Fab Lab focuses on dessert with laser designs

The smell of toasty pumpkin perfumes the air at Suncoast Science Center's Faulhaber Fab Lab.

But no, this was not a baking lab or an experimental dessert scheme.

Families were engraving pumpkin pies with lasers.

Faulhaber Fab Lab annually hosts a special kind of workshop for those who want bragging rights at the Thanksgiving table. This year, STEM enthusiasts were able to get hands-on experience on choosing a graphic design and having it etched onto their pumpkin pie using the lab’s high-tech laser cutter and engraver. 

“This is hands-on. They will learn about things they wouldn’t normally learn at school,” said Roman Tuero who participated with his two sons, Luca and Enzo.

Fab Lab staff and volunteers helped attendees with picking a graphic. After the graphics were been picked, they were programmed into a high-tech laser that would engrave a pumpkin pie.

The EPILOG Mini Laser Cutter and Trotec Speedy 400 Laser Cutter are the two machines that participants get to use to engrave their design onto their pies.

“This is something fun to do with the kids for Thanksgiving and get them out of the house. It’s something we get to do together,” said Casey Williamson, who participated with her son, Riley.