Fantastic idea! I think I can run a more rudimentary version on my Epilog as it is now. I might just have to run a few separate jobs with some focus jigs. Truly inspiring! To those who call this a waste of material, you can use smaller sheets of acrylic to make your items, and you can use the leftovers for other, possibly flatter, things. Would you call it a waste of butter if you had a recipe that calls for 1/4 of a stick? No, you'd keep the rest of the butter and use it for something else.
Great question :). We are currently working on an Illustrator plugin that provides the necessary tools for creating bends, suspenders etc. However, this needs more work and we will upload it when we are done.
These are alternatives. You can either use the CAD interface and draw on your computer screen _or_ use the interactive fabrication interface and draw directly on the workpiece. Sorry, we should have made this more clear in the video. Hope my answer helps to clarify this.
LaserOrigami is part of my dissertation under the supervision of Prof. Patrick Baudisch at the Human Computer Interaction Lab at Hasso Plattner Institute. We have more awesome projects on our website (link is in the video description). Thanks :).
thanks! great idea with the fixtures. For angles other than 90 degrees we currently either use a motor or a third hand (you probably know this from soldering things) that holds the workpiece at a certain angle.
Our focus is on expanding what DIY laser cutters can do today. With DIY I mean the typical machine a FABlab would own. But thanks for the hint, it's definitely interesting to also think into this direction, but in a different context.
All materials that get compliant when heated up can be used (in other words: all thermoforming materials) and they need to have a transition temperature low enough so that it can be reached by the power of a regular laser cutter. For acrylic the transition temperature is around 110-130 degree. For glass it's much higher so I don't think it can be reached by a normal laser cutter.
It's all about heating the acrylic to a point where it gets compliant. If your laser cutter can reach this temperature mainly depends on the power of the laser. I mainly worked with 1.5mm, but also tried 3mm once.
I use 1.5mm translucent acrylic. LaserOrigami is as efficient in terms of material as normal lasercutting. Only for the video I placed the objects in the middle of the plate and used a new plate for every video segment. Of course you can position it differently ;).
Not sure I get your point. For the video I put the lasercut object in the middle of the acrylic plate so its easier to see and I used a new plate for each video segment. But in general all material that is used goes directly into the final object, so its as efficient in terms of material as normal lasercutting.
This is a laser cutter from universal laser systems (PLS6.150D). Prices vary, so I think the best thing is you send them a price request on their webpage. There are also smaller and larger laser cutters available. Also other companies sell them, such as Epilog and Trotec. Our laser cutter techniques should work with any laser cutter model that has a movable motion table (z-axis).
I don't get your point. LaserOrigami works _without_ fingerjoints and that's why it doesn't need any manual assembly. The frame in the video you refer to shows the two alternatives to achieve 3d objects: 3D printing and lasercutting with fingerjoints.
Thanks! Yes, this is a CHI 2013 fullpaper and will be released in May. I will be happy to send you a prerelease version. Just email me (my webpage link is in the video description).
Universal Laser cutter machines are great i have use to one myself and its awesome make sure you clean your mirrors and reflecting mirrors or it looses power also got a gravograph 900lx
I haven't seen laser cutters which will change the z depth while cutting which you show in 1 : 40. Amazing work I should give it a try in school laser cutters
True that. My personal belief is that having to "look something up" in 2013 isn't exactly the chore it was a couple decades ago, so there should be no excuse for ignorance anymore.
Yes you are right, but most people wouldn't know what Kirigami is without looking it up. And if you are really picky, you could even say that "gami" means paper and therefore it doesn't make sense at all since the system only works with thermoforming materials ;). However, we picked this name to be descriptive so people will quickly understand what the system can do (things that can be folded) and what not (e.g. spherical shapes).
We think of the LaserOrigami mechanism as a replacement for finger joints. Instead of connecting two edges with finger joints one could also use an automated LaserOrigami bend. Making a perfect tube is not possible to my knowledge, but I guess one could make a rough approximation of it.
A strip heater is operated manually. You need to cut the workpiece with the laser cutter, then take it out, go to the strip heater and do the rest. LaserOrigami is about getting rid of manual effort and automating the process. Also with a strip heater the plant holder at the end of the video would not be possible.
There is no wasted material. I only used the big sheets for the demo, so that you can see it better in the video. You only need as much material as the object shape requires (think: using a heatgun). You can position the object freely on the plate.
Great work nicely shot. Thanks for posting that. I realy cannot understand the negative comments. If people want to moan about a waste of materials etc they should go count the yachts in the bay.
At 2:30 there was a small machine that rotated the part. I was wondering what the ball barrings in its botton were for. My first thought was weighing it down but then I thought that the machine must but fixed in place if the laser is going to give precise cuts. Very cool video and Machine. Thumbs way up
So if you need to have multiple edges bend at the same time, how does the laser handle all of them at once so it doesn't warp? Are you planning on adding lasers for more complex designs? This is pretty awesome
LaserOrigami should work with any laser cutter available on the market. We use a Universal Laser Systems Lasercutter (Model: PLS6.150D). I think ours has 100 Watts.
is it simply heating the plastic and that is what is allowing it to bend with the gravity or it is slicing it thinner until it bends? I'm curious at to how this is achieved because of both have entirely different strength properties at the creases. Really innovative process.
Impressive, I never considered using the laser in this way. Have you considered adding a fixture under the acrylic to allow you to generate angles other than 90 degrees?
I'm currently working on a small tutorial to explain the different steps. In short: Use a lens with a short focal length to make sure it defocuses quickly. I use: 1.5 Lens from ULS, power: 40%, speed: 30%, z: 50mm. But this heavily depends on your laser. For details go to my webpage, click on the LaserOrigami link and scroll all the way down (still work in progress).
This is a laser cutter from Universal Laser Systems (PLS6.150D with a 1.5 lens). But every lasercutter that has a platform that can be moved up and down should work.
I have access to the same ULS laser you're using here. Can you tell me what settings are being used to do the "bends"? It appears to be fast at low power, but I'd rather not waste a lot of material trying to figure out those settings. Can you help?
Sehr beeindruckend! Das lässt nicht nur Leuten mit Lasern als Hobby das Herz höher schlagen (weniger Montage!), sondern auch öffnet auch interessante Aspekte im Bereich der Technik. Heutzutage sind ja selbst hochintegrierte Schaltungen auf Folien und dergleichen möglich, da wäre das "selberbiegen" und "strecken" ein interessanter Schritt für MID. Da könnte man ja quasi Formgebung nach Bestückung machen! Ein Hoch aufs Rapid Prototyping, DIY und ich wünschte, das gäbe es auch an unserer Uni! (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg) Wobei ich mich frage, ob man spezielles Programm oder Equipment braucht, oder das mit Epiloglaser und Visicut auch erreichbar wäre?
It only heats up the material until it gets compliant and bends down under the forces of gravity. There is no etching involved. Think of the process being similar to using a heatgun.
Hi, your job is great and very interesting, I would like to have a small question : why do you have the step 2 : interactive fabrication. I think step 1 is enough since you have the drawing-> you have the coordinate
Impressive, I'm trying it with my laser cutter bu I cannot manage not to have any trace on the material. Can you tell me what are your settings for power, speed and defocus?
Sehr cool! Ich hätte noch eine Frage: Wie groß darf das Verhältnis Kantenlänge/Fläche maximal sein, damit die Schwerkraft ausreicht um es richtig hinzubiegen?
It really looks like your design capabilities would be very limited. Can it make spheres or workable moving parts? I do really love the clear material.
Really interesting. I previously used the unfocus effect + multiple pass to achieve rounded edges similar to mould and to "groove" various depth and width but never thought of using this to bend. Even if limited this has good applications for small series of small items like the holders you demonstrated. I downloaded you paper and your slides. But the slides archive seems to be corrupted. Are you thinking of going a step further and bringing this to the market? Are your libraries of examples available ? Thanks in advance
This is interesting, but I don't understand the point. What are the advantages of this compared to a 3d printer? Speed on a very limited number of projects, with very little versatility? I don't own either and I don't mean to offend, I'm genuinely curious.
Sorry if it is posted somewhere else, but I did not see what type of laser you are using....could you please let me know and maybe the cost, power, and such?....Thank you.
Whats the name of that cutter? ;) And when u "bend" the material do u only go with same power over the same line all the time until the result is what u want? :P
I put a 3x in the top left corner when I sped up the video in the full-length examples. The rest is real time. So just multiply the different parts by a factor of three.
Awesome!! I have a helix epilog, can I that with it? How do you control the focus on the laser? I'll love to do it. We work with schools and kids from vulnerable populations, they will love it
this method appears less precise and more elaborate than necessary. what is the benefit of using the laser and gravity to bend acrylic rather than using a traditional hot wire and your hands? i honestly can't think of any. beyond the trivial problems of pen holders and card sleeves where do you imagine this being applied?
thanks for "technical" reply, but i was just curious if you had a video SHOWING raw speed because sure i can see numbers on paper but was curious of the whole process in a video, thanks for no help i guess :S
I work in the model shop at my school. I recently discovered this and would love to try it out. I realized we have a z direction control so id be able to do something like this. Is there somewhere that would show me the setting to do this or was it just trial and error?
Hi Muller, It seems very interesting. We are in the laser job shop business in India. We are already using 25 Watt / 30 Watt / 60 Watt CO2 lasers with the bed and Z movement. Can you please let know how to decide how much to keep the focal distance when you are using the laser for bending? We are working on acrylic upto 6 mm thickness. I am waiting to get your update. Thank you.
LaserOrigami: Using an unfocused laser to heat the acrylic causing it to melt and bend, rather than cut. This is a great idea!
I KNOOO ITS SO SMART
Very clever idea. Adds a new functionality to the cutter that I never even considered.
That is just amazing! First time i have ever seen plastic being manipulated like that
Fantastic idea! I think I can run a more rudimentary version on my Epilog as it is now. I might just have to run a few separate jobs with some focus jigs. Truly inspiring!
To those who call this a waste of material, you can use smaller sheets of acrylic to make your items, and you can use the leftovers for other, possibly flatter, things. Would you call it a waste of butter if you had a recipe that calls for 1/4 of a stick? No, you'd keep the rest of the butter and use it for something else.
Great question :). We are currently working on an Illustrator plugin that provides the necessary tools for creating bends, suspenders etc. However, this needs more work and we will upload it when we are done.
This is a VERY clever 2D fabrication technique!
These are alternatives. You can either use the CAD interface and draw on your computer screen _or_ use the interactive fabrication interface and draw directly on the workpiece. Sorry, we should have made this more clear in the video. Hope my answer helps to clarify this.
LaserOrigami is part of my dissertation under the supervision of Prof. Patrick Baudisch at the Human Computer Interaction Lab at Hasso Plattner Institute. We have more awesome projects on our website (link is in the video description). Thanks :).
Awesome idea! Looks like a lot of frustration while figuring out the correct parameters for bending without cutting. Very nice results!
In this video we use 1.5mm acrylic. But the process should also work with acrylic of different thicknesses and other thermoforming materials.
thanks! great idea with the fixtures. For angles other than 90 degrees we currently either use a motor or a third hand (you probably know this from soldering things) that holds the workpiece at a certain angle.
Our focus is on expanding what DIY laser cutters can do today. With DIY I mean the typical machine a FABlab would own. But thanks for the hint, it's definitely interesting to also think into this direction, but in a different context.
All materials that get compliant when heated up can be used (in other words: all thermoforming materials) and they need to have a transition temperature low enough so that it can be reached by the power of a regular laser cutter. For acrylic the transition temperature is around 110-130 degree. For glass it's much higher so I don't think it can be reached by a normal laser cutter.
It's all about heating the acrylic to a point where it gets compliant. If your laser cutter can reach this temperature mainly depends on the power of the laser. I mainly worked with 1.5mm, but also tried 3mm once.
Nice demo
Nice way to use the unfocused laser as a precise heat source.
Very Clever, love the use of the Servo and 3d printed Servo holder.
Laser cut servo holder......
I use 1.5mm translucent acrylic. LaserOrigami is as efficient in terms of material as normal lasercutting. Only for the video I placed the objects in the middle of the plate and used a new plate for every video segment. Of course you can position it differently ;).
Not sure I get your point. For the video I put the lasercut object in the middle of the acrylic plate so its easier to see and I used a new plate for each video segment. But in general all material that is used goes directly into the final object, so its as efficient in terms of material as normal lasercutting.
This is a laser cutter from universal laser systems (PLS6.150D). Prices vary, so I think the best thing is you send them a price request on their webpage. There are also smaller and larger laser cutters available. Also other companies sell them, such as Epilog and Trotec. Our laser cutter techniques should work with any laser cutter model that has a movable motion table (z-axis).
i never tought about this you are a genius person
i looked at this and my mind was completly blown
I don't get your point. LaserOrigami works _without_ fingerjoints and that's why it doesn't need any manual assembly. The frame in the video you refer to shows the two alternatives to achieve 3d objects: 3D printing and lasercutting with fingerjoints.
Thanks! Yes, this is a CHI 2013 fullpaper and will be released in May. I will be happy to send you a prerelease version. Just email me (my webpage link is in the video description).
Universal Laser cutter machines are great i have use to one myself and its awesome make sure you clean your mirrors and reflecting mirrors or it looses power also got a gravograph 900lx
I haven't seen laser cutters which will change the z depth while cutting which you show in 1 : 40. Amazing work
I should give it a try in school laser cutters
True that. My personal belief is that having to "look something up" in 2013 isn't exactly the chore it was a couple decades ago, so there should be no excuse for ignorance anymore.
Yes you are right, but most people wouldn't know what Kirigami is without looking it up. And if you are really picky, you could even say that "gami" means paper and therefore it doesn't make sense at all since the system only works with thermoforming materials ;). However, we picked this name to be descriptive so people will quickly understand what the system can do (things that can be folded) and what not (e.g. spherical shapes).
My same thought. A benefit of 3d printing is that one does not lose materials often.
We think of the LaserOrigami mechanism as a replacement for finger joints. Instead of connecting two edges with finger joints one could also use an automated LaserOrigami bend. Making a perfect tube is not possible to my knowledge, but I guess one could make a rough approximation of it.
A strip heater is operated manually. You need to cut the workpiece with the laser cutter, then take it out, go to the strip heater and do the rest. LaserOrigami is about getting rid of manual effort and automating the process. Also with a strip heater the plant holder at the end of the video would not be possible.
There is no wasted material. I only used the big sheets for the demo, so that you can see it better in the video. You only need as much material as the object shape requires (think: using a heatgun). You can position the object freely on the plate.
Very innovative use of a laser cutter, I'm impressed :D
What do you do with the excess material left over? Seems to get pricy after a while.
Also are the cuts clean and true enough to bond pieces together?
actually a very cool idea! How useful or economical? that is a different matter
Great work nicely shot. Thanks for posting that. I realy cannot understand the negative comments. If people want to moan about a waste of materials etc they should go count the yachts in the bay.
At 2:30 there was a small machine that rotated the part. I was wondering what the ball barrings in its botton were for. My first thought was weighing it down but then I thought that the machine must but fixed in place if the laser is going to give precise cuts.
Very cool video and Machine. Thumbs way up
Love this. Can't wait to try it out. Can think of a good few uses for this.
So if you need to have multiple edges bend at the same time, how does the laser handle all of them at once so it doesn't warp? Are you planning on adding lasers for more complex designs? This is pretty awesome
Absolutely fantastic. So much fun to be had.
LaserOrigami should work with any laser cutter available on the market. We use a Universal Laser Systems Lasercutter (Model: PLS6.150D). I think ours has 100 Watts.
is it simply heating the plastic and that is what is allowing it to bend with the gravity or it is slicing it thinner until it bends? I'm curious at to how this is achieved because of both have entirely different strength properties at the creases. Really innovative process.
Impressive, I never considered using the laser in this way. Have you considered adding a fixture under the acrylic to allow you to generate angles other than 90 degrees?
I'm currently working on a small tutorial to explain the different steps. In short: Use a lens with a short focal length to make sure it defocuses quickly. I use: 1.5 Lens from ULS, power: 40%, speed: 30%, z: 50mm. But this heavily depends on your laser. For details go to my webpage, click on the LaserOrigami link and scroll all the way down (still work in progress).
This is a laser cutter from Universal Laser Systems (PLS6.150D with a 1.5 lens). But every lasercutter that has a platform that can be moved up and down should work.
Hello! Have you tried this with thicker materials? Would it work with 5mm acrylic?
That is one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
I have access to the same ULS laser you're using here. Can you tell me what settings are being used to do the "bends"?
It appears to be fast at low power, but I'd rather not waste a lot of material trying to figure out those settings.
Can you help?
NOW we're talking advanced laser cutting! Will there be a paper released on this in the near future?
could you please share your settings, i'm interresten in the z defocus you are using
do you have another video showing raw video speed, curious about cut times in real time, thanks awesome stuff
Sehr beeindruckend! Das lässt nicht nur Leuten mit Lasern als Hobby das Herz höher schlagen (weniger Montage!), sondern auch öffnet auch interessante Aspekte im Bereich der Technik.
Heutzutage sind ja selbst hochintegrierte Schaltungen auf Folien und dergleichen möglich, da wäre das "selberbiegen" und "strecken" ein interessanter Schritt für MID. Da könnte man ja quasi Formgebung nach Bestückung machen!
Ein Hoch aufs Rapid Prototyping, DIY und ich wünschte, das gäbe es auch an unserer Uni! (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg)
Wobei ich mich frage, ob man spezielles Programm oder Equipment braucht, oder das mit Epiloglaser und Visicut auch erreichbar wäre?
It only heats up the material until it gets compliant and bends down under the forces of gravity. There is no etching involved. Think of the process being similar to using a heatgun.
Hi,
your job is great and very interesting, I would like to have a small question : why do you have the step 2 : interactive fabrication. I think step 1 is enough since you have the drawing-> you have the coordinate
Seems like alot of wasted material.. were you printing on big sheets for the demo? Or is that whats required.
Artist: Wasaru. Title: Can we speak. It's free for download. Just search for him.
stefanie i have a question for u, is awsome this process but i need to know what is the song tha u used! thanku so much
Clever I liked home you weakened and heated the edges to create the folds NICE !
Awesome stuff. I'm happy that I'm going to study Photonik Technik in Deutschland.
Impressive, I'm trying it with my laser cutter bu I cannot manage not to have any trace on the material. Can you tell me what are your settings for power, speed and defocus?
Wow.. never seen anything like this before!
Sehr cool! Ich hätte noch eine Frage: Wie groß darf das Verhältnis Kantenlänge/Fläche maximal sein, damit die Schwerkraft ausreicht um es richtig hinzubiegen?
It really looks like your design capabilities would be very limited. Can it make spheres or workable moving parts? I do really love the clear material.
i work with trotec speedy 300.. but you have superb ideas. Respect :D
For the bending portions, does the laser just heat the plastic so it bends, or does it etch away until it is weakened enough to bend?
I've never seen that technique before, heating/melting of a corner piece. Glowforge doesn't have much Z-depth for tricks like that!
@Stefanie Mueller Oh okay. Thanks for the reply! Will have to try it once we get our laser.
Really interesting. I previously used the unfocus effect + multiple pass to achieve rounded edges similar to mould and to "groove" various depth and width but never thought of using this to bend. Even if limited this has good applications for small series of small items like the holders you demonstrated.
I downloaded you paper and your slides. But the slides archive seems to be corrupted.
Are you thinking of going a step further and bringing this to the market?
Are your libraries of examples available ?
Thanks in advance
This is interesting, but I don't understand the point. What are the advantages of this compared to a 3d printer? Speed on a very limited number of projects, with very little versatility? I don't own either and I don't mean to offend, I'm genuinely curious.
hi it is really nice to see 3d work pls let us know which material u are using for 3d is it acrylic or some other pvc material .
Hallo.
Tolle Sachen macht ihr da!
Ist das ein spezielles Acryl Material, dass da verarbeitet wird ?
Hi, I wanted to know if a normal laser cutting and engraving which will adptaron a movable table in the Z axis or a special machine
thanks
Sorry if it is posted somewhere else, but I did not see what type of laser you are using....could you please let me know and maybe the cost, power, and such?....Thank you.
Found it in the comments....PLS6.150D with a 1.5 lens
Whats the name of that cutter? ;)
And when u "bend" the material do u only go with same power over the same line all the time until the result is what u want? :P
That's what I was thinking, very nice machine you have there!
How is the feedback done that the material is actually bend so that you don't eventually cut through it?
Raymond Doetjes it used a out of focus beam to heat the crease but not cutting through it, then let gravity do the bending job
I put a 3x in the top left corner when I sped up the video in the full-length examples. The rest is real time. So just multiply the different parts by a factor of three.
Awesome!! I have a helix epilog, can I that with it? How do you control the focus on the laser? I'll love to do it. We work with schools and kids from vulnerable populations, they will love it
this method appears less precise and more elaborate than necessary. what is the benefit of using the laser and gravity to bend acrylic rather than using a traditional hot wire and your hands? i honestly can't think of any.
beyond the trivial problems of pen holders and card sleeves where do you imagine this being applied?
Have you considered using it on industrial lasers to bend steel?
Is the CAD software (with components library) shown in the video available for download?
Questions. Can the processes be used with thicker 3mm acrylic? Also any chance of getting those visio files or better yet the DXF?
How strong are the folded parts? Just curious if the finished product is strong at the bent part.
This is a great idea, congratulations ! I'll try that !
I just wanted to make sure the motor would not fall over. Nothing fancy :).
Now this... This is creativity. (Inb4 this is Sparta!)
I would wanna know how much weight it can hold, caz I'd wanna cut thicker plastic than that?
What's the phone holder object manufactured at the beginning of the video?
don't know why I really enjoyed watching this vid
Great! But how does plastic folding mechanism works?
This is amazing. Good job.
If you write me an email (my webpage is in the video description), I can send you our research paper that describes the process in detail.
thanks for "technical" reply, but i was just curious if you had a video SHOWING raw speed because sure i can see numbers on paper but was curious of the whole process in a video, thanks for no help i guess :S
I work in the model shop at my school. I recently discovered this and would love to try it out.
I realized we have a z direction control so id be able to do something like this. Is there somewhere that would show me the setting to do this or was it just trial and error?
So, how much for this machine LaserOrigami? It's cool, man.
I'm from Vietnam. How much for machine and shipping to Vietnam?
can you give me a link to the program please? that looks like something i can do
Hi Muller,
It seems very interesting. We are in the laser job shop business in India. We are already using 25 Watt / 30 Watt / 60 Watt CO2 lasers with the bed and Z movement. Can you please let know how to decide how much to keep the focal distance when you are using the laser for bending? We are working on acrylic upto 6 mm thickness. I am waiting to get your update. Thank you.
How many Wats has your laser machine ? Can you tell me what parametars do you use (speed and power) when he flex acrylic?
Thanks
Great work
Ivan Drahotusky hi, the same question here, did you came to some set up meanwhile ( universal pls 150.6 a100watts)
very amazing laser-cutting machine!
May i ask how much does this machine cost?
Amazing lateral thinking!
How many mm down does the table go for the engrave step?