Image Credit: Lasersaur
Dinosaur is not usually found in the same sentence with the word “elegant.” So I assumed that any device named Lasersaur would follow the same logic, but I was way wrong. This new open source laser cutter is every bit as elegant as an iPhone or iPod.
The project is the creation of Addie Wagenknecht and Stefan Hechenberger who wanted to bring an open source laser cutter to the maker and inventor and every day consumer who wants to try making things. Most laser cutters are prohibitively expensive, so their goal was to get a decent size unit in the $2,500 to $5,000 range. They took their project to Kickstarter.com and successfully funded with what is now a growing group of beta users.
Ms. Wagenknecht said one of their goals was a list of supply sources that were globally accessible. They’ve provided a bill of materials, parts list, on the site and the suppliers where you could get most of the parts, but you need the core kit from Lasersaur for now. You can purchase via the simple Paypal Buy Now button for the core kit. They have dozens of beta users around the world building the Lasersaur laser cutter. It was built for makers, architects, and tinkerers to get started making their own things. The unit will cut ½ inch material with up to 100 microns accuracy.
We want to change how people create, build and consume products. Living in this software/internet powered world we forget about how physical products are created. We want to allow makers to feel empowered and to lose the black box feel of closed systems. The idea that you just need an allen wrench and a screwdriver (and well, maybe a bit of soldering) to get the Lasersaur laser cutter built. Then the unit would spawn itself.
-- Addie Wagenknecht, co-founder
My assumption was that the founders were engineers, but co-founder Ms. Wagenknecht, explains that she is an artist, not an engineer. She shared that she’s surrounded by engineers and tech folks in the open source community that supported their work to help get the Lasersaur off the ground. When she talked to one of her professors and he told her “you guys are absolutely crazy!” But that didn't stop them.
Machines that make themselves is a big trend in maker communities. The democratization of fabrication, Ms. Wagenknecht reminds me, has happened elsewhere. You can look at all the 3D printers to see that trend of machines reproducing at work - the Reprap, the Makerbot, Makergear, the new Printrbot. Nortd Labs, the parent of Lasersaur, seeks to demystify the technology and let people think about the possibilities. She says it has been fascinating to watch the community grab hold of this concept and start building the Lasersaur, to see people jumping in so enthusiastically has been very rewarding.
Learn more about the Lasersaur laser cutter and see some of their very cool Flickr photo stream here.
