field notes — the shop / machine shop
The Full Spectrum PS48 is a large-format CO₂ laser cutter and engraver with a 48″ × 36″ bed — one of two big CO₂ lasers in our shop, with room to handle a half sheet of plywood in one go.
cuts with a beam of lightA CO₂ laser works by focusing an invisible beam of infrared light into a point so small and so hot that it vaporizes material wherever it touches. A computer steers that point along a drawing with pinpoint precision — so anything you can draw on a screen, the PS48 can cut out or engrave, down to details finer than a pencil line.
It cuts and engraves wood, acrylic, cardboard, leather, and fabric, and it can etch designs onto glass, stone, and coated metal. The one thing it can't do is cut through bare metal — light at this wavelength mostly bounces right off. That job belongs to our fiber laser, the BesCutter Cube 1313, across the shop.
you'll find it in the machine shop
Machines like this come alive during our camps, clubs, and field trips — or book a tour and see the whole shop.