The LASER Obsession Continues...

"Meh" cut from a vinyl record
Art/photo by beckybutton

We’ve done it before.  We’ve started with less.  And we’re doing it again.  Let’s get a LASER cutter for the hackspace!  We’re going to do this much the same way we raised money for our 3D printer.  This time, we've got the technical skills to save us a lot of money on our end goal.

Instead of raising $1600 dollars for a finished product, we can now simply raise $850 to buy the materials to build a complete CNC LASER cutter. Check it out here.  We will build this with these plans, this stage, the seasoned EE knowledge of Jesse, and a $400 laser.  Both he and I believe the project can be completed under $800.  Our goal is to hit $850 to cover the costs of shipping and maybe some silly extra tools if we need them (like metric Allen wrenches).  Thanks to Jeff at Action TrackChair, We already have $300 and we've JUST started campaigning.

Last time, we raised $650 in the first four months!  We were well on our way to getting our 3D printer when Lulzbot simply gave us one for our efforts and excitement. Here is the results chart we used for the 3D printer.  We hope to have the money to do this by September of next year.  If you think you can pledge the money to make this happen, send a check to 302 N. Last Chance Gulch STE #340  Helena MT 59601.  You can also pledge with Paypal or credit card by going to http://mthackers.com/ and clicking the “Donate” button in the lower right-hand corner of the site.  We have created a separate account for this project.  We will probably have the funds to build this before September.  If we don’t, we’ll refund your money.  We would use Kickstarter for this project… but it goes against their policy and i don’t mind doing the work for the extra 5% fee.  We can do a Kickstarter for creative inventions.

Now we are working to get the funds for a LASER cutter.  Here are some cool things you can make with a LASERcutter:

http://architizer.com/blog/laser-cutting/

More importantly: The cost of laser cutting is roughly equal to the cost of the material being cut +15cents an hour of cutting.  The cost of 3D printing is between $8-$15 a pound.

Shout back your support of this project so we can start building a funding ladder to our goal!  How much would you be willing to chip in to see a LASER cutter at MEH?  How interested are you in helping us campaign for funding?  How would you use a LASER cutter?

I’ll send this out to ~700 people towards the end of this month.  If you see typos or would like to reword parts of it, get me the revisions by the 25th.  If you would like to help out by some other means, contact me with your solutions; I will do my best to route you to other passionate minds.  Our hackspace continues to grow in its capacity to help find talent, equipment, and space for you and your projects.  Soon we will have a CNC LASER cutter to further that purpose.


UPDATES SINCE NOV 20th:
I had a hard time finding a laser. This really isn't my area of expertise. I was finding prices between $1000 and $2000. Jesse found some better pricing for the laser: 

China $200 + free shipping
link­

USA $269 + shipping
link­

We are over a third of the way already! Action TrackChair has donated $300 to our cause.  They make electric wheelchairs with powerful off-road treads.  I'm sure we will use this device for interesting and useful things.
You can now check out our funding chart at 
This link­

SaintMeh@gmail.com