Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] lasers... so many different types????

Russ Waters wrote:

>First of all, thanks to all that responded to my first laser
>question..... What I found out is how much I don't know about all the
>different types of lasers!
>
>So my question is.. What type of laser should I be looking for to do
>engraving (wood, plastics)? And where would a good place be to start
>my search, knowing I am on a very limited budget.
>
>
>I saw a CO2 laser setup a guy used for making rubber stamps (very
>similar to wood engraving)
>and cutting out Plexiglas masks and light transmission layers for
>aircraft instrument panels.
>(He made one layer with clear Plexi with grain of wheat bulbs embedded
>in it, and another
>mask layer with smaller holes, so the pilot didn't see the edge of the
>clear plexi. He could
>cut one of these in less than 5 minutes, and they looked a lot like
>swiss cheese - lots of
>holes. I think his laser was somewhere between 10 and 50 W, and used a
>flowing gas mix.
>He was able to do some very thin metal sheet, too, but the cutting rate
>was slower.

>There is (was) an outfit that was making kits for CO2 lasers - but the
>link no longer works.
>http://www.jetstuff.com/rconway/laser.htm

>A search brought this http://x.webring.com/hub?ring=nightlase

>I think CO2 is your best bet. The laser is made from glass tubing.
>For
>a flowing laser, you
>need a water cooled glass tube, a vacuum pump, a bottle of the gas mix,
>which gas suppliers
>make for this purpose, and a power supply. A neon sign transformer
>will
>make it light up,
>but you'll get a 120 Hz flicker in the beam. A more sophisticated
>power
>supply will cost
>more, but it is within reach. The only really tricky part is the
>mirrors, and several outfits
>sell these for a few hundred $ per set. If you can't invest $1000 in
>this, I suggest you just
>sit on your hands, there's no way you can do it for less than that.

>Jon

I was a county fair and some guy had a CO2 laser machine burning/cutting
wood, It was facinating to watch how quick it burned/cut the wood
objects, also the text hes was doing was extremely small and quite
legiable.

Attached is a picture of a item he had done. That if it is allowed to be
poisted with out be stripped off by Yahoo.


--
Jeffrey Bell <jfbell@...>


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