30 Laser Cutter Projects
At work I have access to a range of industrial design machines. I want to utilise this perk of my job as much as possible so I’ve challenged myself to find 30 uses for the laser cutter. These might enhance other projects in other lists or be a stand alone project.
Emu Puzzle Plaque
At the beginning of 2022 I worked with a small team to create a 2 metre tall wooden Emu Puzzle for a fundraising event for Gawura, an indiginous school in Sydney. Attendees of the cocktail function would bought pieces throughout the night and added them to the puzzle. This gamification aspect of the night was designed to increase donations in a fun way by challenging the attendees to finish the puzzle by the end of the night. We successfully hit our target of $30,000 that night and I wanted to make a sign explaining what the Emu Puzzle represented as it now lives in a communal space at work. This was a fairly straight forward project for the laser cutter, it only involved typling out the statement in Illustrator and finding a nice piece of plywood.
[insert picture of plaque on puzzle here]
Cactus Scarring
I saw a picture of a cactus that had a screen grab from the original Doom video game hand scratched into it. I wanted to see how clean laser cutting into the flesh of a cactus was and it so happened that months ago I’d picked up this lone Burbank Spineless paddle from a neighbour up the road. I did a quick search on www.frinkiac.com for Simpsons scenes about cactus’ and thought this portrait of Homer would look great sticking up over the lip of a pot. Since there was no ‘cactus’ setting in the material database I was really guessing at the focual intensity of the laser and it cut a little too deep into the cactus flesh. The internet recommends that you treat the fresh cactus wound with hydrogen peroxide to make sure an infection doesn’t form. I just covered mine in a plastic bag and hoped for the best, some deeper cuts like the pupil of Homer’s eye did get infected. Next time I try (maybe on the other side of the paddle, they are $300 each retail and hard to come by) I’ll start with the lowest focal intensity and see how it turns out.
Cactus Outline
This use of the laser cutter was part of another project on this blog; New Ranch Sign. I needed to cut a channel in some drift wood in the shape of a cactus. After attempting to do this with rotary tools, without much success, I decided to take it into the laser cutter. This also didn’t work too well as the surface had such varying depths, and I could only set the laser to move across the highest Z axis measurement otherwise it would run into the wood. The result was that it only burnt an outile of the shape and didn’t really cut a channel. This was a good step in the right direction, it provided me with an accurate guide to use a hammer and chisel on later.
Coaster Gift Info
I don’t usually like to admit that I’m a fan of certain creators online. Not sure why, but it’s something I like to keep to myself. I’m going to push through that uncomfortable feeling and let it be known that I really enjoy Casey Neistat's aesthetic and only recently (say August 2022) discovered his brother Van, who has a similar style but I have to say I relate to even more. I think it’s their unapologetic pragmatism that I enjoy. They don’t aim for the flashiest output, just the fastest one that works, then move onto the next thing. I also enjoy their approch to nostalgia and record keeping in an age of consumerism and planned obsolescense, marking each piece of camera gear they own with the date they purchased it. This record keeping philosophy extends to gifts they give and recieve. I think it’s a great practice which increases the gratitude attached to a received gift and fosters a greater connection with the gift giver.
My boss gave me this coaster when she came back from a trip in Western Australia. I burnt onto the cork backing the artist’s name and residency, when and who gave it to me. But I didn’t pay attention to the orientation…… lesson learnt! So the coaster increases in value to me again.
Engraved Bookend
I like reusing/repurposing used objects. My friend Nic also likes doing this. She had rescued a bunch of metal bookends and wanted my help coming up with ideas of how to reuse them, not necesserily for their original purpose. This is an activity we both enjoy, the generation and workshopping of ideas, especially around artistic areas. I brought up the laser cutter as an avenue to go down and that afternoon Nic supplied me with a few of her original designs and we did some tests. It became quickly apparent that the laser couldn’t cut through the metal, so we decided to just go with an engraving. The bookend would be a housewarming gift for Nic’s friend, so this added a necessity for accuracey that ususally isn’t at the forefront of my projects. It was good to get some practice in it though, spending the time to work out the best method to accurately engrave the piece. The result was great and recieved happily by Nic’s friend. Nic is a very talented artist and graphic designer, you can check out and buy her work through her website goodoldnic.com