My Keyboard My Hands

Step 6 Defeat the laser cutter safety mechanism

The laptop screen obviously had to be open during the laser etching process since I was etching the keyboard. In the open position, the screen is too high to fit inside the laser cutter under the lid. As a safety mechanism, the laser doesn't fire when the lid is open, so that feature had to be disabled.

In order to defeat the safety mechanism, I placed two small magnets on the side of the machine where two magnets embedded in the lid normally rest. This made the laser etch think that the lid was closed when it actually wasn't!

Defeating the safety mechanism was fun. I can see why people break into banks.