Tag Archives: laser-cut

Space Invaders Wall Vent Lets Aliens Flow Freely into Your Living Room

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Personally, the idea of letting space aliens into my home makes me nervous. I’m not sure if they’d want to do some sort of invasive probing, or just cut my brain open to see what’s inside. Either way, I’d rather keep the invaders out. But if you feel at home with the idea of visitors from another planet hanging out in your space, then you might want to let them in through the air ducts.

space invaders air vent cover

These fun Space Invaders wall vent covers feature cutouts of the entire Space Invaders game field, and are laser cut from plywood by Little Big Laser Design Studio. Though you might need to move your cannon quickly, since it appears you have no defenses left. That could only mean one thing – alien dust bunnies will be coming out of your vents soon!

space invaders laser cut closeup

If you happen to live in a part of the world where wall vents are small squares, like in the UK, you’re in luck. Here in the good old U.S. of A., air registers look completely different. Though even if you don’t use this to cover up your air vents, you could always screw it to the wall and just admire it on its artistic merits. You can find one over on Etsy for £14.99 (~$23 USD) each.

Laser Cut Space Invaders Chess Set

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space invaders chess 650x392 Laser Cut Space Invaders Chess Set
Pew pew, check. Pew pew, checkmate. This is one really cool geeky 8-bit chess set with Space Invaders pieces. It’s made from laser cut acrylic with snap-in bases. The board is a two piece interlocking board, also made of acrylic. It might be a little tricky to remember which Invader is the King/Queen/Knight/Bishop/Rook but once you play a few times I’m sure it will be second nature.
laser cut space invaders chess set 650x485 Laser Cut Space Invaders Chess Set
This chess set is a fully funded Kickstarter project, so you can order a set for $40 (just the pieces) or $65 with the chessboard.

Laser Cut Space Invaders Chess Set

Space Invaders Chess Set: Pew! Check! Pew! Pew! Checkmate!

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If you’ve been following Technabob for a while, you know I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for Space Invaders, so when I saw that these guys were working on a chess set inspired by the classic arcade game, it put a big grin on my face.

space invaders chess set 1

The guys at Michigan’s NMI Laser have finally put their schmancy Epilog industrial laser cutter to good use, creating an awesome version of the invaders, adapted to the chess board. The set comes with fluorescent acrylic invaders in green and pink, and a laser-etched black game board to go with. I love their selection of aliens for each of the different chess playing pieces – especially the laser base for the King and the spaceship for the Queen.

space invaders chess set

The complete Space Invaders Chess Set will set you back $65, including both the board and the 32 invader playing pieces. Keep in mind that this is a Kickstarter project, and they need to hit their goal of $5000 by February 28 in order to go into production by April.

They’re already almost half way there, so I know you guys can make it happen! All you need to do is just drop down, reverse direction and increase speed on over to Kickstarter now to pledge your support.

Game Controller Bracelet Puts Your Wrist in Control of 9 Tiny Consoles

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If you’re a gamer and want to express your fanaticism without resorting something as obvious as a Space Invaders sweater or Game Boy tube dress, here’s something a little more subtle.

mirrored controller bracelet

These nifty laser-cut bracelets feature tiny versions of some of gaming’s greatest controllers. There’s everything from the modern classic Xbox 360 controller, to the jumbo-sized Dreamcast controller, and the classic NES and SNES gamepads. Though the original Atari 2600 controllers and Wii-mote are nowhere to be found – presumably due to their atypical shapes.

black joystick bracelet

The bracelets are made by Use Your Digits, and come in either mirrored, black, red or yellow acrylic. The bracelets measure about 9-inches-long and just over 1-inch wide. So unless you’re an Atari fanatic, you can outfit your wrist with one of these Game Controller Bracelets over on Etsy for about $36(USD). If you can’t afford that, you could always just wrap the cord from your old wired joystick around your wrist.

red joystick bracelet

Radiolaria Lets You Design Your Own Custom Organic Jewelry in Seconds

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Looking for a totally unique piece of jewelry? Well it doesn’t get more special than a piece you designed yourself. And thanks to an awesome app from the guys over at Nervous System, you can create your own earrings, necklaces and other art objects in a snap.

radiolaria app

Their Radiolaria website lets you design and preview your own jewelry and art pieces that you can construct simply by clicking a few buttons. By manipulating a grid of honeycomb-like cells, you can create a huge number of cool “bio-inspired” designs in seconds. Here are a few example designs I knocked out while writing this post:

radiolaria jewelry

And here’s a demo of Radiolaria in action:

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

Not only can you change designs and sizes, but choose from stainless steel or 24K gold-plated stainless for jewelry, and bamboo or black wool felt for trivets or other art objects. Metal items are photochemically etched out of metal, while wood and felt objects are laser-cut.

radiolaria trivets

Once you’ve created your design, you can scale it, share it and purchase it if you so choose. Prices range from as little as $7 for a really small and simple form to hundreds of dollars, depending on the size, complexity and material selected. Head on over to the Radiolaria app right now if you’d like to play with it, while there’s still time to order custom pieces for Christmas delivery.

While you’re over there, you can always check out Nervous System’s original app, which lets you design custom 3D-printed jewelry.


Laser-Cut Wood Guns Don’t Even Fire Wooden Bullets at Vampires

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There’s always been a lot of debate about whether letting kids play with toy guns was a good thing or not. Everyone has their own opinion on the subject, and I say we keep it that way. But regardless of what you think about guns, these wooden guns are unlikely to do any harm.

lazer wood uzi

In fact, Cary Chleborad’s wooden weapons are likely to stimulate the minds of those who assemble them, as each one is a fairly complex puzzle you need to build yourself. Each gun is made from dozens of laser-cut parts, and can take several hours to fully assemble. Keep in mind while they’re called “puzzles,” you’ll be gluing them together, so don’t expect to disassemble your wooden weapon when it’s finished.

laser wood beretta

They’re available in Uzi, Beretta and revolver models, and sell for $19.95(USD) over on Laserist’s Etsy shop, where you can also buy a laser-cut Humvee to go along with your guns.

laser wood revolver


Cardtorial Laser-Cut Wooden Postcards – Because Paper Isn’t Enough

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I love getting mail. Not the electronic kind, but the old-fashioned postal and physical kind of mail. Sure, it might take longer to arrive, but compare the feeling you get when you receive an actual postcard in the mail versus an e-card in your inbox.

cardtorial detail

Go up one more level and you’ve got the Cardtorial. Instead of plain cardboard, you can now send messages of love, friendship, and encouragement with laser-cut designs on certified American wood. Aside from saying how you feel through the adorable designs on the cards, you can add your own message using a marker to make it even more special.

cardtorial 1a

Its creator Yvonne Leung recently completed a successful campaign on Kickstarter to launch the cards and to fund crafting more Cardtorials for her Fall 2012 line. The campaign is closed (and all funded!) but you can still get the cards directly from her website for $10(USD) per card. For an extra $5 per card, you can also personalize them, but you’ll need to allow at least 10 extra business days for that service.

cardtorial wooden postcards 2


Mechanical Donkey Kong

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mechanical donkey kong 650x866 Mechanical Donkey Kong
What if you could bring Donkey Kong into the real world? No, not a giant ape destroying your city by throwing barrels and stealing the women- we’re talking more about making a 3D mechanical version. That’s what MS Raynsford did using a laser cutter and an arduino controller (ok, maybe a few more parts than just those two). While the original plan was to have a pretty close to fully working game, due to time constraints what was made is a simplified game. But still cool.

As you can see in the video, all poor Mario does is jump over the barrels (actually steel balls) that Donkey Kong is rolling down the ramps, but the essence (and certainly the look) of the game is there. Pieces of clear plastic keep the balls from rolling off the ends of each girder. What’s interesting though is that the game is being played through the NES and NES control pad. Sure it’s not doing too much but this is only V1, he expects version 2 to be fully controllable. Can’t wait to see that, then it will be on like Donkey Kong. (via hacked gadgets)

Mechanical Donkey Kong


The Tufrack, For When The Rack Has To Be As Tough As The Bikes It Carries

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It’s not that there’s anything wrong with regular bike racks, but some people are really into appearances. Driving a Hummer? That’s you. That’s alright though, we don’t judge, we’re just recognizing some realities of life. And if you enjoy interspersing your driving around in a giant hulk of metal with occasional rides on self-propelled vehicles, like a bicycle, you might want to match your accessories. The Tufrack is made from MIG welded, laser cut, powder coated 16-gauge steel, and is yet 25% lighter than the competition’s tray style racks. It’s also modular, meaning you can add numerous racks inline as needed. Tufrack guarantees it to be indestructible, but indestructible is not cheap: $199 per rack.

[ Product Page ] VIA [ Werd


Synthesizer Necklace Incapable of Playing a Bad Note

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Girls with style who also happen to enjoy the sound of electronic music will love this necklace, done up to look just like a tiny synthesizer. While it doesn’t actually play a tune, it still looks awesome.

synthesizer necklace

The mini synthesizer necklace is made by Jen Murse of plastique. It’s laser-cut from various bits of acrylic, layered together to form the complete keyboard shape. What I really love about this thing is just how much depth it has. The keys and levers actually have real dimensionality to them, and if my fingers were small enough, I’d want to try and play with them.

For those of you interested in picking one of these up for yourself or your significant other, the necklace measures about 2.7″ wide by .75″ tall by .3″ thick, and ships on an 18″ gold plated chain. You can also request different chains, but that will affect the price. The keyboard necklace is going for just $50 (USD) over on Etsy.