I'm fortunate to have a laser cutter from my pals at Rendyr at my disposal, and I had a couple of barrel staves in the shop from previous projects.

With no particular schedule for the day, I figured today would be a good day to procrastinate mowing the grass and to play with the laser instead. Check it out:



It's roughly 37" across, and a tick over 3" wide at its max. The inscription covers about a 12" span. I could have scaled it up just a little more, but didn't want to press my luck.

I'll get some steel cut and blackened shortly, to go in the spaces where the original rings used to be, and then it's going on the wall.

Wow Dan! That's really nice!

Thanks, Tommy P!

Very good. You gots skilz

Going on the 4Runner?

That is cool.

Might look a little out of place there. They make stickers for that, ya know!

Once I get the mounting method figured out, it'll go on the wall in the den.

That laser system is very cool. The fact that you don't have a fixed cutting bed is amazing.

What type of laser (fiber or CO2) and wattage does yours have? The site just says "high-power multi-diode" and only 12 watts. That's seems crazy low to me for the material capabilities it calls out.

The portability of this thing is crazy, and its ability to mark areas much larger than its own mat is incredible. One person I know was considering marking his son's deck with it, and there's an example somewhere of having used one to mark designs in a winery floor.

As for your questions, flesheatingvirus... um... well... I don't know. But I can find out this week. I'll be sharing space with some of their crew for a while, so I'll see what I can learn.

I do know that there's a bit of a misconception sometimes with respect to laser power. The system I had at my previous job was just an 8-watt setup, but would mark materials this one won't. I've discussed it briefly with one of the founders, and he explained that it has not only to do with power, but with wavelength as well. Example: with my previous system I could engrave tool steel easily; this system can't keep up with it. But this one is capable of cutting paper without burning it, which I surely couldn't do with the other one.

More learning to do!

FEV: the fellas tell me Optic uses a dual-diode laser, 450-455nM wavelength.

That's cool! Nicely done!