Two Lefts Don't Make A Right...But Three Do: September 2007

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Laser Cutter, A Tool of Tomorrow?

Ever watch Star Wars and wonder, wow, lightsabers are so cool !! or watch some , Iron man? and look at his laser gun and think, I wish I had a laser gun?
Well I have( not actually, i only thought that it would make a nice sentence =p ), and I used to always think that these technology won't be something I would actually get to 'see' and 'use' , until i received this email from architecture faculty. A laser cutter and I'm authorized to use it not operate it or watever, but still !! wow thats almost equivalent to a light saber.. haaha , sorry i know i'm like so .. from kampung type.. haha..

Dear All

Laser cutting services are now available to students, subject to operator availability. Students wishing to use laser cutting services should note the following:

Only trained operators are allowed to operate the laser cutter. Students wishing to use laser cutting services should send an email to the following email address >abp-lasercutteroperators@unimelb.edu.au<>

Completed jobs should be in one of the following formats AutoCAD 2000 .dwg file, Illustrator CS2 .ai file, Rhino 3 file, Corel Draw file. Other files that can be opened by Rhino version 3 may also be suitable. Entities in the file should all be set to black. Jobs should be delivered on a USB memory stick or a CD or DVD.

Only the following materials can be used in the laser cutter:

1.8mm boxboard (available from Bullwinkles),
2mm boxboard,
2.5mm mdf,
3mm mdf.

Students must provide this material themselves and it must already be cut to dimensions no larger than 45cmx81cm. At present the laser cutter is only calibrated to do vector cutting on these materials. Vector engraving and raster etching services are not available at present.

Stephen Sibanda

IT Coordinator

Architecture Building and Planning