In this series on weaponized lasers, I'll be exploring the function, operation, strength and building instructions for three basic laser weapons; CO2, Diode, and Flashlamp. These laser types are just a few of many, selected because of their simplicity and basic construction (depending on your experience).
I'm back with the third part to my laser weapon series (see part one and two), and I'll be explaining the function, application, and potential of semiconductor lasers, aka laser diodes.
You might already know a little bit about what the National Ignition Facility has been up to lately, or what they could possibly achieve. But last week, even the scientists at the Livermore, California station couldn't predict the awesome power that their humongous laser was capable of. NIF's laser is already the record holder for the world's largest laser, and now it can also claim to be the first ever 2 megajoule ultraviolet laser after it generated nearly 100 times more energy than any oth...
National Ignition Facility
If you liked the idea of cutting duplicate keys from a personal 3D printer, then you might be interested to know that researchers at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria have successfully designed the smallest 3D printer to date. The prototype device is smaller than a shoebox and weighs only 3.3 pounds. It uses stereolithography compared to the RepRap's extruding molten plastic, and it's not a self-replicating machine and costs a bit more, at nearly $1,800 each. But compare that to ...
Remember the glowing pickle? Well, here's another sci-fi food-oddity. Sounds entirely fictitious, but apparently you can make edible lasers.
In this video tutorial you will learn how to print accurate colors from within Photoshop using printer paper profiles. This trick include tips on color management. Learn to download third-party printer profiles from the Internet. Print accurate colors from within Photoshop.
I was messing around in single player, (because the server is down) when a wild idea came to my mind. To build a printer, i have seen many examples on youtube, but all of them where to complex to my understanding of redstone. The end result was simple and it could save 4 images. The printer only prints in 2 colours in white (wool) and grey (cobblestone). As you have seen in the las image above, there are 25 buttons on the wall, they are parallel to the display and you can use them to edit the...
Mad Science has entered the automatic pet feeder project as an instructable in the Make It Real challenge. Nine of the winners will receive their own 3D printer! If you are now imagining all the cool stuff we could do for Mad Science with a 3D printer, please share your ideas and vote for the entry here.
Looking for an (explosively) fun Thanksgiving project this week? Something that involves fire and lasers? Check it out. YouTube creator StyroPyro lights ten matches in 9 seconds with a modded laser. One word: Awesome. Luckily both StyroPyro and Kipkay provide HowTo's. First, How to building a burning blue/violet laser. Below, Kipkay demonstrates how to build one with a cheap Bic lighter casing (as well as store bought parts). Have fun.
Well, not just chicks. A couple LEGO dudes, too. (Oh, and a horse). All I can say is, I'm head over heels in love. With a LEGO People operated, felt tip pen printer. B3ta forum member Squirrelfantasy spent about three weeks building his LEGO printer, which uses a felt-tip pen in place of an ink cartridge.
Have you ever felt the desire to reach out and touch a galaxy? Or "feel" those stunning nebulas and planets you see in Hubble photos? As alluring as it sounds, it's safe to say the odds of your whim coming true are nonexistent. You'd have to travel about 6 earth years and spend millions of dollars building your own personal spacecraft to get close enough to actually wave your hand through one of Saturn's rings. But in an attempt to help the blind "see" what they're missing, some semblance of ...
It's hard to believe that a photo-sharing service could become as big as Instagram has. So big, in fact, that there are tons of websites, software, and products aimed at integrating it into our lives even more. Hell, you can even be Instagram for Halloween.
The mouse is the primary tool most people use for accessing their computer and the vast stores of information on the Internet. Wouldn't it be funny if instead of allowing you to click icons on the computer screen, your mouse just lit up and made noises when you pressed it buttons? Well now you can prank a friend's optical mouse and make it so. This video will show you how to do it using only a mouse, simple tools, and a light-up, noisemaking keychain cow toy. Prank an optical mouse by replaci...
Three-dimensional printing is one of the many wonders of modern technology. It's the first step towards real life Star Trek replicators and Timeline-esque teleportation chambers. While we aren't at the level of reconstructing strands of DNA, it's already possible to make tons of fun and useful designs on a 3D printer.
This brilliantly simple tutorial explains how to make a 3D laser line scanner from old junk parts. Follow along and you will be loading objects into your hard drive in no time!
How about a laser? One that is strong enough to nudge debris out of earth orbit. That's what NASA contractor James Mason wants to do, and his lab simulations suggest that the idea is possible. Mason wants to use a 5kW ground-based laser and a ground-based 1.5 meter telescope to spot potentially hazardous space waste and shove it off, by about 200 meters per day of lasering. It's kind-of like air traffic control for near earth orbit.
"Photo Grandpa" aka Fotoopa (that's photograndpa in Dutch) has created an amazing laser rig for ultra-high speed photography.
Sometimes an "analog" result is highly satisfying when the means for producing it is just the opposite. Enter Niklas Roy's "Electronic Instant Camera" project. The endeavor combines an analog black and white videocamera with a thermal receipt printer. The outcome is something in between a Polaroid camera and a digital camera. Like the olden days, the subject must sit still for a quite a while—3 full minutes—as their image is recorded and printed directly on a roll of receipt paper.
Amazing new technology by PrintDreams—pocket-sized ink jet printer with a built-in digital camera. Swipe it across the page, and you have an instant print.
While I'm waiting for artist Doug Aitken to figure out how to manufacture real clouds, this foam cloud printer will do just fine in the meantime. Demonstrated at Berlin's consumer electronics fair, IFA. Previously, MEGA 3D Printer To Create World's First Printed Building.
This video shows you how to effectively print a Photoshop image to a desktop printer. You learn how to manage settings and options for both Photoshop and the printer. Check out this tutorial created by Chris Orwig now! Print photos from Photoshop CS3.
Check out this letterpress printer made out of legos.
Introducing the National Ignition Facility. Not only is the name curiously amazing (a facility designated for the act of … combustion?), but it also happens to house the largest, most high energy laser in the world. Why would they create such a thing? To create a miniature star on Earth, with the goal to achieve fusion (re: an unlimited supply of free energy).
The possibilities are endless for 3D printing. With your very own 3D printer, you can make spare parts, circuit boards, inflatable balloons, duplicate keys, Minecraft cities, and even tiny replicas of your face. From a more artsy standpoint, you can make complex sculptures, like this cool mathematical sculpture of thirty interwoven hexagons by Francesco De Comite:
Even though the Kinect has been on the market for over a year, Microsoft's motion sensing device is far from old news. In fact, Microsoft announced at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that the Kinect for Windows hardware and accompanying software is finally arriving at the start of February. There's even an Amazon page for it already.
Instructables user lamedust expresses his odd fascination with facial hair through laser etched fingernail portraiture.
Send the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man back to the world of s'mores and hot cocoa this Halloween. This complete Ghostbusters costume from Instructables user Depot Devoid is like the real-life movie prop. You can shoot "laser" particle beams at ghosts with the Proton Pack, and capture them with the Muon Ghost Trap. There's even a set of Ecto Goggles to complete the outfit.
With the advent of 3D printers, advancements in the technology allow some truly amazing possibilities. Just a handful of examples include printable architecture, Anish Kapoor's sculptures; even Boeing uses some printed parts in the manufacturing of their airplanes.
Is your love of race cars exceeded only by your love of elaborate papercraft? Do you have easy access to industrial-size printers and a surfeit of clean cardboard? If you answered yes to all of the above, odds are you're the Seiko Epson printer corporation, who recently set about assembling an impressive 1:1-scale 3D cardboard replica of a Honda/Acura NSX Super GT race car for the 2010 Tokyo Auto Salon:
We've all tried writing with lemon juice (a.k.a. invisible ink). It's a mess. And the main draw back is definitely efficiency.
This video shows you how to add, update, and remove information in headers, footers, watermarks, and backgrounds of PDF files in Acrobat 8. You also learn how to manage options and settings, crop a PDF file, add printer marks, and adjust images. Modify PDF files in Acrobat 8.
Interested in taking a few snapshots of the likely auroras from the recent solar flare the Sun sent our way?
Starting in 1961 the FBI and an army of other non-believers, wiretapped MLK. All found nothing but gossip. No one was able to nail him with any evidence of sedition.
Nobody could predict the success of Microsoft's Kinect, not even Microsoft themselves. So, it was quite a surprise when it ended up earning a Guinness World Record for fastest-selling consumer electronics device, and an even bigger surprise to see people buying one that didn't even own an Xbox 360.
Shot with a Nokia N8 cell phone equipped with a 50x CellScope microscope, Dot is the world’s smallest stop motion animated film. Created by the makers of the Wallace & Gromit series, the figures were made with a 3D printer, each hand-painted with the aid of a microscope. Watch as the heroine hops from scene to scene, Mario style: Via PopSci:
Mike Leigh's new film is extremely well made, but if you're looking for space lasers, you are decidedly S.O.O.L. my friend.
A mass accumulation of $5 donations allowed NYC artist collective SOFTlab to install the below piece, entitled CHROMAtex, at the Bridge Gallery. The piece is constructed with each donator's name printed as a photo paper tile, laser cut and then assembled with everyday binder clips. Elegantly constructed! Previously, Elegantly Crafted Paper Chandeliers.
I begin to feel sorry for the owners of these cameras. Then I just laugh.
