With the current interest in 3D printers and all the talk of the wonderful creations that could potentially come from it, it’s is not surprise that other technologies are being explored.
However, this time, ink has been swapped for fire! Lucien Langton, a 25-year-old student, has built a fully-functioning printer for wood that uses fire.
Named the FireWriter, it operates on the same principle as the old dot matrix printers – laying out an image dot by dot and line by line. Langton has used a repurposed inkjet printer controlled with Arduino Uno, a calibration module equipped with an optical sensor and fitted with a Dremel torch loaded with a mixture of butane and propane that burns at up to 1200 degrees Celsius.
Speaking about his project, Langton said: “FireWriter is a machine using contemporary rapid prototyping electronics combined with humanity’s first technology: fire.
“The purpose is to propose a dialogue between image reproduction and its destruction. Inevitably, alterations of the support are linked with alteration of aesthetics. The result offers aspects of engraving with a mechanical/pixelised pattern.”
Check out the FireWriter below:
