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Laser Etching a Laptop

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the just-because-you-can-doesn't-mean-you-should dept.

ptorrone writes "I didn't really plan using a $20,000 laser cutter on my 17" PowerBook to etch a 19th-century engraving of a tarsier, a nocturnal mammal related to the lemur (also the vi book cover), but it seemed like it had to done. The results are stunning..."

5 of 271 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Etching provides security. by ScrewMaster · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, because it is a hell of a lot more identifiable. The more unique something is, the harder it is to fence.

    Owner: "I'd like to report my laptop stolen."

    Cop: "I see. Does it have any unique markings to help us identify it?"

    Owner: "Yes, it has a large image of tarsier permanently etched into the cover."

    Cop: "Excellent!"

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    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  2. Re:security etching? by Bishop · · Score: 5, Informative

    Laser etching for your mac. I saw this linked in another post and am now considering it.

  3. Re:O'Reilly art Creative Commons licensed? by Detritus · · Score: 4, Informative

    The artwork was originally from a Dover book. Dover publishes books full of public domain art, along with their reprints of classic and out-of-print textbooks.

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    Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
  4. Re:security etching? by level_headed_midwest · · Score: 5, Informative

    Yes, that's 100% correct. Of course the magazines use lithography, where a rubber-faced sheet of about 44" x 60" is fastened over a rotating drum (this is called a press blanket). The metal plate is inked and the blanketed drum rolls over it, transferring an inked negative of the plate to the blanket. The blanket then rolls against the paper that is being fed through the press so that negative on the blanket gets transferred to the paper as a positive.

    Each color of ink is applied separately with a separate plate- cyan, magenta, yellow, black, and then usually a glossy coating. Sometimes special metallic colors are applied in subsequent press units. So, you would never put the whole lemur like they did on one plate unless it was a black-and-white printing. This was a very SMALL plate laser etcher as magazines are pretty small and do not run on standard presses, which are about 40-48" wide and print things such as cereal boxes, beer cases, and the like.

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    Just "gittin-r-done," day after day.
  5. Re:Where and how much? by harryman100 · · Score: 5, Informative

    EtchaMac have been doing this for a while
    http://www.etchamac.com/

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    .sigs are for losers