Portable Laser engraving machine

The story

one of our friends came to icealex; she said I wanna build a portable laser engraving machine for traditional craftsmen to use so that they could add value to their handmade and traditional garments.

The laser cutter should have the following features:

Open source Hardware and Software

Low cost

Can be built on Do It Yourself basis

Another version is build as a professional product for sale and sustainability

Easy to use even for computer illiterate users and through mobile phones.

To be built using the resources in the fablab specifically the laser cutter, the power tools and the CNC milling.

We, at icealex, liked the idea very much as this project:

Helps local craftsmen: it adds value to their products and widen their minds to new creative and artistic ideas that is possible in the digital age.

Innovative: Portable laser cutter, used through a light easy to use mobile application (even if it’s low quality Chinese smart phone the type that is spread among the craftsmen).

Very useful and beneficial to the team working on it: in terms of innovation:

There is lots of challenges a head and unexplored areas and ideas in terms of software, electronics and mechanics.

and collaboration:

This project is a multidisciplinary project that gathers Engineers and makers from different backgrounds with interactive and products designers all those working together with artists and craftsmen. This enriches the experience and get us into areas and challenges that were never tackled before. This also enables the teammates to exchange knowledge and experience.

Thus, this project met icealex’s criteria for incubated projects.

We started and as always you start with gathering a team, this is something we strongly believe in at icealex is that the first step toward achieving a successful project start up or business is gathering the right team and to do that we built a facebook event and a group for the project here

The most important aspect we look for in team members is not background or experience but rather commitment and passion toward the project

DIY portable laser cutter RISHA (rishalaser.org)

– function:

the aim of the laser cutter is to provide a digital engraving / cutting system that is portable and easy to use.

Steps:

Using ready made drawings either hand drawn or digital the files are converted using desktop or mobile application

adjusting the design position, size and cutting or engraving parameters using the machine interface