Engineer, maker, and 3D printing enthusiast Evan Stanford has created a 3D printed, hand-cranked mechanical laser show machine that ‘draws’ with projected light. The drawn shapes are created with two rotating cams that combine to repetitively determine a laser pointer’s light path over 35 points. When the cams rotate quickly—according to Stanford “around five times a second or faster” works best—the entire shape can be seen.
In the video above, he reviews the math that went into mapping the cam shapes. You can also download the open source files to print your own.
Related reading: Cartesian coordinate system and trigonometry.
Related vids: Boy gets prosthetic hand made by 3-D printer, a 3D-printed candy sorting machine, Creating The Never-Ending Bloom: John Edmark’s spiral geometries, more 3D printing, and more math.via Boing Boing.
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