Newbie- What would this laser be capable of?

[prcdslnc13]

400mW Infrared 980nm laser module /focusable/CNC [OL-980-0.4] - $105.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

To start, let me say that I am a complete laser NOOB. Ive done alot of research and come up with more confusion then information haha.

SO, I have a cnc router now. Its one I built and I am very confortable with CNC and its workings. For fun, Id like to add a laser to it because, well just because So Im looking for a low power contained unit to add to the machine. The goal is to burn wood, cut paper, and maybe then plastic or acrylic. Although acrylic may be out of reach and Im ok with that.

Im not looking for it to be fast or even cut all the way though wood, so would a laser like this one work well for what I am trying to achieve?

I am also looking at this one 150mW Industrial Red laser dode module/TTL [OLGLM150] - $28.99 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce Based off the info on Tweakie.CNC - Low Power Lasers

Any help is greatly appreciated. Also if anyone knows where I could get something like these from the US that would be awesome.

[bpoulin]

I don't know for sure, but for those prices, you can't go wrong. You already know the limitations of the laser at that power, so you could have a lot of fun, and it's cheap. Go for it!

[691175002]

400mW will do paper (not super thick though) and char wood. I wouldn't expect much more.

[prcdslnc13]

Originally Posted by bpoulin I don't know for sure, but for those prices, you can't go wrong. You already know the limitations of the laser at that power, so you could have a lot of fun, and it's cheap. Go for it!

Sir, I like the way you think. It will probably be a few weeks before I have time to order and play around. Ill post up when I do though!

[prcdslnc13]

0.8W 808nm Infrared laser module diode /focusable [OL-808-0.8] - $95.99 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

I didnt see this one yesterday. 400 more mw then the other one with a slightly visible beam for 15$ less? I think so!

[bpoulin]

Originally Posted by prcdslnc13 0.8W 808nm Infrared laser module diode /focusable [OL-808-0.8] - $95.99 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce I didnt see this one yesterday. 400 more mw then the other one with a slightly visible beam for 15$ less? I think so!

Send me a PM when you get this, I'm curious if it will be enough to bleach dye out of clothing without burning it.

[Tweakie]

Hi prcdslnc,

I would be most interested to hear how you get on with this project as well.

@ bpoulin - I am pretty sure you need YAG at 1064nm for the material not to burn (nobody else replied to the other thread yet).

(on Tattoos the YAG gets the dye out but with the CO2 it takes the skin as well )

Tweakie.

[bpoulin]

I'm still going to try it on my CO2, I just have some family stuff keeping me from having time in my shop.

[691175002]

You can use a co2 laser for various effects on fabric depending on the material and power. Epilog has various examples on their samples page. Most denims "bleach" when engraved:
Laser Engraved Denim Beach Bag

While other fabrics can darken but change in texture:
Engraved Pillows

Both are very nice.

I have a lot of experience with lasers and I made a few attempts at building a laser cutter. I have tried 100mW blu-ray diodes, 500mW red diodes and fiber coupled IR (~8W). They are all trash. If you have a cheap laser it is very hard to do real work. The fiber coupled IR was almost there but if you have no power jobs will take hours and many materials will char as you are heating rather than vaporizing.

In the end I built from an open source design ( buildlog.net - CNC Laser Buildlogs ) that uses a 40W tube. If you look at the quality of work people are putting out and the cost of the machine it compares very favorably to any diode based designs.

In the end it depends on what you expect from the laser, but with the experience I have now I would seriously consider a CO2 laser. Being able to go from a drawing to finished parts in seconds or minutes with almost any material is great and you might find you want thicker materials and/or plastics.

[prcdslnc13]

Tweakie - I've gotten alot of ideas from your site. Including the lower powered laser. What all were you able to do with yours?

[Tweakie]

Originally Posted by prcdslnc13 Tweakie - I've gotten alot of ideas from your site. Including the lower powered laser. What all were you able to do with yours?

Assuming you mean the low power laser Very little really, just what I have shown on the site.
I had no prior knowledge of lasers and we all have to start somewhere, overall it taught me a lot in preparation for the CO2.

Tweakie.