Last Saturday, I took an intro class to laser cutting at TechShop. Unfortunately Kaho wasn't able to make it.
The first half of the class consisted of a discussion of the many scenarios in which the laser cutter could catch fire and burn the entire building down. Apparently this happened to one of HP's buildings at some point.
Undaunted, we bravely cut and etched a piece of scrap wood. The process is quite simple, but it was obvious that with each new material and design, there's a process of trial and error to find the right parameters on the machine -- the right balance of speed and power. I'm excited to start my own projects on the cutter the first of which will be something really simple.
While at TechShop, I also picked up my first salt and pepper prototype. Very exciting, as it's also my first output from the 3D prototyping machine. The S&P turned out pretty much as I'd pictured them. There are a few things that need refinement, but ultimately, I'm very happy with this first result. And it's incredible to see how your design was created, almost as though a tiny tube of toothpaste was methodically squeezed to form the structure in 3D.
The tray (or plugplate) came with support material stuck to the bottom of it, which I easily peeled off.














