From the ARA International Awards Market in Las Vegas, Epilog Laser, the leading producer of CO2 and fiber laser engraving, cutting and marking systems today announced the release of the Zing 24 Laser Rotary Attachment. The highly-anticipated accessory makes the Zing 24 a popular choice for those seeking entry-level systems capable of engraving cylindrical-shaped items.
“The Zing 24 continues to raise the bar for entry-level laser engraving equipment,” said Mike Dean, director of sales and marketing for Epilog Laser. “The availability of this desirable accessory will allow small businesses and hobbyists to accomplish the same goals as larger, more expensive systems. It will allow engravers to greatly expand their product line and in turn, their profit potential.”
The Zing 24 Rotary Attachment was designed with productivity and ease-of-use in mind. Operators can switch from one item to the next in seconds, without removing the attachment from the engraver. Additionally, the attachment allows for accurate image scaling, so there’s no need to input diameter or circumference calculations.
Cylindrical items such as flashlights, glasses, vases and mugs have always been popular items for customization, and highly profitable for engraving shops. The new attachment for the Zing 24 Laser was engineered to be user-friendly and allows business owners to not only offer more to customers, but to maintain throughput while doing so.
The Zing 24 Rotary Attachment can accommodate items up to 5.25 inches (133.4 mm) in diameter and is now available from Epilog Laser. For more information visit www.epiloglaser.com.
So, an entry-level system is now capable of marking cylindrical items like mugs, flashlights, wine bottles, shot glasses, beer mugs, all that. Good stuff for a small biz to pay for itself.
Using a 35W Epilog mini, 60% power 100% speed. The beans should be placed in some sort of soft holding bed both to even them out as well as to stop the air assist from moving them. We used lentils and eventually made a jig with cardstock to mass produce the beans.
If you’ll recall, some months ago we held a little competition for readers to submit artwork destined for laser-etching on the backsides of Amazon’s Kindle. After everyone voted on the top five out of the mountain of selections, we took the gaggle of readers down to our friends at Adafruit Industries (headed up by the lovely and delightful Limor Fried and Phil Torrone) for some time under the laser. While we were there getting our etch on with their massive laser, we convinced Limor and Phil to show off some of the other crazy kit they’ve got in the labs — and we’ve captured it all on film… er, video. Take a look at our excursion into the world of dynamic DIY’ing — we think you’ll like what you see.
We posted some additional photos of the etched Kindles here – and you can also view the Engadget show M4V here…
We started this project looking at some of the interesting variations amongst common fonts. Blowing them up to this size lets you start to see those differences more clearly than usual. Cutting them out as tangible forms takes it a step further– you can feel the curves. Also, they make pretty good coasters.
My grandfather used to make portable stools from a couple of thin pieces of wood that tied together with a simple string. Growing up we usually had a couple of these “tie stools” conveniently stashed around the house, and we always got them out for backyard barbecues and took them with us when we went camping.
Although my woodworking skills are nowhere near what my grandfather’s were, we’ve been inspired by that stool to play around with making small, lightweight furniture that can be disassembled, stacked flat and tied together for easy transport. My first try was pretty wobbly, and felt like a little twist would splinter it. A couple of revisions later, I have a reasonably sturdy stool that is held together with a nylon strap. The leg pieces are notched on the sides so that when they are stacked together, the strap on the seat piece can be used to hold all the pieces together. There are handles cut into the leg pieces as well for easy carrying.
The votes are in, dear readers, and you’ve spoken loud and clear: from our original 23 finalists, your votes have boiled it down to five well-deserved winners who’ve clearly put time, effort, thought, determination, and old-fashioned elbow grease into their designs for gracing the metal back of Amazon’s 6-inch Kindle.
So what happens next? We’ll be working with winners and coordinating with the good folks at Adafruit Industries to turn these designs into reality thanks to some insanely high-powered precision lasers — picture that scene in Goldfinger where the film’s namesake tries to cut 007 in half to get an idea of just how high-powered we’re talking about here — and rest assured, we’ll be posting plenty of pictures as they come out of the workshop! Follow the break for the lucky five (presented in order with the most votes first).
A huge word of thanks to Amazon, Adafruit Industries, everyone who submitted entries, and the voters who figured out where these Kindles belong!
Our Kindle contest that we’re running in cooperation with our good friends at Adafruit Industries and Amazon has drawn to an epic conclusion, and there’s simply no other way to put it — we’re blown away. We received literally dozens upon dozens of incredible, art gallery-worthy entries and it was all but impossible to narrow them down to a group of finalists — but after an entire weekend of mulling, debating, and hand-wringing, we’ve done the dirty work and narrowed it down to a group of just twenty-three. Now, dear readers, the fate of five Kindles lies in your hands and your hands alone. The laser awaits.
So here’s what we need from you: pick your favorite by 11:59PM ET on Monday, August 3rd. That’s it. We’ll take the five top vote-getters and award each with a 6-inch Kindle engraved with their design — and of course, we’ll post pictures of the finished products before they go out to their lucky owners.
Follow the break to see the entries (which you can click to see in larger form). Below each design, you’ll see a number — these correspond to numbers in the poll, which you’ll find directly below the entries. Just choose your favorite by number and we’ll take take care of the rest.
Good luck, contestants — and good luck picking from all of these amazing entries, readers!
We were recently contacted by a mathematics instructor, who suggested that it might be interesting to have a program like Snowflake, but with the option of picking and choosing different symmetry properties. Natural snowflakes have (approximate) sixfold rotation symmetry plus reflection symmetry. However, a lot of things that you can draw by hand have absolutely no resemblance to snowflakes at all– and it is somewhat fun to explicitly play with the rules. Our new program, SymmetriSketch, sticks to the same basic design principles as Snowflake: it’s cross platform, open source, and able to export a true vector drawing with a closed path. However, SymmetriSketch is a much more flexible program that allows you to play with different symmetries, and create all kinds of different things that would never be mistaken for frozen water.
Reading isn’t just about the text that you’re reading, it’s an intimately personal experience in every sense of the word — the way the book feels, the crease of the pages, the wear on the cover, it’s all totally unique to your copy at the time that you’re reading it. Put simply, it’s an experience no one else will ever have. Between three models, dozens of accessories, and countless e-books, no two Kindles are alike, either — but Engadget has partnered with Amazon and the DIY experts over at Adafruit Industries to hook up five extraordinarily lucky readers with truly unique reading devices. These guys are the laser etching experts — see one of the Kindles they’ve done here!
Here’s the deal: we’re asking you to think of a design that would look great on the Kindle’s brushed metal back — something that means a lot to you, something that’ll make passers-by drool with envy when you casually hold up your new toy while reading The Economist from the comfort of your train, plane, or bus seat. Draft up that design (seriously, make sure it’s awesome, because you’ll be facing some stiff competition) and send it to us. We’ll post some of our favorites and hand the reigns over to you — our dear readers — to select five finalists who will have their designs laser-etched into reality on the backs of their very own Kindles!
George W. Hart is a professor at Stony Brook and is one of our favorite artists, making a wide variety of stunning geometric sculptures. On his of his many works that has particularly captivated us for some time is a sculpture called Frabjous.
When we realized that George had posted a template for this sculpture we dropped everything, grabbed the cardboard and hot glue, and raced to build our own.
You’ll need papercraft type building materials: Paper, cardstock, or cardboard, and tape or glue. Also good scissors and/or a hobby knife with sharp blades. You can also build this with wood, plastic, or other materials, of course, but cardstock and cardboard are inexpensive and effective. Hot glue also proved to be excellent, providing sufficient strength and flexibility, and good working time.
You can download the PDF template for Frabjous on its web page.
I have one of those USB-based logic analyzers that needs Windows software to make it go. I had been doing Windows-in-a-window with VMWare, but it’s kind of a pain. If I were to use a real Windows laptop, I’d need a shelf or something for it. I wanted it above my oscilloscope, which meant a laptop stand that was taller and wider than most. Time for the laser cutter!
