2007 Laser Cutter Contest
Intro: 2007 Laser Cutter Contest
Check out the 2008 Universal Laser Cutter contest here!
The winners are in and the results posted! Check them out here in the Instructables blog!
You've seen all the sweet laser cutter Instructables, and dreamed about the projects you'd build if you had one.
First you'll tattoo your laptop, then build your own army of Autonomous, Self-Assembling Robots; next you might grab a little press for your new laser-cutter-based army by etching Martha Stewart's face in an eggplant, then finally relax and recharge with some Laser cut cake.
Quit dreaming and get working, because Instructables is giving away a BrightStar LG3040 laser cutter package worth over $6000!
To enter the contest, here's what you need to do:
Important update! We have changed the rules!
It seems the contest rules were unclear and had some unintended consequences. So, we're changing the rules, and moving the deadline back so people who had previously decided not to enter can still give it shot. These are the new rules:
1. Publish an awesome Instructable on any subject anytime between April 15th and Sunday July 1st 11:59 PM PDT and add it to the Laser Cutter contest group. You may submit as many Instructables as you choose.
Entries do not have to involve lasers; any Instructable is eligible. The focus is on sharing what you're passionate about.
2. We'll judge the projects and select 10 finalists. The 10 finalists will be announced on July 6th, and we will create special ratable forum posts about each finalist and their project. We will then invite the Instructables community to help judge by rating these special forums posts. From the finalists we will select a winner with help from Squid Labs, past winners, and the forum ratings.
We decided to make these changes for two reasons. First, the concept of writing a proposal seemed to be scaring people off. We simply wanted to know what you had in mind for the laser, and "I want to build cool stuff" would have potentially sufficed. Given this potential confusion over the proposal, we're just dropping it. Second, we're not going to explicitly use the pageviews and rating of the projects to help judge. Even though we only were only going to use it an an input into judging, it can favor a project that is older rather than better. So, by creating the special forum posts, each of the finalists will start on even ground. We didn't want anyone to decide not to enter because they were only going to get their project finished and published right before the deadline.
The winner will be announced on or around Friday July 13th.
Grand prize
BrightStar LG3040 laser cutter, Instructables t-shirt, stickers and patches.
First prize (to the the nine finalists)
Laser-etched Instructables Leatherman Juice S2 and an Instructables t-shirt
20 Second prizes
Instructables t-shirts.
Wondering how to write a great Instructable that is likely to make it to the finals? Read the How to make a great Instructable Instructable, and check out the winning Instructables from our previous contests:
Use it Again! Contest Winners
Show Your Heart Valentine's Day Contest Winners
Homemade Gift Contest Winners
Contest boilerplate is here and here; substitute contest names/specifics as necessary. Here are some details specific to this contest:
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.
Only U.S. residents can win the laser cutter. Winner is responsible for all taxes (we will remind the finalists of this to make sure they are able properly deal with the taxes). Shipping internationally would be tough, but customs and differing world regulations on lasers make it impossible for us to give you a laser cutter if you are outside the U.S. I am sorry. I hope that non-U.S. residents will still enter; you can win any of the other prizes, and I promise that we will be blind to location in judging for the finals. If international entries make the finals, we will recognize them as such, award them a Leatherman, and select alternates from among the remaining pool of submissions to submit laser cutter proposals. (We're still confirming whether we can ship to Canada, and will update as soon as we know.)
Let me also encourage groups to enter the contest using our collaboration feature. I know a laser cutter would be a perfect addition to a community hobby shop.
Have fun!
The winners are in and the results posted! Check them out here in the Instructables blog!
You've seen all the sweet laser cutter Instructables, and dreamed about the projects you'd build if you had one.
First you'll tattoo your laptop, then build your own army of Autonomous, Self-Assembling Robots; next you might grab a little press for your new laser-cutter-based army by etching Martha Stewart's face in an eggplant, then finally relax and recharge with some Laser cut cake.
Quit dreaming and get working, because Instructables is giving away a BrightStar LG3040 laser cutter package worth over $6000!
To enter the contest, here's what you need to do:
Important update! We have changed the rules!
It seems the contest rules were unclear and had some unintended consequences. So, we're changing the rules, and moving the deadline back so people who had previously decided not to enter can still give it shot. These are the new rules:
1. Publish an awesome Instructable on any subject anytime between April 15th and Sunday July 1st 11:59 PM PDT and add it to the Laser Cutter contest group. You may submit as many Instructables as you choose.
Entries do not have to involve lasers; any Instructable is eligible. The focus is on sharing what you're passionate about.
2. We'll judge the projects and select 10 finalists. The 10 finalists will be announced on July 6th, and we will create special ratable forum posts about each finalist and their project. We will then invite the Instructables community to help judge by rating these special forums posts. From the finalists we will select a winner with help from Squid Labs, past winners, and the forum ratings.
We decided to make these changes for two reasons. First, the concept of writing a proposal seemed to be scaring people off. We simply wanted to know what you had in mind for the laser, and "I want to build cool stuff" would have potentially sufficed. Given this potential confusion over the proposal, we're just dropping it. Second, we're not going to explicitly use the pageviews and rating of the projects to help judge. Even though we only were only going to use it an an input into judging, it can favor a project that is older rather than better. So, by creating the special forum posts, each of the finalists will start on even ground. We didn't want anyone to decide not to enter because they were only going to get their project finished and published right before the deadline.
The winner will be announced on or around Friday July 13th.
Grand prize
BrightStar LG3040 laser cutter, Instructables t-shirt, stickers and patches.
First prize (to the the nine finalists)
Laser-etched Instructables Leatherman Juice S2 and an Instructables t-shirt
20 Second prizes
Instructables t-shirts.
Wondering how to write a great Instructable that is likely to make it to the finals? Read the How to make a great Instructable Instructable, and check out the winning Instructables from our previous contests:
Use it Again! Contest Winners
Show Your Heart Valentine's Day Contest Winners
Homemade Gift Contest Winners
Contest boilerplate is here and here; substitute contest names/specifics as necessary. Here are some details specific to this contest:
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.
Only U.S. residents can win the laser cutter. Winner is responsible for all taxes (we will remind the finalists of this to make sure they are able properly deal with the taxes). Shipping internationally would be tough, but customs and differing world regulations on lasers make it impossible for us to give you a laser cutter if you are outside the U.S. I am sorry. I hope that non-U.S. residents will still enter; you can win any of the other prizes, and I promise that we will be blind to location in judging for the finals. If international entries make the finals, we will recognize them as such, award them a Leatherman, and select alternates from among the remaining pool of submissions to submit laser cutter proposals. (We're still confirming whether we can ship to Canada, and will update as soon as we know.)
Let me also encourage groups to enter the contest using our collaboration feature. I know a laser cutter would be a perfect addition to a community hobby shop.
Have fun!
STEP 1: How We Judged the Laser Cutter Contest
We judged the Laser Cutter Contest using Range Voting with help from previous contest winners and people working at Instructables/Squid Labs HQ.
Each potential judge received a ballot in the their Instructables inbox with the following instructions:
Please help us judge the Laser cutter contest!
As a previous contest winner, or someone whose opinion we trust, we'd like your input. Check out the list of finalists, review the rules, and help us choose a winner!
The judging will be totaled by Range Voting described here and here. You may vote from 0 (should not win) to 9 (should win) or "no opinion." The finalist with the highest average score will win (no opinion votes do not affect the average score). Up to two write-in candidates are accepted, but you must vote "no opinion" on an equal or greater number of finalists than your number of write-in votes to have your write-in votes count. Candidates without a quorum are eliminated; a winning candidate's total score must be at least 50% of the sum received by any candidate. This prevents candidates with few numerical votes (as opposed to "no opinion"s) from winning. In the event of a tie, each tied candidate receives one point for each voter who rates them above the arithmetic mean score for all the tied candidates. Ratings at or below the arithmetic mean receive zero points. The candidate with the most points wins.
The ballot below is meant to be viewed with your inbox at Instructables, so if you are viewing this message in your email, please log in to vote. Voting closes Friday morning July 13th.
Instructables Laser Cutter Contest Voting
Please cast a vote for up to 15 finalists. Only votes cast by those invited by the Instructables team are eligible.
A vote of "9" indicates that the finalist should win. A vote of "0" indicates that the finalist should not win. A vote of "no opinion" does not affect a finalist's standing.
You may vote for at most two write-in candidates. If you choose to vote for write-in candidates, you must have the same number, or greater, of "no opinion" votes.
The actual ballot contained the 15 finalists in alphabetical order with a drop-down box that defaulted to "no opinion" but could be set to 0-9. There were two spots for write-in candidates and corresponding drop-down boxes.
Voters were required to submit their Instructables username and email address to authenticate their vote.
Of the people asked to help judge, 49 responded.
To incorporate the results of the finalists' forum ratings, 5 more (10% additional) votes were awarded based on the ratings. Only taking into account positive votes (negatives were thrown out), and removing fraudulent votes, the ratings were normalized onto a 0-9 scale with the highest rating equal to a vote of 9. Those results were as follows:
crabfu for Steam Turbine Tank - 5
dave spencer for erupting Volcano Birthday Cake - 3
Honus for How to make a Green Lantern ring- including a glowing version! - 5
jabroutin for personal powerPlant - 7
jeffkobi for Retro Hi-Fi Project - 3
Kasey for Compubeaver --> How to case-mod a beaver - in 29 easy steps! - 5
lkrasnow for Precision Puzzlemaking Primer -- Volume 1 - 5
mikejedw for Pringles Wind Turbine (Pleech) - Version One - 9
mydian_nightshade for Furniture grade cocktail arcade cabinet - 1
mzed for Low-cost Spherical Speaker Array - 1
nemomatic for Giant Squid kinetic sculpture from found materials - 3
orthonormal_basis_of_evil for EMP shopping cart locker - 5
Stuart.Mcfarlan for How to Make a Three Axis CNC Machine (Cheaply and Easily) - 9
talbotron22 for DIY Kitty Crack: ultra-potent catnip extract - 5
turkey tek for Interactive Multitouch Display - 5
So, for example, Stuart.Mcfarlan received five votes each with a ranking of 9. This was in addition to the judges' votes awarded to Stuart.Mcfarlan.
The judges' and forum topic rating votes were totaled yielding the following results, which determined the winner:
Finalist - Average vote - Number of votes (5 forum votes plus all non-"no opinion" votes) - Sum of votes - Standard deviation
Stuart.Mcfarlan for How to Make a Three Axis CNC Machine (Cheaply and Easily) - 7.3 - 52 - 379 - 2.0
crabfu for Steam Turbine Tank - 6.6 - 53 - 350 - 1.9
lkrasnow for Precision Puzzlemaking Primer -- Volume 1 - 6.0 - 47 - 284 - 2.2
turkey tek for Interactive Multitouch Display - 6.0 - 52 - 313 - 2.4
mikejedw for Pringles Wind Turbine (Pleech) - Version One - 5.9 - 50 - 295 - 2.5
jabroutin for personal powerPlant - 5.8 - 48 - 280 - 1.9
Honus for How to make a Green Lantern ring- including a glowing version! - 5.7 - 51 - 293 - 2.0
orthonormal_basis_of_evil for EMP shopping cart locker - 5.6 - 50 - 278 - 2.7
talbotron22 for DIY Kitty Crack: ultra-potent catnip extract - 5.4 - 51 - 275 - 2.5
jeffkobi for Retro Hi-Fi Project - 5.1 - 53 - 271 - 2.2
Kasey for Compubeaver --> How to case-mod a beaver - in 29 easy steps! - 5.1 - 48 - 244 - 2.3
mydian_nightshade forFurniture grade cocktail arcade cabinet - 5.0 - 50 - 252 - 2.4
nemomatic for Giant Squid kinetic sculpture from found materials - 4.9 - 50 - 244 - 2.5
dave spencer for erupting Volcano Birthday Cake - 4.6 - 52 - 238 - 2.4
mzed for Low-cost Spherical Speaker Array - 3.9 - 50 - 194 - 2.5
Four write-in candidates received votes, but none of them received a quorum, and they were each eliminated. They are:
Breath powered USB charger by jmengel
Make rope out of dead plants -- with no tools a collaboration led by phyzome
The One, The Only COTTON CANDY MACHINE! by T3h_Muffinator
Use a Vacuum cleaner to build your own Skateboard by gregorylavoie
Interestingly, the ranking of the top four finalists was unaffected by the additional 5 votes awarded from the forums. Also, considering that the actual winner was tied in the forums, had the forums accounted for 99% of the vote rather than 10%, with the judges doing little more than breaking the tie, Stuart.Mcfarlan would still have won. While there was some overlap between those asked to judge and those casting ratings in the forums, it was minimal, and the ratings in the forums were from a large cross-section of the Instructables community.
Judging a contest such as this is difficult, but I am pleased with the results and hope that the openness of this process will help us improve future contests.
Each potential judge received a ballot in the their Instructables inbox with the following instructions:
Please help us judge the Laser cutter contest!
As a previous contest winner, or someone whose opinion we trust, we'd like your input. Check out the list of finalists, review the rules, and help us choose a winner!
The judging will be totaled by Range Voting described here and here. You may vote from 0 (should not win) to 9 (should win) or "no opinion." The finalist with the highest average score will win (no opinion votes do not affect the average score). Up to two write-in candidates are accepted, but you must vote "no opinion" on an equal or greater number of finalists than your number of write-in votes to have your write-in votes count. Candidates without a quorum are eliminated; a winning candidate's total score must be at least 50% of the sum received by any candidate. This prevents candidates with few numerical votes (as opposed to "no opinion"s) from winning. In the event of a tie, each tied candidate receives one point for each voter who rates them above the arithmetic mean score for all the tied candidates. Ratings at or below the arithmetic mean receive zero points. The candidate with the most points wins.
The ballot below is meant to be viewed with your inbox at Instructables, so if you are viewing this message in your email, please log in to vote. Voting closes Friday morning July 13th.
Instructables Laser Cutter Contest Voting
Please cast a vote for up to 15 finalists. Only votes cast by those invited by the Instructables team are eligible.
A vote of "9" indicates that the finalist should win. A vote of "0" indicates that the finalist should not win. A vote of "no opinion" does not affect a finalist's standing.
You may vote for at most two write-in candidates. If you choose to vote for write-in candidates, you must have the same number, or greater, of "no opinion" votes.
The actual ballot contained the 15 finalists in alphabetical order with a drop-down box that defaulted to "no opinion" but could be set to 0-9. There were two spots for write-in candidates and corresponding drop-down boxes.
Voters were required to submit their Instructables username and email address to authenticate their vote.
Of the people asked to help judge, 49 responded.
To incorporate the results of the finalists' forum ratings, 5 more (10% additional) votes were awarded based on the ratings. Only taking into account positive votes (negatives were thrown out), and removing fraudulent votes, the ratings were normalized onto a 0-9 scale with the highest rating equal to a vote of 9. Those results were as follows:
crabfu for Steam Turbine Tank - 5
dave spencer for erupting Volcano Birthday Cake - 3
Honus for How to make a Green Lantern ring- including a glowing version! - 5
jabroutin for personal powerPlant - 7
jeffkobi for Retro Hi-Fi Project - 3
Kasey for Compubeaver --> How to case-mod a beaver - in 29 easy steps! - 5
lkrasnow for Precision Puzzlemaking Primer -- Volume 1 - 5
mikejedw for Pringles Wind Turbine (Pleech) - Version One - 9
mydian_nightshade for Furniture grade cocktail arcade cabinet - 1
mzed for Low-cost Spherical Speaker Array - 1
nemomatic for Giant Squid kinetic sculpture from found materials - 3
orthonormal_basis_of_evil for EMP shopping cart locker - 5
Stuart.Mcfarlan for How to Make a Three Axis CNC Machine (Cheaply and Easily) - 9
talbotron22 for DIY Kitty Crack: ultra-potent catnip extract - 5
turkey tek for Interactive Multitouch Display - 5
So, for example, Stuart.Mcfarlan received five votes each with a ranking of 9. This was in addition to the judges' votes awarded to Stuart.Mcfarlan.
The judges' and forum topic rating votes were totaled yielding the following results, which determined the winner:
Finalist - Average vote - Number of votes (5 forum votes plus all non-"no opinion" votes) - Sum of votes - Standard deviation
Stuart.Mcfarlan for How to Make a Three Axis CNC Machine (Cheaply and Easily) - 7.3 - 52 - 379 - 2.0
crabfu for Steam Turbine Tank - 6.6 - 53 - 350 - 1.9
lkrasnow for Precision Puzzlemaking Primer -- Volume 1 - 6.0 - 47 - 284 - 2.2
turkey tek for Interactive Multitouch Display - 6.0 - 52 - 313 - 2.4
mikejedw for Pringles Wind Turbine (Pleech) - Version One - 5.9 - 50 - 295 - 2.5
jabroutin for personal powerPlant - 5.8 - 48 - 280 - 1.9
Honus for How to make a Green Lantern ring- including a glowing version! - 5.7 - 51 - 293 - 2.0
orthonormal_basis_of_evil for EMP shopping cart locker - 5.6 - 50 - 278 - 2.7
talbotron22 for DIY Kitty Crack: ultra-potent catnip extract - 5.4 - 51 - 275 - 2.5
jeffkobi for Retro Hi-Fi Project - 5.1 - 53 - 271 - 2.2
Kasey for Compubeaver --> How to case-mod a beaver - in 29 easy steps! - 5.1 - 48 - 244 - 2.3
mydian_nightshade forFurniture grade cocktail arcade cabinet - 5.0 - 50 - 252 - 2.4
nemomatic for Giant Squid kinetic sculpture from found materials - 4.9 - 50 - 244 - 2.5
dave spencer for erupting Volcano Birthday Cake - 4.6 - 52 - 238 - 2.4
mzed for Low-cost Spherical Speaker Array - 3.9 - 50 - 194 - 2.5
Four write-in candidates received votes, but none of them received a quorum, and they were each eliminated. They are:
Breath powered USB charger by jmengel
Make rope out of dead plants -- with no tools a collaboration led by phyzome
The One, The Only COTTON CANDY MACHINE! by T3h_Muffinator
Use a Vacuum cleaner to build your own Skateboard by gregorylavoie
Interestingly, the ranking of the top four finalists was unaffected by the additional 5 votes awarded from the forums. Also, considering that the actual winner was tied in the forums, had the forums accounted for 99% of the vote rather than 10%, with the judges doing little more than breaking the tie, Stuart.Mcfarlan would still have won. While there was some overlap between those asked to judge and those casting ratings in the forums, it was minimal, and the ratings in the forums were from a large cross-section of the Instructables community.
Judging a contest such as this is difficult, but I am pleased with the results and hope that the openness of this process will help us improve future contests.
193 Comments
101gazz 17 years ago
shawntherobot 15 years ago
DannyboyINXS 14 years ago
So i'd say you'd be able to cut things like wood or glass with a laser, but it's up to you to find out if things will let off fumes given the method you're using to cut.
You may think it's fine now, but you don't want cancer 10 years down the track.
JimO 17 years ago
&E or Engraver's Journal and learn a bit about what laser engravers are designed to do before skydiving without a parachute. Please feel free to ask any quesitons about these machines.
ianswanson 16 years ago
doublefry 16 years ago
JimO 17 years ago
lebowski 16 years ago
thepapasmurf1369 16 years ago
FreakCitySF 16 years ago
onionring 16 years ago
zachninme 16 years ago
Brandon121233 16 years ago
ewilhelm 16 years ago
karylnewman 16 years ago
ewilhelm 16 years ago
dan 16 years ago
pabluski 16 years ago
5Volt 16 years ago
sixx 16 years ago