How we build homes
Difra's two step process begins with our proprietary software that converts any 3D design model into 2D components which interlock via friction joints to create form. These 2D patterns are then laser cut from sheets of engineered lumber, and assembled into innovative designs.
via Difra, Inc..
Laser cuting for building homes. Sounds really cool!
These are my testers for a project I'm working on using processed lunch meats etched with a laser cutter. Ultimately, I would like to show the entire process from animal to ambiguous pink slice of meat over the course of a package of lunch meat, beginning here with bologna. This neat packaged disc of food has always seemed so far removed from its source.
via From Whence It Came 1 on Flickr
Sarah O’Hana is a silversmith with a difference, she fuses art with science to make jewellery using an industrial laser.
As part of her doctorate at Manchester University, she discovered how to use a laser to mark vibrant colours onto titanium, to produce a range of unique and contemporary jewellery.
via Telegraph.
One of the most striking images from The Terminator was the weapon he carried and used in his first attempt on Sarah Connor's life: the .45 Longslide, with laser sighting. The gun was likewise such a striking presence on screen it was used on the film's poster.
Terminator was released in 1984, and while laser sights on weapons are common now, when the film was first shown the red laser was able to communicate something subtle and powerful to the audience: this is a machine, deadly accurate and futuristic. It made the Terminator seem other-worldly and terrifying.
Arstechnica found the true story behind the terminator’s laser-sighted gun. It is a gentleman named Ed Reynolds who created that laser. At the time, he has to use He Ne laser, which needs a high voltage power supply.
via
La Subterranea is a project that uses a laser to map out underground tunnels.
La Subterranea [is] an ongoing research project which takes its name from a tunnel and viaduct system running underneath and through the city of Guanajuato, Mexico. As riverbed, vehicular thoroughfare, and the historical back alley to the city, La Subterranea has evolved in a state of tension with the city above. Its use, form, and place has shifted over time, registering changing attitudes towards hygiene, shifts in transportation and hydrological infrastructure, and alterations to the natural topography. At present, La Subterranea is embraced as uniquely embedded cultural capital–contributing to the city's designation as a World Heritage Site in 1988–and as a practical solution to the transportation problems in the city center. The authors traveled to Guanajuato and employed High Definition Survey equipment to assemble a precise three-dimensional model of approximately 2 kilometers of the length of La Subterranea. This study has resulted in the first methodical and accurate mapping of this system.
via Make.
Jeff, an electronics technologist, has posted an instruction for building a laser guitar!
The Prism is, quite simply, the best laser guitar on the Internet. At least I think so. I hope that you take these instructions and not only make your own, but improve on my design!
I suppose I should clarify what the Prism is: It’s a bit like a guitar with some synthesizer mashed in. It has aspects of a theremin and a laser harp thrown in to boot. In short, it’s not like anything else, and you can use it to make some really neat sounds. Anything from cold Sine and harsh square waves to heavily distorted noise.
At its heart the Prism features a VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator), based around the very shiny XR2206 monolithic function generator. The octave range is selected by blocking one of four laser “strings,” and the pitch is controlled by the position of the musician’s hand on the fretboard. The musician has the option of selecting a sine, triangle or square wave. The sine and triangle waves can be skewed using a separate Skew control.
It also has two other controllable oscillators, one acting as an LFO (Low Frequency Oscillator) and the other acting as a Sync generator.
I designed the Prism to plug into any regular guitar amp, with no computer required. In fact, there is no programming involved at all in this project! It is just as portable as a regular guitar, and meant to be used at gigs or wherever else an “alternative” instrument is needed!
Here is a video showing the basic functions:
demonstrate the on-board effects:
This is a simple project of a sundial wherein the pinion is replaced by a line LASER I took from a LASER level. The LASER is mounted on a RC servo which in turn is driven by a micro controller. The micro controller keeps the time and turns the RC servo accordingly.
