If you build something, you know how to take it apart.

That's one of the motivating factors behind the Lasersaur project, which seeks to design an affordable, open source laser cutter than anyone can acquire parts for and build. The brainchild of Addie Wagenknecht and Stefan Hechenberger, the principals and founders of NYC-based R&D studio Nortd Lab, the project is currently 92% complete.

Wagenknecht points out that if you buy an off-the-shelf laser cutter and it breaks, you're pretty much SOL; but if you build one yourself, you'll know how to take it apart and fix it.

Here's the project in Wagenknecht and Hechenberger's own words, from when they launched it about half a year ago:

Thus far a couple dozen people around the world have built Lasersaurs. Here's one in Switzerland cutting the Lasersaur logo out of thin plywood:

Speed! Lasersaur Cutting Plywood. from stefanix on Vimeo.

There's tons of Lasersaur development photos here, and a stack of videos here.

If you want to get involved you can donate cash or expertise to the project at this link. And if you donate $32 or more you get beta access, which includes design documents, software and access to the Lasersaur community before it goes full open source.