Pen Lasers

[GeorgeD]

Was looking at you tube on these and how they powered them up to burn foam/rubber/wood....good for etching letters in wood and plastic,do you reckon if they will etch into the surface of Aluminium just for name plating legend text on the Ally?

Was thinking of making a very small CNC just fo laser purpose etching,it willbe 20"x26"x8 to 10".

Got a few printer steppers and are great little motors,alsohave some 10mm stainless steel rods to use as the supports.

[GeorgeD]

Vid here.............

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYYa-aONXOw&feature=fvw

[Jonathan]

I very much doubt they will do anything to aluminium. Aluminium is such a good conductor of heat you need a powerful laser, otherwise the heat is conducted away faster than the laser applies it. If I recall correctly these lasers are only 200mW at best.

[ecat]

200 to 300mw from a high speed DVD writer, you may find a more powerful diode in BlueRay writers but tbh it's cheaper to buy the real thing at this point. This is what you can do with a 30W laser...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x68w2k_home-made-30-watt-co2-laser-table_tech

I'm looking out another link full of interesting info, I'll post if I find it.

[GeorgeD]

Yeah,I watched that one as well,Ecat,howmuch are the 30watt laser itself?

[GeorgeD]

Thisones a goodun...
http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/files/18.htm

oops! wrong link,try this one.....
http://www.cooperman.talktalk.net/files/27.htm

[ecat]

Yay, that was the site I was looking for George :) But I couldn't find it, boo.

I did come up with these though, yay. Looks like steel is easy for lasers, aluminium less so...
http://www.cnczone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8143
http://www.franeklaser.com/laser-cutting-applications.htm

40W laser! http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-40W-CO2-LASER-TUBE-CUTTING-ENGRAVING-WATER-COOLED-/390076347092?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3

[GeorgeD]

http://www.amazing1.com/evil_genius2.htm#4

[Swarfing]

Great idea until you try and find a power supply to run them?

[GeorgeD]

The lasers ecat posted the seller also sells the PSU,for £200 sobs all in,thats not bad for a 30 wattlaser jobby

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/NEW-40W-CO2-LASER-POWER-SUPPLY-ENGRAVER-ENGRAVING-/390212206104?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0

[danielbriggs]

I'd steer clear of build a CO2 laser unless you really know what you're doing.
EVEN if you did have it fully working, and a suitable cooling system sorted; beam delivery would be a massive headache.

Fibre coupled lasers, or even just fibre lasers, would be a better choice.

Those hacked DVD diode lasers are no good for aluminium as stated.
Don't go on eBay and find some 20-40W diode bars either, they require a significant amount of carefully placed optics to get a useable beam out of them. So don't buy; save your money!

I'm currently building a ~25W, 532nm (green) laser... (many kW peak power) for outdoor displays; it's around the size of a small fridge/freezer currently. Nearly there... :whistling:

Best Regards,
Dan

http://www.eonlasers.co.uk