Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: Small CNC Laser for Balsa

C.S. Mo wrote:

>Do you have any idea what power laser one would need to cut 1/4" steel
>and how much it would cost to build one oneself? Including power supply..
>
>

1/4" steel? I'm no laser expert, but I think it will run around 1 KW
with CO2. Q-switched
YAG lasers become more practical for this power level. because lasers
are EXTREMELY
inefficient converters of energy, you need 10 x (for the best) to almost
100 x (for CO2) power
input! So, expect a 100 KW feed from the power mains to support a 1 KW
CO2 laser!
You CAN'T do this at home. You would need a backstop capable of
absorbing the laser
energy as it goes thorugh the material! Yikes! The lenses, at this
power level, run
thousands of $ each, and they have a life of weeks, at best, due to
backspatter from the
work, even with the best gas lenses to blast purging flows past them.
If anything
goes wrong, you will be blind or missing an arm, or whatever. A 1000 W
CO2 beam,
even when poorly focussed, would cut your arm off in milliseconds!

Building this kind of machine yourself is almost impossible. Even if
you were a HIGHLY
experienced laser technician or optical engineer, the tough parts,
mirrors, lenses, etc.
are beyond any hope of homebuilding. You just have to buy them. Even
with a really
good surplus connection for these parts, you'd pay thousands for them,
all together.
I think somebody who REALLY knew what they were doing could do it for
about $10K,
but they'd always be treading thin ice, so to speak. One speck of dust
in the wrong place,
and a lens or mirror worth several grand would go pow! And, then they'd
face the choice
of waiting years for another part to show up surplus, of going to the
source and paying
full price for a repacement.

Jon