Q: A middle of the range laser cutter costs about US$1000. This is quite a high price if you are just wanting to experiment with a laser cutter. Contact your local university or polytechnic and ask if you can pay to use their laser cutter. This will give you a chance to find out what model of laser cutters you like best, before investing a large amount of money in purchasing your own. If you want to buy your own laser cutter, consider buying a used model to reduce the cost. Laser cutters can cut and engrave wood, plastic, cardboard, foam, fabric, and thin sheets of metal. Any material containing chlorine cannot be used due to the toxic fumes they produce. Avoid PVC, vinyl, and printed circuit boards.  Glass can be engraved but cannot be cut. Thick metal cannot be cut. This could be a photo, a computer drawing, or computer text. Start with a simple image at first and try more complex images as you gain experience with the machine. If you are using a photo, make sure it has plenty of contrast and not many shadows. Check the side of the laser cutter or the user manual to find out what software to use. Save the image file to your computer. Open the software and click “import” to upload the image to the programme. Popular software options are Adobe Illustrator and CoreIDRAW. These can be downloaded online. It is important that the image size is not larger than the size of your material, otherwise you will end up with sections of the image missing. Go to the setting of the image and change the dimensions to match the size of your material. For example, if your material is 10 centimetres (3.9 in) x 20 centimetres (7.9 in), enter 10 centimetres (3.9 in) as the width and 20 centimetres (7.9 in) as the height. Make sure that you have selected the correct unit of measurement. In the settings of the image, select “photo-optimised” if you are cutting a photo. If you are printing a digital drawing or text, select a resolution of at least 333dpi (dots per inch). This will optimise the image for laser processing.  As you get used to the laser cutter you are using, experiment with different effects. In the algorithm effects toolbar you can vary the depth and patterns of engraving. If you are cutting a picture of people, select “ordered dithering” in the algorithms toolbar. This effect will help the people to stand out.
A: Find a laser cutter to use. Decide what material you want to cut or engrave. Choose an image to cut or engrave onto your chosen material. Upload the image into software that is compatible with your laser cutter. Set the dimensions of your image to match the size of your material. Optimize your image for laser cutting.

Q: There are several choices when it comes to boring your well. You can use a hand auger, a well point, or a DIY drill. Each method involves different equipment, but all will require a lot of physical labor. Note that these methods will only work well in soil, soft gravel or other softer land types. Rocky terrain or soil with a high clay content may require a professional drilling rig. Reach your required depth. Using your chosen method, work until you reach the depth you want for your well. If you want to check to see if you’ve reached water, tie a small rock to a string and feed the string down the hole. When you feel the rock reach the bottom of the pipe, pull it back up. If the string is wet, you’ve reached the water line. For the hand auger method, you will need an extendable auger and a lot of patience. Depending on how deep you want your well, you may need many extendable attachments for the auger.  Turn the auger in a clockwise direction into the ground. This will move the earth and create the beginning of your hole. Continue to turn the auger to displace the earth. Remove the auger when full. Once the auger is filled with dirt, you will need to empty it. Pull the auger out of the hole and dispose of the earth. Start a pile for your dirt and continue to empty the dirt into this pile for easier cleanup. Continue to bore into the ground. Continue drilling deeper, always moving clockwise. Empty the dirt into the same pile and work the auger until it you can’t reach any further. Extend the auger when it becomes too short. Add a drill rod to the auger when it can no longer reach the bottom of the bored hole. It may become difficult to detach the auger once you’ve added many extensions: to overcome this, use a spanner to catch the auger while you install or remove the auger in pieces. Drill until you reach your desired depth. Depending on how deep you want your well to be, continue to add extensions to your auger as you drill to that depth. Once you’ve reached the bottom of the well, stop drilling and remove the last bit of dirt. You’re now ready to bail the well. This method can be easier than the auger method and requires less specialized tools. You’ll need your PVC well pipe and a sharpened “well point” attached to the end of the well screen.  Start a pilot hole. Using a post hole digger or shovel, dig a hole two feet deep. This will give you a good starting point. It will also give you a good idea of the softness of the soil, and let you know how hard it will be to dig. Install your well point. Well points are generally made of steel or any other hard metal so that they can withstand being driven deep into the ground. They are available for sale in a variety of sizes that will fit onto the end of your PVC pipe.  Begin driving the well point. If the soil is soft enough, you can use a rubber mallet or other heavy hammer to strike the end of the PVC pipe section, driving the pipe into the ground. If the earth is harder, you can use wrenches to turn the pipe, screwing it as you would a screw into wood. Be careful not to apply too much force to the PVC with either a hammer or wrench: it can shatter. Add each extension of pipe. The end of the pipe that you are striking or screwing into the ground will continue to get closer and closer to the ground. As it becomes level with the earth, add the next length of pipe, screwing the joints together. Then continue driving the pipe into the hole. There are ways to construct your own drill that will make digging faster and better for permeating hard soil. However, these methods take some mechanical know-how and can be dangerous. They’re also more expensive than an auger or well point. Research methods online, or ask mechanically-handy friends.  Use a water drill. This type of drill works by forcing water into the ground. The high pressure of the water acts effectively as a drill bit, moving dirt out of the way. There are many resources online that can help you build a water drill, but the process is time and labor intensive. Use or modify a digging machine. If you have a tractor or other small farm machine, you can use or modify a post hole digger or mechanical auger to dig the hole. Be aware that these methods require a large financial investment if you don’t already own them. They may also only be able to dig a hole up to 10 feet deep, requiring modification that can be dangerous if you don’t know how to use the equipment. Bailing the well will remove dirty, non-potable water that has been sitting at the bottom of the well. A bailer is a thin, hollow rod on a string that you’ll lower down your PVC pipe. Once it reaches the water line, it will fill up with the dirty water. Draw it back up out of the well and dump out the water. Repeat until the water runs clean.
A:
Bore the well. Use the hand auger to bore the well. Use the well point method. Use a DIY water drill. Bail the well.