I’ve been toying with the idea of making a copy of this… …perhaps I should start plotting out my pieces now if I’m ever to turn it in to a reality. Then again, I could be biting off an unchewable sized mouthful.
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Oh, go on and chew.
Also please share notes and progress pictures when you can. 
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That would be a demo in a physics class that never expected to have demonstrations (Math Methods). Would be awesome to have one.
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Since waiting for a Glowforge, I have become a beekeeper (beek), ukulele player (beginner), and video maker (educational). I just started re-landscaping my garden for bees. Who knows what else I can accomplish by July. I should probably learn Fusion360…
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I love bees!
We had a “beek” neighbor who kept some hives on our property. His Dad was too.
That guy was an encyclopedia on bees.
We were talking one day and he brought my attention to a puddle of water with bees gathered around it drinking. He said "see that? That means the hive temperature is above (something like 84 degrees, I don’t remember). At that tèmperature they stop visiting flowers and start carrying water back, where they dribble it down the comb and fan their wings. They can lower the temperature 15 degrees by evaporative cooling."
When it’s cold they shiver and can raise the temp by about the same.
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- Figure out how to make a sales booth that will dominate all other booths at my local craft show in the fall.
- Design objects to be sold at said craft show, all the while trying to come up with That One Thing that you see everyone buying during each show.
- Figure out how to buy raw materials in a way that doesn’t break the bank!
- Be insanely jealous of people with current access to laser cutters lol
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Cool! You just taught me something new I didn’t know about bees! Thank you!
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You’re in for a treat.
They are fascinating! The workers only live 5 to 7 weeks, the short end is during the summer when they work themselves to death. look closely at them and you can spot the older ones by the wear on their wingtips - they chip and split and become less and less efficient, until they exhaust themselves trying to fly.
So many of us are afraid of them, but you would be pressed to find a more docile creature.
My neighbor had a large hive in an out building in the wall between studs, with a knot hole on the exterior where they entered. The cloud of traffic in and out was so prolific, it left a ring of beeswax an inch around the hole. He was afraid to go near it. (as I would have been before I understood them)
I walked up to within a foot of the entrance, where they all had to detour around me to get in. He was horrified… but he’s working on it.
It was then that I noticed occasional wasps using the same entrance! The traffic was such that they were all bumping into one another, but there was no conflict between the bees and wasps.
A bee is to love.(I’m still working on wasps…)
Very different looks and life patterns, yet no conflict nesting in the same space.
Made me think "WT# is OUR problem?? WE get excited over skin tone. We are so “intelligent”, but can’t manage to get along?
You have started a journey you and your bees will benefit from.
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@printolaser,
Whoa. Very cool. Here in southern California, many of the bees are of the africanized variety (mainly hybrids). We gotta be careful out here. Depending on where you live, the honeybees can be as gentle as kittens (with the reminder that kittens have claws).
Here is a video I took of worker bees cleaning the queen. We moved a 7 year old hive from the foot of my shed into a bee box. The queen is in the middle. The video is in slomo. YouTube didn’t maintain the HD quality, but it’s still pretty clear. I also recorded a video of the queen laying an egg…fascinating!
Wish I would have held my phone sideways while recording…ugh.
I wonder what I can craft for my beeyard using a Glowforge? Maybe “
ware” signs?
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Whoa - I didn’t consider those guys!
Vibration, sound waves seem to excite the africanized.
You bee careful!
A friend in Az. had a neighbor killed by them. They are very persistent and will chase you much further than regular western honeybees.
Too cold up here on the Colorado high plains for them - that’s fine by me.
Someone on our little street posted a ‘bee crossing’ sign. Looks like any other yellow crossing sign,but only for bees. Cute. 
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This was my third laser cutter project.What?! Those are AWESOME!!! Thank you for sharing them.
Yes, we all need to be concerned about bees. This is a pretty funny reminder.
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Thank you!
Also I’m finding it comforting to discover more and more people ARE thinking/concerned about bees. That video’s awesome, btw.
My favorite part of wearing a bee pendant so far is how it inspires random humans to tell me stories about how they or someone they know is actually doing something to help bee-kind. It’s really boosting my hope reserves.
#LetsFixEarth <3
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Yes, they are a fundamental block in the foundation of the food chain.
We are too close to looking down the barrel of a major void in the biosphere and starvation.
Hey, maybe we can encourage folks in this thread to plant local native flowers in their yards? One of the best things to do for bees is to make sure they have good, clean, food.
Planting native flowering plants is a great way to pass the time waiting for a Glowforge…watching them grow is too. Nature is a great inspiration for design.
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And spring is upon us in the Northern hemisphere!
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Finding good flowering plants can also be (or should I say bee?) super easy too!
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