How to Enter the Instructables and Universal Laser Cutter Contest

Winner announced here!

Finalists have been announced [/blog/BKYNJDDFB11L462/ here]!

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What were we thinking?!?
The holidays are the perfect time to finish your Laser Cutter Contest entry, and we don't want to judge during our family vacations.

So, we're extending the entry deadline to 11:59pm Tuesday, January 1, 2008 to take advantage of the entire holiday season. Finalists will be announced on Monday, January 7, 2008. User voting will still end on January 31st, and we'll still announce the ultimate winner on Monday, February 4th, 2008.

Use this extra time to make something truly incredible!

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The Laser Cutter Contest is back!

Get your tools and camera ready, because Instructables is giving away a VersaLaser laser cutter package from Universal Laser worth over $15,000!

This is another chance for you to win one of our favorite tools, but this time it's bigger and better! The VersaLaser functions like a true plug and play computer peripheral. It has a friendly, materials-based print driver that eliminates complex power, speed and materials calculations. It's air-cooled, and is easy to install and use.

To win the VersaLaser, just make a fantastic Instructable to show us what you're capable of.

Your Instructable can be about anything, but we want to be amazed by your passion, imagination, and creativity. Make something fantastic and share your knowledge with the rest of the world. Remember, all projects of any type are eligible!

With a laser cutter you will be able to explore lots of cool new projects. You can custom-cut fabric, paper, wood, and other materials without having to touch a blade. You can cut pieces for a geometric lamp or an art project and customize your laptop. We're sure you can make something even cooler.

Inspiration:
Laser Cutter Contest Winners List
Science Fair Contest Winners List
Go Green Contest Winners List

We want to give the laser cutter to someone who will use it to take their creativity even further.

So get started on something that will blow us all away, and convince us you're the best person to win this awesome laser cutter!

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Prizes

Grand prize (1)
40-watt VersaLaser VLS3.50 laser cutter, Instructables t-shirt, a laser-etched plaque, stickers and patches.

First prize (13)
Laser-etched Instructables Leatherman Juice S2, a laser-etched plaque, and an Instructables t-shirt.

Second prize (20)
Instructables t-shirt and a laser-etched plaque.

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Judging

When the contest closes for entries our panel of judges will select the top 10 Instructables via approval voting, and their creators will become finalists for the grand prize. Judges from Instructables, Universal Laser, and previous contest winners will be instructed to vote for contest entries they think deserve to be finalists. The 10 entries with the most votes will become finalists. In the case that a single author has more than one finalist entry, the lower ranked one(s) will be eliminated.

An additional 2 finalists will be selected based on total number of positive ratings on the day that finalists are announced. Of the contest entries not already selected by the judges, the two entries with the greatest number of positive ratings will become finalists. Negative ratings will have no impact on the rankings.

An additional 2 finalists will be selected based on total pageviews on the day that finalists are announced. Of the contest entries not already selected by the judges or selected via ratings, the two entries with the greatest number of pageviews will become finalists.

Bear in mind that the ratings and pageviews criteria tend to favor Instructables entered into the contest early as those entries have more time to accumulate ratings and pageviews.

You many enter as many times as you like, however, only individual Instructables will be considered to become finalists. If your project is too big for a single Instructable, feel free to create an over-arching Instructable that links to sub-Instructables.

The 14 finalists' projects will be posted on Instructables for everyone to see, comment, and vote on. The user votes on these 14 finalists will be 20% of the finalists' score, and will be added to the judging panel's results to determine the grand prize winner.

All contest entries will be judged for merit. Judges will evaluate each Instructable for the following:
- Creativity
- Completeness and clarity of instructions
- Usefulness
- List of parts and tools
- Effective use of photo notes
- Technical merit

Judging a large number of entries in a large number of categories will be a challenge, and will by its very nature be subjective and qualitative. The way to get noticed is to do the best job you can showing something you are passionate about. It can be something no one has ever done before, something that has been done over and over, but your Instructable is now the definitive guide, or something that simply amazes and inspires.

Judges from Instructables, Universal Laser, and past contest winners will evaluate the finalists by the above criteria, then vote for winners using range voting, the same system used in Olympic scoring. We'll announce the winners on or around Monday, 4 February 2008.

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How to Enter

1. Publish an awesome Instructable on any subject anytime between 15 October 12:01 am PST and Tuesday, 1 January 2008 at 11:59 pm PST and add it to the Universal Laser Cutter Contest group. Only projects published within these dates are eligible. You may submit as many Instructables as you choose.




2. A panel of judges will select 14 finalists and 20 second-prize winners. These will be announced on or around Monday, January 7th, 2008.

3. Each finalist's project will be highlighted on Instructables.com for a period of site-wide review, discussion, and voting. Any registered user is eligible to vote. Voting closes January 31st. The results of this peer voting will comprise 20% of each project's final score.

4. A panel of judges will assess the Instructables and cast their votes during the week of January 28th. The panel's votes will comprise 80% of each project's final score.

5. The winner will be announced on or around Monday, February 4th, 2008.

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Additional Information

You must be 18 or older to enter. If you are 13-17, you can still enter, but to win you will need to verify that you had the permission of a parent or guardian (we will have a permission slip for you). The best solution would be to have your parent join you as a collaborator on your Instructable.

International entries are accepted. If your instructable is amazing, we want you to have the laser cutter, no matter where you are. However, we can only cover shipping the laser cutter within the US- it's your responsibility to deal with shipping and customs from that point onward. We will confirm with the winner before awarding the grand prize. All of our other prizes can be shipped world-wide.

Groups are encouraged to enter the contest using our collaboration feature. A laser cutter would be a perfect addition to a community hobby shop.

Winner is responsible for all taxes and fees. We will remind the finalists of this to make sure they are able to properly deal with the taxes.

Step 1 Official Rules

1. All federal, state, and local taxes on prize are the sole responsibility of the winner. No purchases are necessary; void where prohibited by law.

2. Participants agree to abide by all decisions of Instructables, contest co-sponsor, and judges, which shall be final and binding with respect to all issues relating to this contest.

3. Prize is not transferable and no cash alternative or prize substitution is available. Instructables and contest co-sponsor reserve the right to substitute a similar prize of equal or greater value if the prize listed is unavailable for any reason. All potential winners are subject to verification at the discretion of Instructables and contest co-sponsor.

4. Winner agrees that prizes are being provided "as is", and Instructables and contest co-sponsor make no warranty, representation or guarantee regarding the prize, including but not limited to its quality, condition, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

5. Instructables and contest co-sponsor are not responsible for problems including (but not limited to) damaged, incorrect, inaccurate, lost, delayed, or defective entries, or for injury or damage to any computer resulting from participation in this contest. Entries that have been tampered with or altered are void.

6. Instructables reserves the right to modify, cancel, postpone or end the contest at any time as necessary, at its sole discretion, or to disqualify any participant or winner, at its sole discretion, deemed to have cheated, destroyed, obstructed, or otherwise acted illegally or in bad faith in relation to this contest.

7. Instructables reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to disqualify any individual it finds, in its sole discretion, to be in violation of the Terms of Service; to be acting in violation of these Official Rules; to be acting in a unethical or disruptive manner, or with intent to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other person.

8. By submitting an entry and entering this contest, you represent and warrant that: you are over the age of 18, or entering with the knowledge and permission of your parent or guardian (subject to verification), and that the entry does not contain or incorporate the intellectual property and/or confidential information of any third party.

9. By submitting an entry and entering this contest, you hereby grant Instructables and co-sponsor Universal Laser Systems, Inc., a perpetual, irrevocable, sublicenseable, worldwide, royalty free right to publish and distribute your entry for their promotional purposes.

10. Governing Law: All issues and questions concerning the construction, validity, interpretation and enforceability of the official rules, or the rights of entrants, shall be governed by and construed in accordance with, the substance laws of the State of California and any applicable laws and regulations of the United States.

Comments

[lamedust]

I gotta say that something that makes me happy about this is my low standard deviation accompanied with my high ranking. It means they love me, they really love me! ; ) -bg

[eagleapex]

It's on or about the 7th right now and I'm anxious! Who's getting t-shirts and who's getting something more?

[drew2794]

So this is like an actual laser. like what you see in the movies that they shoot people with. Or like a little lite that gets hot when you hold it on something for 5 hours

[GorillazMiko]

DANGIT! I thought this contest was only for Instructables that had to do with laser cutters and stuff! I never read the details on how to enter, until just now. Wow.. I could have uploaded something and got a chance of at least getting 3rd place.. wow.. Whatever. Instructables STILL RULES!

[killerjackalope]

If I had the money now I would have an amazing instructable for you but sadly my paycheck isn't due yet and I'm in debt, mildly. On the upside the project will still happen.

[Trace II]

Think of what I could do with a laser cutter... I wouldn't have to hollow out a book safe by hand for one...

[killerjackalope]

The trick to that would be to drill a large hole into the inner cavity pages with bits of scrap wood clamped to it then let rip with a scroll saw or a really small circular saw, you could start the cut with a coping saw, or drill four holes at the cavity corners and then use a hacksaw with a deep cut. or make a jug shape and use someones 20tonne press as a hole punch (100 tonne would be better though)

[x_xeon_x]

ya that would be a tough project... the laser is like a multitool, but like multitools, they can only do so many things. scroll-saw?

[fungus amungus]

Actually, that's still tricky. I tried to cut a design through an entire book with an Epilog and it didn't go so well. The distance between the lens and the focal point isn't so big which means that you run out of space to dig inside pretty quickly.

[x_xeon_x]

you ever heard of a scroll-saw? pilot one hole through the center of the cut out and the put the scroll blade in and go. you dont need to use a laser for everything.

[socercrze]

Soooo x_xeon_x.... as a side note about the versa laser that you think costs SOOOO much. I have one and i run it at 150$ an hour.... and i'm backed up with work for weeks..... the recharge is actually a very good price at only 600$. i have other lasers that cost a few thousand to recharge. also an optic that's only 200$ whew, and i'm glad that's it, majority of my optics are 300$+ anyways i'm just cluing you in that the versa laser is WAAAAYYYY cheaper to run!!! Any good ideas for me to build?

[fungus amungus]

Agreed, $600 isn't that bad. What work do you do?

[socercrze]

I own a laser machine shop in san leandro ca, i have 7 co2 lasers ranging from 150 watts to 3600 watts. also three 500 watt yags. all but my universal laser run from a mixed bottle of co2, so i go through a bottle every three days on my dc excited lasers and a bottle is about 85$. so i get to do some cool stuff with lasers. i'll be getting an excimer laser here soon too.

[fungus amungus]

Oh, you're close! We're on the western tip of Alameda.

[socercrze]

haha that's funny i live in alameda!!!! over on bay farm...

[fungus amungus]

That's where our intern lives!

[socercrze]

your intern? what do you guys do? maybe i can help you out with some laser work or you can help me out with whatever services you do.

[fungus amungus]

You're already using our services! I work here at Instructables.

[socercrze]

haha, what's your position there, need a judge for an instructable?

[lako305]

I own a 6000 what laser and I aint bragging about it

[Doctor What]

I read the rules through again, and i am wondering, what do you mean by tampering?? Is editing your own instructable tampering??? Or am i just a retard and I don't know what the word tampering means???

[canida]

Tampering implies illicit behavior. Editing your own Instructable is certainly allowed. ;)

[Doctor What]

Oh. Thanx.

[fungus amungus]

What are you talking about? Which part is this?

[Doctor What]

Rule 5,"Entries that have been tampered with or altered are void"

[fungus amungus]

I wouldn't worry about it at all. Looks like something our lawyer put in there to be extra extra safe. You're free to keep modifying and adding to our instructable.

[x_xeon_x]

I've used the Versa Laser before, BEAUTIFUL machine. Over 200 hours of PURE runtime to my name alone. There is however, one HUGE, HUGE, problem with this laser... the thing needs to be recharged, and it costs about 600 bucks to do it... also, the parts on the machine... holy crap, scratch a lens (and theres a few of them) and your looking at another 200 bucks per lens... seriously, the only way your going to turn a profit from this machine would be to charge alot for your time too, otherwise your going to be putting alot of money into this beast.... if you can afford the thing though, its the most amazing thing ever. I would suggest having a knowlage of Corel Draw, and AutoCAD, then you can really make the nice stuff... otherwise your down to basics.

[icinnamon]

How much time in cutting before a recharge is needed? What does a recharge actually recharge? The CO2? The power?

[i.nedariya]

30,000hrs.

[icinnamon]

That's a long time! But how long does it take, let's say, to cut 3" squares out of 1/8" thick plywood?

[x_xeon_x]

Dont be fooled by 30,000 hours. They are rated for 2.5-5 years depending on use. But with fair useage, your looking at the lower of the values of 2 years. a plywood square 3x3 would probably take 20s depending on the intensity setting and travel speed of your laser you set.

[technodude92]

recharged?

[DirectorsCUT]

You dont need to use a laser for everything!

[Doctor What]

Do the instructables need to be made between the time period, or just added to the group between the time period??

[fungus amungus]

Published between those dates. Otherwise we wouldn't have a start date.

[Doctor What]

okey doke.

[hedgiehog]

You could use the lazer cutter to carve your pumpkins, and make an instructable how to do it!

[mrfixitrick]

Check out my Steampunk Laser-guided Tesla CD Turbine doing the Pumpkin Cuttin' Ceremony!!

[Vendigroth]

Awesome. What's the torque like?

[mrfixitrick]

The torque kinda sucked for this movie, because I accidentally broke the CD case earlier that day. That slowed down the unit considerably and I had to use full 120 psi air to get it to cut, plus wait for the compressor to build. This machine uses a thin CD case, with only 8 CD's making the power, as well.