Phil Torrone was kind enough to lend us his laser machine for a second straight year, and we fully intend to make use of it. His open source setup includes a Epilog Laser machine that can cut/etch everything under the sun—cork, paper, ceramic, tortillas—as long as it's not PVC or vinyl. They also use along with a Windows PC running Corel Draw to allow for custom graphics
.
We'll have some templates available for you to use, but you can also bring your own stuff in—provided they meet the following guidelines:

• First, your illustration must be a vector file. Not a bitmap. If you are not sure what this means, don't bring it. The machine can only etch vector-based files.
• Save your vector illustration in Adobe Illustrator format (again, no bitmaps saved inside. Just vector art).
• Make sure your illustration is adjusted to your hardware physical features. If you are bringing a MacBook, you can use the templates here.
• Also, laser etching of pancake machines, giant cheetos or KCRW DJs are not allowed. Sorry guys.

We'll be charging for etching this year as a fundraiser for charity. Laptops will cost $25 to etch and handheld gadgets will cost $5 apiece.

Gizmodo Gallery 2009
Groupe
267 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY 10012

Gallery Dates:
September 23rd-27th

Times:

9/22 Tuesday
Media Day by appointment only. For info please contact gallery@gizmodo.com.

9/23 Wednesday
12-8

9/24 Thursday
12-8

9/25 Friday
12-8

9/26 Saturday
11-8
9-? - Live Musical Performance

9/27 Sunday
11-6

Read more about our Giz Gallery 09 here, follow @gizgallery on Twitter and see what else we'll be playing with at the event. And special thanks to Toyota's Prius — without their sponsorship, there would be no Gizmodo Gallery.

This is the same laser that did some fine, fine gadget tattooing at Giz Gallery. And if you're in the NYC area, the Adafruit folks would be happy to etch your Kindle 2, or anything else, for that matter. [Adafruit]

He got his done at NYC Resistor; if you remember our etch-a-fest at the Gizmodo Gallery thanks to Phil and friends from Make (among these, a sweet Epilog etcher), you know how cool these can turn out. This is one of the best I've seen—glossy black plastic really takes kindly to the laser's touch. [Kotaku]

Phil is only here tonight, so if you want to get your computer or phone etched, come down now. He also etched the new iPhones for the first time ever tonight, and they look surprisingly badass, especially the black one. Make sure you bring your own vector art with you unless you just want text.

Also, while you're here you'll have the opportunity to take the Giz staff on in Call of Duty 4 on the 103-inch TV. What else do you need?

[Thanks to REED ANNEX and thanks to our benefactor gizmine.com]

Gizmodo Gallery



Reed Annex



151 Orchard Street



New York, NY 10002

Gizmodo Gallery Reader Meetup



The reader meetup takes place across the street from the Gallery, at a place called The Annex (not to be confused with REED ANNEX where the gallery is hosted.) The address is 152 Orchard Street and we'll be there at 9 PM SHARP on Friday December 5th.

Gallery Dates:



December 4th-7th

Times:



12/4 Thursday



12-8

12/5 Friday



12-8

12/6 Saturday



11-8

12/7 Sunday



11-4

[Read more about our Gizmodo Gallery here and see what else we'll be playing with at the event.]

I've always been fascinated with the idea of laser etching all my tech gear, and it looks like I would finally be able to do it at the Gizmodo Gallery. Thanks to Make's Phil Torrone and his laser machine, anyone walking in the Gizmodo Gallery would be able to tattoo their metal gadgets with Phil's laser, absolutely free of charge. (He'll be there on the first day we're open, December 4th.) We will have some illustrations available for people to choose from but, if you follow these instructions closely, you would be able to bring your own drawings to use them with the laser.

• First, your illustration must be a vector file. Not a bitmap. If you are not sure what this means, don't bring it. The machine can only etch vector-based files.
• Save your vector illustration in Adobe Illustrator format (again, no bitmaps saved inside. Just vector art).
• Make sure your illustration is adjusted to your hardware physical features. If you are bringing a MacBook, you can use the templates here.

[Thanks to Phil Torrone for the laser, to REED ANNEX and thanks to our benefactor gizmine.com]

Gizmodo Gallery
Reed Annex
151 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002

Gizmodo Gallery Reader Meetup
The reader meetup takes place across the street from the Gallery, at a place called The Annex (not to be confused with REED ANNEX where the gallery is hosted.) The address is 152 Orchard Street and we'll be there at 9 PM SHARP on Friday December 5th.

Gallery Dates:
December 4th-7th

Times:
12/4 Thursday
12-8

12/5 Friday
12-8

12/6 Saturday
11-8

12/7 Sunday
11-4

[Read more about our Gizmodo Gallery here and see what else we'll be playing with at the event.]

When hooked up to a personal computer, the Zing is recognized as a printer. Put whatever you want to etch on a 16 by 12 inch engraving area and then use Corel Draw to calibrate where the design will go before starting the cutting process. Get to customizing every Mac thing you own for $7,995.

Here's a video of an iPhone getting carved and the laser cutting through wood.

[Gearlog]

A bunch of designers hacked away at the plywood using an Epilog Legend 36EXT laser and went to work on over 80 different boards. When we first heard about the idea we thought the designs would be pretty rudimentary, but they can actually produce pretty intricate images at 1200dpi.

However, having the sweetest deck on the block will set you back, $500 to be exact. And that doesn't even include the wheels.– Ben Longo

Designers Use Laser to Grind 3-D Art Into Skateboard Decks [Wired via OhGizmo!]

Then, there's an etched burrito...

Phil at Make Blog [Make]

Don't want to pay $100? Then you're in luck, because Phil's made the entire business' plans open source, so you take their blueprints and start your own laser studio in your town. The laser costs about $15,000, so including overhead you just need to laser 200 laptops to break even. Not a high number at all. – Jason Chen

Product Page [Adafruit]

Laser-etching coming to a laptop near you [News.com]

She is selling advertising on a soon-to-be-purchased MacBook Pro. For only $150, you can own a square inch of her MacBook Pro that will be on display throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Wondering how she can afford the laser etching? She works at Squid Lab, specifically for Instructables, a favorite site of ours—they are allowing her to use their laser-etching machine.

Can't afford the $150? Donate any, for $30 she will buy you a beer, which is kind of like a date! Oh, and the best part of all—the largest contributor gets a 250MB Zip Drive signed by Leah! I bet she could afford a new MacBook if she would just sell the time machine used to get that Zip Drive. – Travis Hudson

Help Me Buy A Laptop!

A friend of ours had a very one of his intricate drawings laser etched onto his Powerbook last year and we've been extremely jealous of him since, even though he probably totally voided his Apple Care. If you can't afford a $7k+ laser cutter, or don't know anyone with access to one, perhaps you should try wheedling your way into Nike's Lasarium, a room at their Oregon campus where they do all their laser work; the three photos above were posted by designer Jeff Ng of Staple Designs over the weekend, of things his friends have had etched there. The Blackberry 8700 with the Jordan XX all-over print belongs to Justin of Dime Magazine and both the RAZR and Sony Cybershot T1 with the hot skull Mark Smith pattern on them belong to Jamie of Juxtapoz Magazine.

Juztapoz/AJ XX/Blackberry [Jeff Staple, via Cool Hunting]