser microscope builds keep rolling in! This one from reader Steve Davee may not look like much, but it gets the job done with stuff you’ve probably got in your desk right now. The binder clip serves triple-duty by propping the laser pointer up at an angle, holding the button down, and supporting the bent paper clip that holds the sample drop out front in a loop. There are more pictures in Steve’s Flickr set. [Thanks, Steve!]

Rob’s laser microscope build

Rob’s laser microscope build

Rob Cruickshank built this sweet laser microscope based, at least partly, I flatter myself to presume, on my recent project. There are more pics in Rob’s Flickr set, including one of the custom screw-fitting he made to hold down the momentary switch on his laser pointer. Rob also reports that water squeezed from an aquarium filter is an excellent source of microfauna-rich samples. [Thanks, Rob!]

Make: Projects – Laser projection microscope

Make: Projects – Laser projection microscope

A couple of weeks ago I posted about this sweet laser stunt from Teravolt.org, and I finally got around to trying it for myself. My laser is only 10% as powerful as theirs, but I can now say with conviction: Everyone should try this.

The only tricky part is getting the laser and the hanging drop of water lined up and keeping them aligned, but this simple stand I built from hardware store odds-and-ends makes it easy. The laser and syringe snap into broom clips mounted on supermagnet bases which allow easy positional adjustments, but hold strongly enough to keep everything in alignment once you’ve got it right.