Ouch my eye!

Today is an exciting day, my dream of having an industrial laser cutter could be within reach!

First, A little history.

About two years ago I came across the hacker space community, and found Hacklab here in Toronto. One of the big attractors to me for to the space was that they had an industrial laser that they had bought and then refurbished. It’s an old Universal Laser Systems [ULS] unit that they found on Craigslist for around $500. The electronics were fried, but the laser, optics, and mechanicals were sound. So being the resourceful hackers they are, they made their own electronics and got the thing up and running. You can read more about it here on the hacklab blog with more detail here on Andrew Kilpatrick’s Blog.  I was totally inspired when I saw this, and immediately started trolling craigslist and kijiji for similar deals. Sadly, in two years of casual searching I didn’t come across any deals. I pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I would never find such a deal. In the meantime I found myself using the labs laser for a number of projects, including several for work, which has only strengthened my resolve for having my own cutter, even if I have to build one from scratch.

And that brings us to today…

Paul, one of the hacklab founders forwarded this message the lab received to the members list:

———- Forwarded message ———-
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 10:23:06
From: Brandon
To: hacklab.to
Subject: Donating Partial Laser Cutter

Message Body:
Hey,

I am the new Technical Director at [a really cool company] and we’ve got an old ULS laser cutter here that we figured you might want. The electronics and laser seem to be in fine shape, but the stepper motors and cutting enclosure have been extremely melted due to a fire years ago so will likely need to be replaced or repaired.

We don’t have the time or the inclination to actually fix the unit, but figured that it would be an excellent project for a local hackerspace. If you’re interested in taking it, feel free to give us a call at (416)???-???? and ask for Brandon.

Cheers,
Brandon
———- End Forwarded message ———-

Could this be it? Have I finally come within reach of having my own laser-cutter?  A new one at $12,000+ is way out of my budget, and the cheap Chinese lasers on eBay look too sketchy for me to even consider. So a deal like this is really my only chance [short of designing/building my own from scratch].  When I saw this message in my inbox, I just knew I had to go for it. I sent a reply to the list saying that I will take it, if the lab does not want it. I haven’t seen any other takers yet, so I hope I’m not too late to the game. It has been 4 days since the message was posted and it is free after all!