You know what we could always use more of? Lasers. Maybe not for burning your eyes or scorching skin, but definitely for cutting and marking inanimate objects. If you’ve never seen a laser engraver in action before, you’ll be amazed at how quickly they can work. In fact, you can make decent images on metal in less than a minute.
This clip from Pete’s Shredder shows an engraver at work, carving out Roy Lichtenstein’s 1964 piece “Ohhh…Alright…” onto anodised aluminium.
The speed at which the beams work tricks your brain into thinking the video is sped up. It’s not. You’re watching the engraving in real-time.
Unsurprisingly, there are dedicated machines for producing very complex images with lasers. Here’s a demo from Andy Gikling, showing what sounds like the world’s most artistic laser Gatling gun.
Yep, keep your hands away from that one.
[YouTube]