An experiment in using the laser cutter for photo etching. First, convert the photo to gray-scale / desaturate and crop.
Original Photo & Grayscale Conversion
Then – print to the laser cutter, using the settings for mat board.
Laser Cut Photo Etch – Final Effect (Printed on Black Mat Board)
I wanted to see how different materials respond to the laser cutter, so I attempted to cut a press fit mammoth out in 1/8″ acrylic.
I must need to tweak the laser cutter settings. I was not successful. The laser did not cut all the way through most of the acrylic and most of the pieces would not pop out or broke on me. I will revisit this project after adjusting the laser cutter settings.
Today I began participating in pilot year of the Fab Academy program at AS220 Labs. The Fab Academy is based on the MIT course MAS.863 – How to Make (Almost) Anything and provides instruction in the mechanisms, applications, and implications of digital fabrication. I am starting a semester late, so I will be working on the current assignment while making up the first semester.
