So we have an inside joke around here when it comes to chore oriented projects. I’ll ask Cameron how the shop clean up is coming (you guys didn’t see it before he prepped for the laser build) and he’ll tell me he’s “making progress”. It didn’t take me too long to modify my query to “are you making progress I can see” or “ is this progress visible to the naked eye?” Cameron is a planner and tends to think for a long time about how something should be done where I’m a doer, I jump in and mostly figure it out as I go-except for when I really SHOULD have spent more time thinking and then I sheepishly ask Cameron, The Great Unfuckinator, who heroically bails me out of every corner I paint myself into. I’ve learned a lot from him in 17 years so it happens less and less these days but it’s always a humdinger when it happens. As a side note, Cameron plants his sword on the hill of “this IS progress that is visible, you, Dana, just can’t see it.” So that’s a little context for what comes next.

Alignment and tensioning of the belts of the gantry is much of what happened today. It is not progress you can SEE but it is essential to the precision with which this machine will move once it’s operational. I have a couple of videos below, courtesy of Jonathan Frost who is the creator/designer of the Rezo laser, that convey the importance of investing time and careful attention into these adjustments. You’ll see that Jonathan’s laser rocks; consider while watching that a laser is very focused fire. The speed and precision with which his machine cuts the most delicate lace out of paper boggles my mind. You’d think that a super hot fire would char that paper to flaky bits but instead, it renders a flawless, nearly gossamer shape. Maybe he will share his settings he used on that cut with me someday; I love making custom greeting cards for friends and family and can think of a zillion ways to bring cheer to folks using his technique!

Next, Jonathan shared a video of his Rezo engraving wood. Can you say custom charcuterie boards with me???

As you can see, the tension on the belt that the laser head travels on has to be just right to render such crisp results at such lightening speeds. So this “progress we can’t see” will certainly be visible and essential once the laser is operational. I. CAN’T. WAIT!!!

A big thank you to Jonathan for sharing his videos; this is heresy for an English major-they convey what words cannot!

Something else that happened today was the inventorying of more parts for the next phase of the build. The photo below is of some of the electronic components that Cameron will razzle dazzle into something that communicates with the software that will run the laser. There are also ball screws and drive belt that will move the honeycomb bed up and down (materials must be within certain distances of the laser head to cut cleanly), the mount for the laser tube, and tubing for the chiller along with safety glasses.

With that, the four day weekend concludes and it’s back to the day job for Cameron. The blog will return next weekend with reports of more progress. Thank you for your interest and enthusiasm; we are excited!