Awesome Lasers

Mega Process takes us on a tour of a factory that produces unique, high-end pens using 3D-printed metal. Merain Korea uses a selective laser sintering 3D printer to melt together thin layers of metal powder, then painstakingly deburr, clean, and plate each pen before assembly and packaging.

The latest LaserPecker is a tabletop laser engraver that can place designs on all kinds of materials, including wood, acrylic, stone, metal, ceramics, dark glass, and even food. It has both a diode laser and a pulsed fiber laser for working with different materials. With its slide module, it can engrave items up to 6.29″ x 11.81″

After explaining how cheap laser pointers can be dangerous, mad scientist styropyro said to hell with safety and built himself a super-sized green laser pointer that emits a beam that’s so intense you need welder’s goggles to be in the same room with it. At the core of the instrument is an insanely bright and hard-to-acquire laser diode.

Integrated circuits are incredible examples of miniaturization. And while the chip shown in this video doesn’t represent the kind of complexity and density found in modern processors, it still provides a fascinating look at the interior of a circuit, as its silicon is removed layer by layer with a powerful fiber laser.

Olight’s dual light source flashlight combines a bright white light with a green laser pointer. It comes in cool and neutral white versions, both with a maximum output of 1000 lumens. It has an intuitive dial control for switching modes, an easy-to-read LED charge indicator and a magnetic tail for mounting versatility.

With enough power, lasers can engrave and cut materials. In this video from WIRED, laser expert Alexander Sellite explains the physics at work as a fiber laser works its magic, vaporizing designs into sheet metal. By adjusting its scanning speed, pulse length, and power level, it can mark different metals and even create colors.

SpiderHeck is an action-packed co-op brawler where you play as a laser-wielding spider. Battle against your friends or work together to defeat an army of shared enemies as you swing from wall to wall in its dynamic and sometimes deadly environments. Coming to PC and all consoles 9.22.22.

There are a number of robotic lawnmowers on the market, but rctestflight wanted something more modern than spinning blades to cut his grass. So he set out to build a lawnmower robot with a 40-watt cutting laser in place of a blade. It works quite slowly though, and his drone motor lawnmower seems more effective.

When it comes to showing the power of small lasers, popping black balloons is one of the most effective demonstrations. With the right kind of reflector system, laser beams can be guided to hit precise targets, so they can pop numerous balloons in sequence like in this satisfying short video using a Wicked Lasers LaserCube.

We’ve seen how powerful lasers can be used to remove dirt and grime from surfaces. Flare Fabrication shows us how a tightly-focused laser can clean years of tarnish off of copper penny, and programmed the beam to perform the task with style. Watch the laser clean and embellish a dime here.

In olden times, shuffleboard was the most fun you could have on a cruise. Now it’s laser tag! Pew pew! On the very top deck on very tall Norwegian Cruise Line mega-ships! The planet’s only outdoor laser tag arenas are even awesomer than the only go-cart racetrack at sea on the same deck.

Superman and Homelander both have heat vision. Whether they use their laser eyes for good or evil, it’s quite the spectacle. Hacksmith Industries replicated heat vision in real life by building a wearable rig with high-power lasers and eye-tracking. Of course, they couldn’t resist the urge to use them to burn stuff.

Laser cutters are useful tools to have in a workshop, but they take up a lot of space. Rendyr’s Optic Laser Cutter folds up small when not in use, and its detachable cutting mat means you can cut on top of objects like tabletops for a virtually limitless work area. It has dual laser diodes totaling 15-watts and a built-in filtration system.

Real laser beams don’t behave like they do in science fiction. Instead of firing in short blasts, they appear as a single coherent beam of light. The Action Lab shows a simple way to achieve the sci-fi effect in camera using a spinning fan blade and by taking advantage of a digital camera’s rolling shutter effect.

The xTool M1 combines a cutting machine and laser engraver into a single desktop device. Its dual head lets it cut a wider variety of materials than either device alone. It’s available with 5W or 10W lasers, and the higher-power model can cut 8mm thick wood in a single pass. Its 11.8″ x 15.1″ work area is impressive for its size.

It’s pretty easy to find a car with a heads-up display these days, but not so much when it comes to bicycles. Wicked Lasers shows off a creative solution – a GPS that projects a directional arrow and distance on the ground using one of its LaserCube laser projectors. It’s like Crazy Taxi, but on a bicycle.

Rather than go with an off-the-shelf synthesizer, Edward Black Rose built his own from scrap wood. Its wooden keys make strings vibrate between a laser and a photocell, then send that signal to a software synthesizer. It’s not ideal for creating polyphonic sounds, but it’s a clever design nonetheless.

Olight’s bolt-action pen has a couple of tricks up its sleeve. In addition to its writing abilities, it has a green laser pointer and a tiny 120-lumen LED light in the top part of its barrel. It comes in black and limited edition purple and orange variants, and is also available in a bundle with the compact i3T flashlight.

The guys from TKOR assembled the largest laser pointer we’ve ever seen, wiring together 174 individual laser diodes to create a blinding green set of beams that burns holes through paper and explodes balloons. While it’s not the most powerful laser out there, it is the coolest looking. Be sure to check out the build video.

This pocketable gadget transforms any smooth surface into a touch-based keyboard. It uses a laser to project a virtual keyboard and has the smarts to detect the positions of your fingers and when you type. It connects via Bluetooth or USB and also has a piano layout for playing music using a companion smartphone app.

Wicked Lasers shows off a neat use for its LaserCube programmable laser projector and LaserOS software. By syncing up the laser’s beams with MIDI keypresses they’re able to project colorful lights onto the keys of a synthesizer, synced perfectly with the music being performed.

This compact desktop laser can cut wood, acrylic, leather, and other textiles, and the 10-watt model can engrave just about anything, including glass and aluminum, and cut through 5mm wood in a single pass. Its bed is large enough for objects up to 8.26″ x 7.48″, and an optional roller allows for engraving cylindrical objects.

Scientists from Russia’s ITMO University have developed a technique that uses lasers to create different colors on a sheet of metal. The laser is used to create oxide layers on a sheet of titanium, producing a variety of colors. The method can even be used to change or erase images multiple times. Read more in Optica.

In this video from Odd Tinkering, they took a rusty old tabletop fan and make it look as good as new. The process involved multiple stages, most notably the use of a laser cleaning machine from W2M, which burns away rust and paint without damaging the underlying metal, along with electrolysis to pull away rust from the fan’s cage.

We’ve previously seen how the musicians from Electronicos Fantasticos use laser barcode readers in their performance. In this clip from Maker Faire Tokyo 2020, one of their members shows how to make record scratching sounds using the same technique.

Standard 6-sided dice are cube-shaped. But it’s also possible to make cylindrical dice – the trick is that they spin instead of roll. Metalsmith W&M Levsha demonstrates their craft by fabricating a pair of smooth-rolling metal dice spinners, each laser-engraved with six numbers. Tiny magnets ensure they stop in the right spots.