Electronics > Projects, Designs, and Technical Stuff
Help to buy a Laser
wizard69:
--- Quote from: james_s on April 16, 2020, 04:44:46 pm ---CO2 is far safer than high power visible diodes, especially 405nm diodes which are far brighter than they appear. A CO2 laser is 10,600nm, it's essentially a heat beam it is much easier to block and you don't have to worry nearly so much about reflections blinding you.
--- End quote ---
You really should worry about any laser. As such an home built laser should have safety interlocks and an enclosure opaque to the laser energy used. The fact that you can't see the beam actually makes CO2 lasers in my mind more dangerous.
In any event what everybody needs to do is to respect what a laser is and the fact that you can't beat the speed of light. Laser damage to the eyes is somethign that medical science can not realistically do anything about.
wizard69:
If you buy a low cost laser head you will get a low cost solution that is also low performance and may be low quality. Good laser solutions are expensive and likewise power is expensive. The 40 watt CO2 lasers are probably a minimal power level to consider if you want a versatile machine.
The other gotcha is that different wavelength lasers will behave differently on materials. It would well be worth your time to research the materials you intend to work with and how different laser wavelengths interact with them.
Industry right now seems t have a strong movement to fiber based lasers. It might be worth looking into the usual low cost suppliers to see if anybody has a reasonable solution for fiber lasers. I can see fiber lasers as the go to solution for DIY hardware as prices come down.
james_s:
--- Quote from: wizard69 on April 16, 2020, 09:48:26 pm ---You really should worry about any laser. As such an home built laser should have safety interlocks and an enclosure opaque to the laser energy used. The fact that you can't see the beam actually makes CO2 lasers in my mind more dangerous.
In any event what everybody needs to do is to respect what a laser is and the fact that you can't beat the speed of light. Laser damage to the eyes is somethign that medical science can not realistically do anything about.
--- End quote ---
You should respect any laser, not worry about it. Lasers have been one of my hobbies for decades, yes they can be dangerous but so can electricity and many other things. The important thing is to be aware of the dangers and take reasonable precautions.
Either way a CO2 laser is much safer. Ordinary transparent materials like glass and acrylic are quite opaque to the wavelength. So are the lenses of our eyes. A hit of sufficient power can cook the flesh but it's not going to focus and burn a hole in your retina. At a given power level 405nm is one of the more dangerous types because while it's visible, it does not look very bright, and it is not attenuated much by transparent materials. The most dangerous IMO are the short IR wavelengths, they behave like light but are nearly to entirely invisible.
beanflying:
You might like to have a look here at my 40W Laser. While it shares a wattage with the K40 it has a lot of improved features over the budget one. https://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/40w-300x200mm-laser-cutter-engraver-vollerun/
As others have mentioned Diode Lasers are almost certainly not rated correctly and running one without an enclosure is just plain stupid.
I have just started assembling the bits for a 100W 1250x900mm Laser based one this video series below comes with available plans for a smaller 40W one too. The Plans material lists and how to are well worth the few $ https://www.furtherfabrication.com/resources?category=Y400
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