Laser cutting prototype services

Creators & Developers
#1

I recently signed up for the developer program with the intent of designing some inexpensive laser-cutable cases for the stand alone mainboard. I’m hopeful that I get in, but if I don’t this offer still stands.

If you’re a developer producing open-source hardware for the framework and you want some laser cut stuff prototyped I will do some laser cutting at cost. I typically work with wood and leather, but I’m probably going to be ordering in some acrylic at some point in the future.

You can see some of my work here: https://traverseda.github.io/sootsStock/index.html

My day job is as a programmer at a robotics startup, I’ve also got experience with 3D printing and embedded linux.

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#2

This is really cool! I do hope you get in to the program.

#3

Thanks! I’ve got some thoughts on a pretty minimal book-shaped case that I think would look pretty good. I’d be targeting a price point of about $20-30 if I was selling it from my small shop, but of course I’d be making the files available under probably the creative commons share-alike (commercial allowed). Making it flat-pack-able should help keeping the price low.

Looking at stuff like Building a stealthy PlayStation 5... - YouTube and https://system76.com/desktops for inspiration.

There’s a lot of stuff to generate things like this: image

I’m also a fan of the living hinge they use in that. Of course thermal management and dust management is important as well. It’s an interesting set of challenges.

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#4

Is your laser cutter strong enough to cut thin aluminum sheet? I know there are places online to get this done but I’d rather keep my dollars here if you have the capability to do so.

Thanks!

#5

Really comes down to what is ‘thin’…I think.

#6

Pretty much not at all, it’s a CO2 laser so it’s in completely the wrong set of wavelengths to cut any sort of metal.