I think it’s about time I introduced new category. “Around the Web” that is, where I’ll post cool things I find online, like this LaserOrigami article.
We all know that laser cutter can be used to cut and engrave objects. But did you know you can also bend acrylic with it? I didn’t until I saw this amazing video:
I think it’s pretty self explanatory, but just in case here’s what’s happening.
They’re de-focusing laser beam onto an object (by moving z-axes bed down). It heats up acrylic until it becomes soft and gravity pulls it down creating 90 degree bend! By making clever cuts and bends they manage to create a true 3d object that doesn’t require any assembly! And most amazing part, they manage to bend acrylic even beyond 90 degrees using a servo that rotates held object.
I was pretty blown away by this video, and now I want to try it out on my laser cutter machine. Unfortunately I don’t have automatic or precise way of moving my z-bed (it’s manual mechanism) but it would be fun to try.
Check out LaserOrigami article, and make sure to download PDF which has lots of useful information and explains how process works, and even shows some cool things that were not show in the video, like stretching.