RepRap: Blog

In the never-ending battle between man and fly, the flies have the edge in manoeuvrability and speed. What you need is a system that takes them down first time, every time. The Flyblaster 3000 (not TM, no patent pending) brings you that capability by combining the latest in laser technology with the most effective non-chemical anti-fly system available.

Simply use this reprapped fixture to clamp a cheap 12mm diameter laser pointer onto a spring-loaded flyswatter with an M3 bolt and watch your winged insect problems fly out of the window.

Design of a RepRappable spring-loaded flyswatter is left to the diligent student.

Full diagrams for the clamp will be available when I can edit the Items Made page :)

Vik :v)

Labels: flyswatter, laser

I have something to do while my RepRap is out of action. Toby Borland has done a wonderful design of the RepRap which is meant to be cut on 4mm plywood. He has kindly released the
source, and I've converted an early version of it to the EPS format used by Ponoko on their laser cutting and vending service. We're putting the files up there for free use; we're not taking a cut. Ahah.

I've put up the plywood parts separately to the thick acrylic bed; I'll experiment with a 9mm MDF base but it might be too thin. Toby has since sent me some fixes for the plywood parts - already in EPS format - which I'll work in and scale according to how well the first batch of Ponoko parts fit. The files need optimising to reduce the cutting cost (mostly removing double-cut lines) too. Until that's done, the design should be regarded as pre-alpha and non-functional. As it stands, the ply seems to be slightly thicker than 4mm, so a lot of parts don't fit together properly. Oh yeah, I did muck up the scaling in a few places too - mostly ones that matter!

Prepare for strike two, and props to Ponoko for their support.

Vik :v)

Labels: laser, plywood, ponoko, reprap