Laser Project ( was Re: Laser links ?

Hi Jon,

I am interested in making one, with the target of cutting glass,
stained glass, not clear (if that matters) and up to 1/8 inch
aluminum.

Having glossed over a lot of the threads in Sam's FAQ, it does seem
doable for a home shop.

Also with a target of 6 months to a year, I have pleanty of time to
get stuff on the cheap. E-bay and the like.

There are some ohters on here that experssed the desire to make one
of these puppies too. So it seems that we could get a homebrew thing
together.

not knowing anything about lasers ( well, actually, I have 2 of those
laser pointy thingies) what is the best place to start ?


Seems the main questions are :

Which style laser ? CO2 or YAG ? other ?
What makes one harder to implement than the other ?
more costly to run ?
This thread has made comments about the two, but some hard data would
be needed. for my app, (glass) seems yag is no good.

What power is needed ? seems cutting a 1/4" steel plate would be
about right for a home machine, although scaling anything up or down
would not be too hard to do. Being a home shop, time is not as
important. hourly cost may be if my math is right....

If my math is right, a 2kw laser might need a 20kw power source. I
have 220 at home so 20,000 watts / 220 = 91 amps ? I'm not sure if
my electric meter spins that fast.

did I miss anything ?

Dave

ps $50 edm ? did I miss something

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@y..., Jon Elson <elson@p...> wrote:
> wanliker@a... wrote:
>
> > I sure hope that someone in this discussion is converting
something for home
> > shop use..........
>
> It CAN be done. There's an outfit that sells CO2 laser kits at
various levels
> of completion, from a few hundred $ up to a bit over a thousand. I
saw a rig
> a guy put together with a relatively cheap XY router table and an
approximately
> home-made CO2 laser. He had one of those row of garage shops with
a little office
> up front. So, it wasn't technically a home shop, but not very far
from it, either.
> I was quite amazed at what he had thrown together. He made custom
rubber
> stamps for custom labels on grocery store items, and also cut clear
and black
> acrylic (Plexiglas) to make side-lit illumination bezels for light
aircraft.
>
> This isn't a $50 project like my "mini-EDM", that's for sure, but a
technically
> competent machinist-type who also knows computers, electronics and
optics
> should be able to make it work for a few thousand $ - less than
some people
> spend on a milling machine. If not so technically competent in ALL
of the
> above, then they'd learn a LOT!
>
> Jon