Lasers

Hypnotic and wonderfully-satisfying footage of a high-speed laser engraver rapidly etching an intricate geometric pattern into a metal disc. Z-Tech Lasers‘ video wasn’t sped up either, and was shot in real time.

Yoshihito Isogawa shows off another impressive build. He used LEGO Technic and Mindstorms parts, along with mirrors and a laser pointer to create a mechanism that can project laser patterns on the wall by rapidly modulating its reflector. Here’s another variant he also made.

BOSSlaser shows off a slick design – a decorative bowl that can be cut from a single sheet of plywood or acrylic. It comes into shape as it stretches like a giant spiral Slinky onto its stand. Gorgonaut’s original template is available on Thingiverse for download.

Techmoan is usually showing off unusual retro tech, this time host Mat has something a bit different. Here, he shows how to play vector-style video games using Wicked Lasers’ LaserOS. Check out StandupMath’s video for a more impressive demo of a laser-based game.

Heads or Tales Coins & Collectibles presents a wonderfully satisfying video showing a laser etching machine making a cold storage coin – a physical manifestation of cryptocurrency. These coins feature a unique private key which can be used to unlock its bearer’s Bitcoins.

Laser engravers use powerful laser beams to burn designs into wood and other materials. But when Make Anything’s flatbed engraver broke, he decided to take its laser head and turn it into a handheld writing instrument. It’s not the safest thing on Earth, but it is cool.

We’ve seen lasers take off layers of grime and even rubber coatings, but we’re really impressed with this footage of a 1000-watt P-Laser system as it strips off years of rust from old steel in just seconds. More wonderfully satisfying footage here.

Laser engravers are some of the coolest machines you can have in your workshop, and can produce designs with extreme precision. But we’ve never seen one work as fast as the Tykma Vereo, which manages to spit out an entire image on sheet metal in about a minute.

We’ve all seen laser beams which project images using a persistence of vision effect. While the professional gear does it with moving mirrors, Yertle Vert shows off a neat build using 3D-printed cams and a laser pointer to achieve a similar effect. Instructions on Thingiverse.

The VH-80 can emit lasers from either or both ends to quickly measure and record length, area or volume. It has built-in levels and can be mounted on a tripod. You can also control it via its companion smartphone app, which also lets you overlay measurements on a photo.

The LaserDock is a compact RGB laser projector for visualizing music. It comes with easy-to-use Windows and MacOS apps that have hundreds of effects for digital music, MIDI and live instruments. Pair it with a fog machine and mosquito nets to get a cool 3D effect.

Engineers from the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at Germany’s Hasso Plattner Institute demonstrate an innovative use for a laser cutter – to not just cut materials, but to use their heat to weld layers together, forming fully-assembled 3D objects in the process.

Seb Lee-Delisle modified a Nintendo Zapper to fire laser beams and even have smoke come out of the barrel with each shot. It has a pair of LEDs, a laser module, and a vape module. The light effects on the wall are from a separate projector.

“…it’s 400 times over the most dangerous rating imposed by the FDA. So without further ado let’s play with this thing.” A statement that no one should ever say, but YouTuber styropyro utters it as if he was talking about a NERF dart. This thing would be right at home in Fallout 4.

Veritasium breaks down the most requested cosmetic procedure. The melanin in our hair (and skin) protect us by absorbing light. Laser hair removal takes advantage of that by overloading hair with short bursts of heat, enough to damage the cells that produce hair.

A remarkable look at a fast-moving industrial laser cutting machine as it makes quick, precise work of sheet metal. Watch as the 1000W XT Laser cutter blasts dozens of perfect circles and squares through metal in a matter of seconds.

Save 23% on this tiny laser pointer that slides into to headphone jack of your iPhone, perfect for presentations and for driving cats crazy. The iPin app lets you remotely control presentations, and the laser stores on your headphone cable when not in use.

If the technological claims of the guys behind the Skarp are true, we could soon be shaving with a razor that replaces blades with a laser. It’s waterproof, skin-safe, and runs for up to a month on a single AAA battery. Sign us up!

An affordable and extremely user-friendly laser cutter and engraver. It lets you work on a wide range of materials, including aluminum, leather and chocolate. You can use various image file types as designs or trace the cut directly on the material.

Styropyro built this insane laser weapon using eight 5-watt laser beams set up in parallel, then focused through a lens. It makes quick work of the usual targets: balloons, ping pong balls, and flash paper, but surely could do serious damage.

Watch an incredibly detailed work of art emerge from a sheet of metal at LasX Industries Inc. as it’s burned using an impressively quick computer-guided laser beam. The sound it makes is nearly as satisfying as the visuals.

This incredible tech from DMG MORI is a single machine that can create metal objects using a process called laser deposition welding, which melts a metallic powder into a desired form. It can then mill the parts to further refine them.

So you loved Karen O’Leary’s intricate handmade map but can’t afford it? CutMaps has the next best thing – a series of laser-cut maps from sheets of steel, EVA foam, or plywood. While the stainless maps are small, they’re a total bargain.

We’ve seen a laser vaporize rubber off of metal. Here’s another mesmerizing display of the beam’s mighty cleaning power. Watch as Laser Age’s machine makes grime disappear from a baking tray, leaving no residue behind.

The US Navy’s Laser Weapons System (LaWS) is a ship-mounted beam weapon. The 30kW weapon fires an invisible infrared beam that is powerful enough to take down drones and speedboats while reducing collateral damage.

The West Midlands Police shows why you should never aim a laser pointer at an aircraft. First of all, it can distract or even temporarily blind the pilot. Second, you’re literally pointing out exactly where you are.

ThinkGeek’s collar-mounted laser pointer will turn your pet into Laser Cat. Before you rub your hands and let out a maniacal laugh, just know that it could backfire. Lasers can blind you after all. Does not come with collar.

A laser pointer times 10,000, this incredibly powerful 5 Kilowatt device by TWI can be used for making quick work of metal demolition and decommissioning work. Now if we can just get one with a backpack power supply…

If you think Jaimie Mantzel’s Attacknids are cool, check out what DIY Laser Guy did to the toy robot. He attached a 5W blue laser to a Stryder Attacknid and made it so he could fire the blinding beam via remote. Pew pew at 1:05.

Want to get layers of dirt and grime off your stuff? Why not hit it with a 500-watt laser beam like these guys. To put things in perspective, the searing bright Spyder III Arctic laser has 1 watt. Not clean enough for you? Try 1000 watts.

Wicked Lasers is constantly harping on about how powerful – and dangerous – its 500mW Spyder III Krypton laser is. Well, YouTuber styropyro’s homemade laser produces a 3W beam. Watch it destroy a bunch of objects.

Engineer Amanda Ghassaei has come up with a method to use a laser cutter to create playable records using wood instead of vinyl. While the sound fidelity isn’t great, we’re still impressed that they play at all. Learn how at Instructables.