Creating Retro Ray Gun Art With Lasers!

Wherein I swipe retrofuturistic, 1950s toy patents and transform them into laser-etched art displays.
Purchase your very own Thunder Laser here: www.thunderlaserusa.com/
PURCHASE RAY GUN ART PANELS
www.wesleytreat.com/rayguns
FOLLOW-UP VIDEO
Watch how I scaled up production to fill orders: • Mass-Producing Artwork...
ARE PATENT ILLUSTRATIONS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT?
Patent illustrations fall under public domain. More info here: kindsvater.com/patent-copyrig....
"MECHANICAL HAND" AUCTION
The auction has ended. Thank you to all who particpated!
BUY STICKERS AND OTHER MERCH
www.wesleytreat.com/shop
PATREON EXCLUSIVES
If you'd like to help support my channel and get access to exclusive content, visit / wesleytreat .
OFFICIAL WEBSITE
▶ wesleytreat.com
SHOW YOUR SUPPORT
▶ Merch: www.wesleytreat.com/shop
▶ Photography: satelluxestudio.etsy.com
▶ Favorite Tools: amazon.com/shop/wesleytreat
FOLLOW ME
▶ Instagram: / wesley_treat
▶ Twitter: / wesleytreat
SAVE 5% ON TOTALBOAT PRODUCTS BY USING THIS LINK
▶ www.totalboat.com/wtreat
TOOLS & MATERIALS FEATURED IN THIS VIDEO
▶ Thunder Laser 80W Nova 35: www.thunderlaserusa.com/machi...
▶ 3M 7500 Series Respirator: amzn.to/3XpnejS
▶ 3M 6001 Organic Vapor Cartridge: amzn.to/3bk8mi2
▶ 3M P95 Pre-filters for 6000 Series Cartridge: amzn.to/3c2jG19
▶ 3M Pre-filter Retainer: amzn.to/3riOWQ3
▶ Laser Honeycomb Bed Hold-Downs: www.etsy.com/shop/LaserWoodCr...
▶ TotalBoat Gleam 2.0 Marine Spar Varnish: www.totalboat.com/products/gl...
Note: I may earn a commission from certain product links.

[@tomasgonzalez1636]

Seeing you with your new laser reminded me of the phrase that "men don't grow up, we just buy more expensive toys"

[@tex1138]

This may be your funniest video yet, and I don’t say that lightly!

[@WesleyTreat]

My next video is just me watching old social hygiene films.

[@barthanes1]

Old military hardware patents might look cool too.

[@lasermike2147]

In the 22 years I've had my laser, I've not made anything this cool.

[@evanbarnes9984]

That toy robot costume is VERY similar to the first Halloween costume I can remember wearing! My dad and I built a costume like that out of cardboard boxes and dryer vent line for the arms and legs. We put a bunch of Christmas lights poking out through the box, and I could turn different strands on and off with light switches inside the main body. We named it the EvaNIAC because I'm Evan and the first digital computer was the ENIAC. Definitely kicked off my life long love of nerd puns with that one!

[@maxximumb]

The large robotic arm panel is beautiful. Wish i had more money. Fingers crossed for a lottery win.

[@OhHeyTrevorFlowers]

I would 100% watch a smoke ring gun build.

[@SeraphimKnight]

I gotta say making ray guns with a laser is pretty meta.

[@swp466]

Wesley -- a tip for engraving on your laser -- while air assist is a must for cutting, it tends to hurt engraving quality by blowing the soot right into the engraving. If you have an air valve on your air assist line, turn the air down to ALMOST off when engraving. You still want the slightest amount of air coming out, but just enough to prevent smoke and soot from backing up into the nozzle and dirtying your lens. A good way of testing is to take a small, shallow container (like one of those plastic things you put ketchup in at a fast food restaurant to go) and put some water in it. Turn your air valve all the way off. Place the tip of the nozzle just below the surface and slowly open the valve until just you see some bubbles in the water. A better way to go is an automated sir system that will give you full air flow when cutting and the reduced flow when engraving. LightBurn and RDWorks both have a switch in the layer settings to control the air (the "Air" switch in LB, the "Blowing" switch in RDWorks) which will control an electric air valve. The best option for automating this is Ultimate Air Assist (search that term in Amazon). It gives you all the parts needed to add this to any Ruida controlled laser (your laser has a Ruida controller).

[@WesleyTreat]

One of the great things about the Thunder Laser machines is they have this built in. There's a high and a low air setting, with adjustable knobs for each. 👍‍‍ tinyurl.com/35ha9n28

[@michman2]

@@WesleyTreat I have the same problem with Lucite cutting/engraving. Lower IS sometimes better.

[@KK4CNM]

"10 years ago was 1990" Indeed

[@SaitoGray]

Holy shit that blue blueprint is amazing. I need to repair my laser, i'm definitely stealing the idea to make for my empty wall.

[@davidcenteau-depina6192]

This is a great project! It's comforting to know that I'm not the only one to spend hours nerding out on the Google patents search.

[@geneard639]

Suggestion: Apply 3 or 4 coats to the substrata, layering various colors like red, green, blue and black, and use the laser power and speed settings to pare away the layers creating vivid color renditions like an old comic book 4 color image. There would be color blending on the edges... but, I think it could make some interesting art.

[@deepsgnips]

Tried that once on canvas with 2 colors and did non work out well, maybe because the color layers were too thin. Maybe I’ll try it again

[@GoingtoHecq]

In this process the laser is ablative and any paint layers would be absurdly thin. For very thin layers like you want it requires a process where maybe he would laser cuz extremely thin sheets of colored plastic and then press and bake them onto a substrate, or just glue them. Or start with thicker layers and use a cnc machine. The first method would be at least able to combine colors naturally as light passes through them.

[@rustedfriend]

Well now I want to laser etch some patents and also find some cool raygun patents and make prop guns from them. Thanks for adding to my ever growing list of projects Mr.Treat, Jeez.

[@WesleyTreat]

Yeah, I'm tempted to model up a couple of these now, too.

[@rustedfriend]

@@WesleyTreat Sounds like the makings of a good old fashion ray gun duel ;) or maybe just a prop challenge. If we lived closer we could also duel.

[@GHILLIESARCADEANDMORE]

New toys are always fun and cool especially when they're the workshop kind

[@evilutionltd]

You should try etching them straight into the acrylic and side light them.

[@lilifuentes4536]

Thank you for this! I was able to replicate this successfully with a 10w laser in 3 passes at 20mm with 100% laser (.5mm height)! It OBVIOUSLY takes forever, but looks gorgeous!

[@jackcoats4146]

I remember the Wham-O Air Blaster gun... it was in the list of patents. sold in 1963

[@TheLongjohntim]

That pistol tooth brush was so wrong on so many levels!

[@mecharc]

Not you just ROASTING old inventors. Someone's grandpa is rolling in their grave with anger 😂 good vid

[@stuartkorte1642]

Great project. I do like the blue since originally drawings were blue prints before we switched to blue line prints.

[@davepolotaxi]

Please make your video's longer or make more of them. I love them and your humor!

[@jakdkr]

just discovered this channel and already infatuated with this mans content

[@GreatOldOne]

0:35 - I understood that reference. 😎

[@David-Field.Stuff01]

Great video and a very interesting story.

[@johnbrowning1350]

Those are seriously cool

[@jerrybailey5797]

Those are fantastic laser etched, ray guns 🔫 they look amazing 👍

[@smu1129]

I only own a little K40 but this video gave me a plethora of ideas to implement the machine in new ways. Thank you very much.

[@LostDryerSocks]

12:28 "Mommy, what did he mean by that?"

[@liroso]

Wonderful. Engrossing. Mesmerizing. Fascinating. I think I'm in love with your nerd brain.

[@RedBairnMedia]

The blue one is screaming out for an ACME made Wile E Coyote device.

[@UndeadSpaceMonkey1]

Your channel is like combining Adam Savage and Matthais Wandel. LOVE IT! You've been on binge mode for a while now. Thanks

[@Dsk001]

This was great, the tip for searching patents will come in useful. I do 3d modeling and always wanted to bring back some old toys as 3d prints. Other patents you may want to look into is the 1989 batmobile and batwing are in there

[@maxximumb]

Great idea. Looks like I'm modelling a replica 1950s Smoke Ring Gun. I wonder if the smoke ring mechanism could be recreated with a vape pen or similar device?

[@terristroh3965]

Those are awesome!

[@clydebalcom3679]

Sweet. My inner nerdy geek has been satisfied.

[@tajjej3649]

The blue arm/gun gives it a blueprint look. Excellent!

[@vicmiller7191]

That arm looks very similar to the B-9 Robot from the old Lost in Space show. All the stuff looks awesome.

[@mickolay]

Уэстли, я всегда с нетерпением жду твоих видео. Выпускай их почаще.

[@grumpywoodchucker]

BRAVO!!! 🎉

[@negotiableaffections]

Delicious!

[@Xylomethazolinhydroc]

Absolut großartig. Die Patentbilder sehen richtig gut aus!!! Sowas würde ich mir auch an die Wand hängen, wunderschön. Tolles Video. Die Tests die du gemacht hast sahen sehr spannend aus!

[@TotalBoat]

Very cool!

[@WesleyTreat]

Thanks! And the Gleam makes those Baltic birch edges look real nice.

[@82gamerprincess31]

I love your spray glue masking idea with cardboard. The one downside of spray glue is that crap goes everywhere lol. Especially i think it’s super 76 that comes out all stringy. We used it in art class and it was messy af.

[@JonathanExcels]

Love it

[@twistydogcreations683]

Wow! You can make some real nice Gonk parts with that laser. LOL ;D #TeamGonk

[@joell439]

Just keeps getting better 👍😎👍

[@jpalarchio]

Amazing work. The blue paint definitely has a nice blueprint type look to it. Not familiar with the process but wondering if anodizing would be easier than the paint?

[@jonathanj8303]

That was my thought as soon as I saw the thumbnail. You can get a gorgeous deep metallic blue annodizing on aluminium, and it the laser will burn it away crisply, the results would be stunning.

[@Sheevlord]

Anodizing requires dunking the sheet in an alkaline solution to degrease it, dunking it in acid to remove oxides, putting it in an electrolyte bath and applying electricity, boiling in a dye solution, then boiling in water to seal it. So it's a lot more involved process than painting. However, the finish is also a lot more durable. So, depending on what you're going to do with it anodizing might be warranted.

[@jonathandrain9610]

No laser for me, but I might use some bad screen printing tech to emulate this! Really amazing work, as always.

[@WesleyTreat]

Thanks! Yeah, give it a go!

[@wxfield]

There are several companies that sell pre-enameled aluminum sheet material for laser etching with consistent thickness and quality.

[@WesleyTreat]

Yep, it's used a lot in the sign industry. I'm looking into it for production. Some paints etch better than others, as I've found, so I've got to test it first. 👍‍‍

[@sticustom]

May be do some pistols? Beretta 92fs, Colt 1911, Luger 9mm or even some revolvers. Smith and Wesson 686, Ruger Vaquero, etc.

[@thesplinteredfinger]

Great job Wesley! I’ve got to try this on my laser

[@Call_Me_David]

I said out loud Romulan disruptor and Klingon disruptor as soon as I saw them and LOLed when you mentioned it too.

[@markdmaker3173]

Cool!

[@odot2505]

Awesome

[@NeoPraxeus]

I know I'm late to the video & all, but Wesley... you were ahead of your time literally. 😂

[@undefined40]

That's a really nice idea.

[@connormccarter9581]

Ok, I think this is the coolest thing I've seen all week! Thanks for the video!

[@RickPMandel]

Just Brilliant! Thanks for sharing both a great product, as well as inspiration!

[@harveynewman455]

Never thought I needed a laser cutter... until now😂 awesome execution as always

[@krisknowlton5935]

Harvey, of course you need a laser. It's the most fun rabbit hole you'll ever go down. I started with a 5 watt blue diode laser about 4 years ago and upgraded to a 10 watt. Then last year it was up to bigger and better...a 50 watt fiber laser and just last week a Cloudray CR7050 55 watt CO2 laser. ( I tell the wife I use my cigarette money to buy them. I never have smoked). She is actually happy I have this hobby because I make a lot of personalized things for her to give away.

[@frankligas2249]

Thanks for the video. Just found your show. Thumbs up and instant subscribe. Wish I had a workshop like yours. I have been trying to work out of a public Maker Space. The last time I went down there, the guy before me set the laser on fire and torched the lense. I tried to move to the table saw, but someone had triggered the saw-stop and that was out-of-order. I tried to spray paint some metal for testing in the laser, but the Fire Marshal forbids spray paint in the building. I was ready to give up and go home..... but I said.... well... at least I can sand down some boards for laser etching later. I had some small pencil marks to sand off, easy. I flipped them over and sanded the back and when I flipped them over.... the dried blobs of glue on the table gouged the surface of the boards so bad they were unusable.

[@kevinvitale8980]

Really enjoy you recording your process and procedures. Entertaining and inspiring.

[@tomim7187]

Wesley, these are incredible! They certainly tickle my Sci-Fi nerd gene!

[@AquaPeet]

8:11 imagine that you're swimming in the sea enjoying yourself and then you see a SHARK FIN COMING CLOSER BUT IT HAS A GIANT SPINNING SAW BLADE

[@jimcooksey812]

TAKE MY MONEY! Thanks for the video! Have a great week!

[@prestonbain6670]

Do some blue prints of famous places in the blue color.

[@sgsax]

These are so freaking cool! This is totally my vibe. Now to decide which one I want to get... Thanks for sharing!

[@michman2]

Buy the largest and most powerful you can afford. You'll grow into a great one and out of a starter very quickly.

[@danthemakerman]

You never fail to inspire!

[@BartManNL]

3:37 may have been the inspiration for the "money for nothing" video by Dire Straits

[@WesleyTreat]

Can't believe I didn't think of that.

[@patrickconnor1676]

I like the images, but this also looks like an excellent way to produce control panels.

[@davebauerart]

They look great, Excellent idea! I’m glad you kept the idea going for so long!

[@CheshireNoir]

When you have a laser cutter, _everything_ needs to be cut with lasers. (Looks at laser cut tshirt box, laser cut case for retro computer, laser cut charging station) Definitely

[@tohopes]

Wesley Treat, patent thief extraordinaire 🔫

[@davidwilkie7250]

What a great project! Liked the guns but the robots are more my style. The boxy robot was my favorite. Don't know if there is a copyright but the original Lost in Space robot would be fabulous. Thanks for the great videos! 8-)

[@thegentlemanmaker]

Dammit Wesley, you’ve sent me down a rabbit hole there 😀

[@Nono-hk3is]

Attorneys James and Franklin. Just these guys I know.

[@feynthefallen]

They said it's a CHILDREN'S toy. They never specified what AGE children it was for...

[@pugger420]

these are awesome! they look so great, the testing was so worth it. the piece up for auction is SO cool.

[@beautifulsmall]

Just came across this channel, did the pillar drill auto reverse as the feed changed. I want one. Great choice of art.

[@LeoAzzakaGoile]

The Laser Guns prints are fab :) Have you thought about getting some of the Blueprints from the PC game Fallout 4? ie: 'The Fatman'. They would look amazing.

[@paulstallings1177]

You could if you were making it for yourself, but you'd likely run into some legal issues if you were to sell them without properly licensing the rights. There is a good chance an image from a game like fallout would still fall under copyright, whereas the images from these old patents are in the public domain.

[@jasonsummit1885]

Love the blue one, looks like an actual blueprint. Wish I could find the original blueprints from 1930 I had for a Java Lake housing development in New York, if I find them then I'll definitely be framing them.

[@jonathankr]

Once again, amazing stuff. Love your channel

[@davidquerry8869]

Way cool project. Good job.

[@azachman]

gonk!

[@WesleyTreat]

My app offered to translate this comment.

[@idiotluggage]

Those are awesome. I love the retro ray guns.

[@yellowknifer1]

Very cool thank you for sharing new follower keep up the awesome work

[@chrisjones-fp5vd]

They came out so awesome. You should do teslas patent drawings

[@JohnSmith-gm4fj]

So is the end product better than the old "burning plates" method of making metal etched printing plates?

[@bytesizedengineering]

Oh my gosh! So cool!

[@AquaPeet]

What a GREAT tool that laser thing is! Oh and I thought you were going the route of etching them but these are awesome as is.

[@WesleyTreat]

Hoping Thunder Laser gives me a fiber laser at some point, then I can etch metal, too. 👍‍

[@onedieingsoul]

I do the same basic thing on glass. Paint the back and etch that with the reverse image.

[@WesleyTreat]

Great idea!

[@barrishautomotive]

Just ordered mine. Can't wait.

[@myksweet]

Need Robots too!

[@Andre11210]

Awesom.... Lasers....

[@precisioncardmodels]

Mouse Trap Patents!

[@michman2]

Wes, you might try painting first with a layer of hard epoxy paint in one color followed by a thin layer of a softer paint. I've done this and the result was spectacular. Try a metallic base. Follow up with a coat of clear to make the show-through layer pop!

[@Vanillayote]

It would be really neat to have that rifle one you mentioned in the video as a larger piece, maybe the width of 2 or 3 of these smaller ones, so that you can arrange them on the wall as a set!

[@WesleyTreat]

It's on the to-do list!

[@oldtownhomestead9295]

wood look way cool on brass or copper.

[@EvilSpyBoy]

I've wanted to do schematics on my laser for so long but didn't know about the patent site

[@AlexParton]

Can you do a whole video on the illustrator part? Fascinating!

[@Raeglar]

Have tried the diamond drag bit...