Re: Laser links ?

HiJohn,

Seems laser is an industry used method of cutting glass.
one site terms it "glass seperation technology"

This leads me to think cracking glass, not removing it.

Seems that lasers are very easy to build, have good power, but can
eat very expensive morrors. darn, where is the technology to cut
metal, wood, glass, with simple tools, that don't use any energy, and
never wear out ?

Dave

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., "John" <johnhe-uk@s...> wrote:
> > How the he** do you keep the heat from shattering the glass?
> > I can understand punching a small hole in glass, it happens so
> > quickly that the bulk of the glass doesn't get hot. But, cutting
> > a line in the glass, I would expect the heat to eventually
develop,
> > unless you did it extremely slowly - punching lots of tiny holes
> > in the glass, and letting the laser rest between holes. Then the
glass
> > could be broken across all the holes.
> > Jon
>
> I'm not sure but I would think you're right with lots of little
holes. When
> I saw the guy writing his name on the glass it wasn't a continuous
line, in
> fact it shattered quite a bit and was made using lots of small
cracks. That
> may be due to the nature of the beam, being pulsed n' all, but
still at a
> high rate. Trying to pulse a CO2 laser may prove tricky, the
cheapest way
> would probably be a Q-switch which is a tiny motor with a mirror on
it.
> They're used on crystal lasers so none of the light can escape from
the
> crystal while the molecules in the crystal begin to laser and
saturate. The
> motor moves very quickly and has a microswitch on it to tell the
laser's
> flash lamps when to fire. It all has to be timed very nicely so
that the
> mirror is aligning up as the lamp fire (And we're talking micro to
nano
> seconds here).
>
> I still think the best idea is a mechanical mode of cutting and then
> polishing with a lower pressure water jet. A laser is definitly one
of those
> things I'd like to build if only I had enough £££'s. :-) Can't
really
> think of a use for one, I just want one, isn't that good enough?
Here are
> some links anyway:
>
> http://www.andersonlasers.com/
> http://www.andruslaser.com/laser/co2/co2.htm
> http://www.emissiontechnologies.com/
> http://www.geocities.com/capecanaveral/hall/4956/
>
> http://f.webring.com/cgi-bin/Hubsearch?http://f.webring.com/cgi-
bin/Hubsearc
> h?
ring=nightlase&Method=and&RingDesc=on&query=co2&sid=&SearchType=Ring&K
eywo
> rds=on&hubpage=Hub1&ringsearch
>
> http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lohwr/ <------ Excellent!
>
> John H.