Laser Cutter Build Night: PiKnife Completed!

Tonight, I officially finished PiKnife, the Raspberry Pi-based laser cutter that cost $3.39.  While some minor issues still exist, for the most part, they do not affect engravings and cuttings.  Thus, for the present, PiKnife has been successfully completed - finished, but not shelved.  I may modify it in the future for better results and such, but right now, FIRST robotics is starting up, so I am eager to devote all my waking hours to building robots.

I am quite happy with how PiKnife has turned out.  It can successfully engrave and cut from gcode files generated by common image drawing programs and is accurate and precise.  It does not need constant tweaking in order to work correctly, which is something I strive for in my projects.  Looking forward in the future, I am excited to see how PiKnife will evolve and morph.

To wrap this build log up, I thought I would share my code, a picture of the finished laser cutter, and a model PiKnife cut out of foam.  Here are the pictures:

I am positively exuberant at holding the finished Spitfire MKII miniature model.  It looks awesome!  I love the detail and the satisfaction at payoff from a job well done.  I got the CNC files from here.  If you would like to use, modify, or view my final PiKnife code, check out each file here, here, and here.  (The limit switches are unimplemented.)

I guess that's ta-ta for now, but perhaps in the future PiKnife will improve once again.  :)