Learn Make Share
This week we have to develop a plan for dissemination of our final project
My idea of making a desktop laser engraver came from the RepRap project, I think that what happens with the 3D printers can be applied to every single fabrication method.
And I chose a laser cutter simply because the fact that a good one costs 20.000 euros is a huge problem ,especialy when we inspect what's really in it!
So I wanted to have an idea of what it could cost in money and time to make one.
And start preparing the FABLAB 2.0
I came up with a functionnal project, but for the moment it can only be used by me, simply because I am using a homemade firmware and a board that is not intended for what I'm using it.
So a development option would be to work in collaboration with other people in Fablabs to try to develop the project in order to make it universal, so that anyone could use it.
The goal is to have a desktop laser engraver entirely made in a FABLAB, and ultimately a real laser cutter (>40W)
Because obviously all the structural and mechanical parts can already be made in the FABLAB (that's my project) but what if one could make everything? From the laser tube, the mirrors (Plasma sputtering) to the main board!
My project is dedicated to makers, and especialy people in Fablabs, and that is why I chose to make it in a Fablab, with the tools of the Fablab.
It could also be adressed to non-makers that just want to use it, I would need to think how to produce some units if I wanted to do that.
The project will be covered with a GPLV3 licence under the name Desklaser1.0. If I wanted to generate some income I would need to change a bit the goal of the project. My point is to give some ideas and propose a final design for a desktop laser engraver based on the RepRap project.
So just as we can find RepRap kits to buy on the Web, I could adapt my project so it could be distributed in the same way.
For this, I would need to identify each one of the components that the kit would include and try to make them all as cheap as possible!
I would also need to make a board just like the ramps 1.6 but made for laser engravers.
Because while you can already find cheap laser kits on the web ,the problem is that they are really bad quality, and the users needs to have some computing and electronic skills,because instructions are almost non-existent, so if I wanted to generate some income I would need to come up with a better kit, better user guidelines and a good software in English.
Thus, the motivation for this project is to show that 3D printing is not the only machine you can replicate, and that there is no better way to understand how a machines work than making them!
This project even changed the way I see and use "normal" laser cutters.
So what I truly hope, is that my work will be usefull to others, that's why I chose this licence.And I would consider it my biggest success if anyone using my work would let me know about it !
I have a lot of interest in the FABLAB 2.0 idea: Let's stop buying machines, we can make those too!
So this project is just another example of what I think is the future of Fablabs.