CNC hot-air gun used to draw faces, text on toast

Slicing up ole Xbox consoles or using immensely powerful lasers to heat your morning cup of joe are certainly entertaining ways to make industrial machinery a bit more fun, but the CNC Toast printer ups the ante by providing an over-the-top replacement for those plastic molds we used as youngsters. By hacking a CNC hot-air gun to respond to a "computer-dictated X-Y control system" and affixing it to the carriage of a printer, the evil scientists were able instruct the toasty (ahem) blaster to move around in a user-selected pattern in order to print images and text onto pieces of toast. Cleverly dubbed "digital toast imaging technology," the apparatus was able to affix a number of slightly awkward faces on slices of bread, and even imprint "Hello World" onto one piece in particular. Still, you can't get the full impression of how geektacular this truly is without seeing it in motion, so that's why you should click on through right about now and hit play, cool?

[Via HackedGadgets]

[Paul @ Apr 28th 2007 7:02AM]

whats the name of the person hispanics see on bread?

[S. Brown @ Apr 28th 2007 8:06AM]

The Virgin Mary, maybe?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4034787.stm

[Leoedin @ Apr 28th 2007 7:23AM]

It's clearly not writing on toast, but toasting on bread!

[matthew @ Apr 28th 2007 5:13PM]

> "It's clearly not writing on toast, but toasting on bread!"


very, very good point. now i can let this one rest.

[Chuckles McGee @ Apr 28th 2007 9:27AM]

For DTIT to ever take off, they're going to have to seriously bump up those SPM figures (slices per minute). Still, if someone ever puts that in a toaster- Disney would snap those up. What kid doesn't want the mouse ears on their toast from a licensed Disney restaurant/hotel/cruise line?

[rob @ Apr 28th 2007 11:26AM]

Actually Disney already sells toasters that put Micky mouse images on your toast. They use a metal mask in the toaster so the image of mickey shows up as a lighter area.

[Thomas @ Apr 28th 2007 10:27AM]

My mother bought me a toaster for my wedding that puts Micky Mouse's face on the toast. It also, annoyingly, plays the Micky Mouse song when the toast pops up.

[ssuk @ Apr 28th 2007 10:32AM]

Very clever, depending on how dark a part of the image should be is how long the printer keeps the torch over it. So simple yet highly complex at the same time. impressive stuff.

[Josh L. @ Apr 28th 2007 1:46PM]

OMG we got Hello World on toast! Soon enough we'll have Linux running too!

[tiuk @ Apr 28th 2007 4:31PM]

Not the best choice for a video, most of the "work" had already been done when the video started.

[TIMMAH! @ Apr 28th 2007 6:42PM]

Yeah I can see the next product in Hammcher Schlemmer section of the Skymall magazine now... custom monogrammed toast.

[Richard @ Apr 30th 2007 11:18AM]

I certainly could use a little more D-TIT action in my life...

[Robert @ May 6th 2007 8:08PM]

Sweet! Now I can print the Virgin Mary and sell those tasty treats on ebay.

[Feck @ May 10th 2007 1:05PM]

Now they can develop edible nano-chips for rice crisies that actually talk.