More on the Versalaser

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Posted by michael on Thursday October 23, 2003 @08:13AM from the keep-remaining-fingers-out-of-the-machine dept.

A random reader writes: "In an article at PCMag.com, Bill Machrone describes what has to be the coolest printer ever (or close to it). A company called Versalaser sells a printer which uses a laser and can cut/write on everything from paper to wood to stone. Available in 25-50 Watt models, starting at only US$10,000. Great for the geek who must have it all! Unfortunately, Windows drivers only at this time." We mentioned this wondertool before.

25 of 236 comments (clear)

AHA! by wizarddc · 2003-10-23 08:14 · Score: 4, Funny

So this is a self admitted repost, huh?! You doubly lazy slashdot editors.

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Th
Tattoos anyone? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-23 08:17 · Score: 2, Funny

This could quite possibly be the most painful way to get that tattoo you have always wanted. Comes with free prescription of percacet.
It had to be said... by Cyclopedian · 2003-10-23 08:18 · Score: 4, Funny

I want sharks with fricken Veralaser printers on their heads!!

Throw me a bone here, people!

-Cyc

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/.'s 10 Millionth
Just don't share it. by nairnr · 2003-10-23 08:18 · Score: 5, Funny

Please for the love of god, don't set this up as a windows share. It is bad enough that we have people accidently printing email on our HP5000 4' plotters. No, you can print your email on wood!.
I suspect God may have had one of these for the tablets for Moses...
1. Re:Just don't share it. by MR.Gates · 2003-10-23 08:32 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  I accidently printed a win98 test page on a rather large HP plotter when I worked for FMC. Needless to say I am now the proud owner of a win98 poster size test page, D'OH!
  
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  A few hours grace before the madness begins again.
2. Re:Just don't share it. by Dr+Caleb · 2003-10-23 08:46 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  There is just nothing like seeing a 4' by 5' Word Document with "CONFIDENTIAL" watermarked right across it...
  
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  "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
3. Re:Just don't share it. by David+Gould · 2003-10-23 09:03 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Oh, is that all?
  
  From the lead-in to your post, I thought you were worried that you'd be walking by the laser, minding your own business, and it would suddenly start up and vaporize you, and download you to the Game Grid, or something.
  
  --
  David Gould
  main(i){putchar(340056100>>(i-1)*5&31|!!(i<6)<< 6)&&main(++i);}
4. Re:Just don't share it. by Mr+Smidge · 2003-10-23 10:31 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Just wait until your security is compromised and they start printing out wooden pr0n..
5. Re:Just don't share it. by _Bucktooth_ · 2003-10-23 14:31 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  You lucky so and so...I only ended up with a poster size sheet of blank paper with a letter-sized win98 test page in one corner!
Someone had to try it... by keep_it_simple_stupi · 2003-10-23 08:18 · Score: 4, Funny

"Customers have also come up with some notably bad ideas, including engraving plastic butane lighters."

You know, it's amazing we've lasted this long.
1. Re:Someone had to try it... by evilroot · 2003-10-23 08:28 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Do I hear a Darwin Award?
Another use... by tomzyk · 2003-10-23 08:18 · Score: 4, Funny

Have your own tattoo parlor, right on your computer desktop!

(Caution: be sure to have plenty of gauze and ice, a phone, and be in a place where the EMTs can find you easily...)

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Karma: NaN
Mac not? nooooo! by ben_of_copenhagen · 2003-10-23 08:18 · Score: 3, Funny

They have to fix a mac driver for this. With xmas coming up, i could really annoy all my friends by making them nasty wooden door signs written in Gill Sans Ultra Bold.
A Windows-only peripheral that literally smokes!? by Anonymous Coward · 2003-10-23 08:21 · Score: 5, Funny

I think I'd like to have one ... but not with my son in the house - he be testing whether it could print on "dog".
Re:Surely by Kenja · 2003-10-23 08:22 · Score: 2, Funny

Yea, you could keep this person in your closet and drag them out when ever you need to engrave somthing. I've allways wanted a gimp, and and engraving gimp would be at LEAST twice as used as the older models.

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"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
Hurry for Moore's Law by tessaiga · 2003-10-23 08:23 · Score: 2, Funny

The built-in 25W laser is powerful enough to burn quickly through paper and cardboard without leaving so much as a charred edge. It can cut through wood 1/4 inch thick or more. The thin beam barely discolors the edges of the top surface but leaves the sides of the cut a rich, dark brown. Acrylic plastics such as Plexiglas cut easily, too. The beam moves with surprising speed for wood and paper but slower and at lower power for plastics, so the heat from the beam can melt the plastic edge and leave a smooth, polished surface.
Give'em another year to improve it, and us budget mad scientists will be able to afford one of these for the next time Halle Berry breaks into our secret ice-covered labs, too.

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The bold print giveth, and the fine print taketh away ...
DANGER! DANGER! by HungWeiLo · 2003-10-23 08:25 · Score: 4, Funny

Disaster (serves 6)

1 tbsp. of laser that can cut anything
2 qts. of Windows drivers

Mix ingredients gently. Bake for 5 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Serve immediately.

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There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
That's it! by appleLaserWriter · 2003-10-23 08:29 · Score: 2, Funny

I'm getting one so I can print my agendas in stone tablets.
Wait!! by jd · 2003-10-23 08:29 · Score: 2, Funny

Check to see if Amazon or SCO have patented writing on stone tablets, before you buy!

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It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
Perhaps the pricing is because... by EzekielQ · 2003-10-23 08:33 · Score: 1, Funny

...of the $9000/unit to cover the liability insurance payments. -Zeke
Re:VersaTattoo by Mysticalfruit · 2003-10-23 08:36 · Score: 3, Funny

The laser lab at WPI (www.wpi.edu) has the best sign on the door.

"Do not look into laser with remaining eye"

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Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.
The next generation of these . . . by StefanJ · 2003-10-23 08:40 · Score: 5, Funny

. . . will only cost $1000, and get bundled for free with new systems, but you'll need to buy $300 fusion plasma cartridges for them every few months that are designed to go critical and explode if you try to refill them.

For now, I'll stick with an X-Acto knife and that wood burning kit I got at a garage sale.

Stefan
Oh God NOOOOO! by DAldredge · 2003-10-23 08:41 · Score: 3, Funny

Who let a member of marketing become a member of /.?
They forgot one thing by sig97 · 2003-10-23 09:58 · Score: 2, Funny

Hey, now at last it should be possible to design gravestones using the latest clip art from MS Office! I wonder how long it would take until Clippy start saying stuff like "It looks like you're writing a gravestone..."
Re:VersaTattoo by Dirtside · 2003-10-23 13:20 · Score: 2, Funny

Yeah, one of the labs in the basement of Boelter Hall at UCLA has that same sign... except at the top, where it would normally say DANGER in 72-point type, it just says DANG.

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"Destroy science and religion. Science would re-emerge exactly the same; but not religion." - Penn Jillette, paraphrased