Now introducing the L-CHEAPO laser cutter! If you have a 3D printer or CNC mill, you can easily add a laser to it. It can cut wood, most plastics, paper products, and engrave most materials except metal.
Introducing L-CHEAPO
Got a 3D printer? Want to work with something you can’t melt? Burn through it! With a friggin’ laser. L-CHEAPO is a low cost laser cutter that can cut 1/8″ wood and plastic, and engrave most nonmetallic materials. It lives on top of a 3D printer or CNC mill, and does not get in the way of using the tool normally — you can switch from laser to printer mode and vice versa in less than two minutes with no tools. Any hobby grade 3D printer will work, as will most CNC mills.
What We Need & What You Get
If I have enough pre-orders, I will put the schematics, wiring diagrams, and mechanical drawings on my website and open the design under a noncommercial open license. If I reach the goal early, I will ship early: this is a finished and tested design already!
You can get a laser cutter module from me, or have me use it to engrave or cut something for you, so you can see how well it works. Once this succeeds, there will be bigger lasers…
The Impact
Laser cutting requires a significant initial investment, but opens up a lot of making possibilities — laser-cut parts are tougher than 3D printer parts, for example. With this device, the initial dollar investment goes from thousands to hundreds. The module also requires very little space.
I hope that this allows high school shop classes, small universities and local hackerspaces to be able to work with a wider variety of materials and techniques. Show this to people who may have a use for it! (Remember to never look into laser aperture with remaining eye). Please share this campaign with family and friends to help us reach our goal. Thank you!
