large_format_laser_cutter

If anyone is interested I designed a 60 inch by 78 inch large format laser cutter that can be built for a couple hundred bucks, designed for cutting fabrics for sewing. It is an ultra low cost design, and it can be built in a way that essentially takes up no extra space in your apartment, because the gantry is removable and the bed is a thin sheet of plywood which you can cover with a rug when the system is not in use. The concept works but in my case the gantry gets a bit sticky and I lose steps, so it needs to be refined. However I have basically abandoned the project. I would love for people to use it as inspiration for future versions: https://github.com/tlalexander/large_format_laser_cutter I never finished making the youtube video for it, but I have a partially completed video that lacks a voiceover or proper edits for the second ha

I guess this is a good place to share my open source large format laser cutter design for sewing projects. It’s cheap to make, works pretty well, and the whole gantry assembly slides right off leaving just a sheet of plywood with low profile 3D printed rails on the sides. So I throw my rug over it and it becomes my floor when not in use. Important because the laser cutter can cut a full 60” wide piece of fabric two yards long. It’s basically 5 foot by 6 foot, and I don’t have space in my apartment for a dedicated machine that takes up all that space. But since this doubles as my floor it works great! Also includes a raspberry pi camera on the laser head which serves as a pattern scanner. I really want to finish my video on this thing, I’ve just been busy. But please take a look and considering building it! If you have any questions open a

I obsess over this concept. I am a robotics engineer and my dream is local manufacturing with small DIY machines. But it's a lot of work! When I have a little more time I want to teach community robotics classes and build machines that makes shoes and hot food and other important goods, designed and built as a community. I designed a cheap large format laser cutter [1][2] and now I am designing shoes that can be made with a 3D printer, the laser cutter, a sewing machine, and some basic tools. [3] [1] https://twitter.com/TLAlexander/status/1480332181285212160 [2] https://github.com/tlalexander/large_format_laser_cutter [3] https://twitter.com/TLAlexander/status/1489519692712538113