4 Dimensional Laser Cuts

[Justin Meaux]

Hey guys,

I've always been interested in these lasers, but have no real world experience with them. Just warning you, this might be a very stupid question.

It's definitely a question that is going to be very hard to convey over text.

I guess the easiest way for me to phrase it is to simplify the question. Say I have a piece of maple a foot wide, a foot tall, and an inch thick. Would it be possible to cut that piece of wood in half with a laser so the result would be two pieces of maple one foot wide, one foot tall, and a half inch thick? Essentially I'm wondering if the lasers in these systems only remove material from the top down or if they can cut at any other kind of angle.

Thanks for entertaining my question. I hope you're all having fun with these toys! :-) I'm trying to think of any way I can justify buying one.

[Rich Harman]

...a piece of maple a foot wide, a foot tall, and an inch thick. Would it be possible to cut that piece of wood in half with a laser so the result would be two pieces of maple one foot wide, one foot tall, and a half inch thick?

What you describe is using a laser to resaw a plank of wood. No laser would be able to make a clean cut through 12" of wood.

There are indeed lasers with articulating heads that enable them to direct the cutting in any direction, they are very specialized. None that I know of that are not industrial.

I am sure it is "possible" to make a laser that can change the angle of the cut, but the complexity far outweighs the utility IMO.

[Lee DeRaud]

Glowforge maybe?

[Kev Williams]

Yeah- just 'print' yourself some new half-thick slabs from scratch!

[Mike Thornbury]

You need a bandsaw.

You might cut through an inch of maple with a 100w+ laser, you certainly won’t cut through 12”