Update: the laser has been sold. Thanks for your interest!

Way back in like 2008 NYC Resistor was new and fresh. We were tearing it up on the internet blogs and building pneumatic stabbing robots. We also bought our most expensive tool to date ( at the time ). We pooled our meager wages and bought an epilog legend laser cutter ( 12×24 inch model ). This thing was THE BOMB. It made our projects better faster stronger as we listened to an endless loop of daft punk while building every bad idea that crossed our minds.

In fact, Makerbot was conceived upon it’s not so gently abused bed. The first of many prototypes leading to the cupcake 3d printer, and even the first few hundred production run cupcakes were cut out of wood on this laser cutter before Makerbot was thrown bodily from the space by angry hackers ( I joke sort of ). It is quite literally a piece of technology history. It harkens back to a dark time in our history in which every hackerspace was launching a 3d printing company. We apologize for that profusely.

We’ve got the rotation arm for it! Yours free of charge with purchase. It’s fully functional last it was turned on. Works with corel draw like a champ. Has hellaciously better drivers than any comparable chinese laser cutter / etcher. We have full documentation on laser settings for it. And we’ve replaced most of the components on it. We’ve also got some cool hackery docs on it here: Command Line Lasering

We upgraded to a bigger, strong, better, faster cutter this past winter. And now this laser cutter is just taking up space we don’t really have to spare. Also, it’s not being used. So we’d like for it to go to a good home who can make use of it. You’ll have to provide your own filtration system and other safety equipment. But otherwise this is a solid entry level laser cutter / etcher. And we’ve proven only a small part of it’s dazzling array of diverse capabilities.

Please reach out to contact at nycresistor dot com if you are interested in purchasing our laser.

We’ve added a whole bunch of Arduino classes to the calendar! The next one will be Intro to Arduino: Sensors and Input/Output, on Sunday July 19th. (Tickets here!)

All of these classes are designed to be introductory-level, so while we’ll assume some basic knowledge of programming (some familiarity with variables, loops, and arrays), no prior experience with hardware, electronics, or circuitry is assumed.

Over the next few months, here’s what we’re teaching:

• July 19: Sensors and Input/Output
• August 23: Motors
• September 20: LEDs
• October 24: Networking
• November 15: Sensors and Input/Output
• December 6: Arduino Hack Day

All of these classes will cover a basic introduction to Arduino, as well as a more specific topic — how to control LEDs, for instance, or how to communicate over WiFi.

(Some of the tickets aren’t on sale yet, as we’re still working on finalizing class content.)

And then on December 6th, we’ll have an Arduino Hack Day, where you can take what you’ve learned and apply it to your own projects, with TAs on hand to help you make your projects a reality.

Tickets to the next class (next Sunday!) are on sale now.

What is a better holiday activity than a picnic in the park or reading the internet all day at home? Spending the day inside soldering, sewing, programming or laser cutting something great with other nerds! This Friday NYC Resistor is having our third #HackFriday event, an open day for you to come hack on your projects with us. The space will be open from 10am on 3 July and everyone is welcome.

If you don’t have a project, don’t worry! You can buy an Arduino from the vending machine or browse through our free parts in “Thingsgiving” to find some inspiration!

The call for submissions to the Open Hardware Summit is now open!

This year’s Open Hardware Summit will be back in the States in Philadelphia, PA on September 19, 2015. Now in its sixth year, OHS brings together an inquisitive and active community of open hardware hackers, manufacturers and theorists for a full day of talks, poster presentations, and after hours socializing. If you have not been before, come. If you have been before, isn’t this the year you should submit a proposal to share your knowledge and perspective?

Proposals will be reviewed in a double-blind process by experts in the field and the roster of speakers determined by July 31, 2015.

Read the detailed call for submissions for instructions on submitting a proposal.