Fiber Lasers, any future for hobbyists?

[blurrycustoms]

Hey guys,

I've been doing a ton of research on fiber lasers. From what I have gathered, they are poised to take over the laser industry in the near future, those this opinion has been debated. Though some of this research falls in line with my actual work, I have been interested in finding/developing a fiber laser system that accessible to hobbyists.

Here the primary benefits that I have discovered with fiber laser:

-Increased efficiency = >50% and growing means lower operating costs

-Higher beam quality = near diffraction-limited means less power required for task (cutting, marking, etc)

-Smaller beam diameter = increased resolution and accuracy

-Zero-low maintenance = Some fiber lasers are pushing 100,000 useful hours.

-More efficient beam delivery = fiber laser delivery eliminate the drawbacks of flying optics.


So I am sure you get the point of this, that the potential here is huge. I understand that this a pretty huge undertaking, but I believe that this laser technology is not completely out of reach for hobbyists.

So I guess the point of this thread would be to throw some ideas back and forth among all of the laser enthusiasts here and determine the feasibility of this idea.

Feel free to correct any info here, and I am looking forward to brainstorming this idea a little further.

[MacGyver]

Great points, but you forgot ooooone major factor... laser wavelength. Fiber is great for marking metal, but does little for/to organics.

[blurrycustoms]

Originally Posted by MacGyver Great points, but you forgot ooooone major factor... laser wavelength. Fiber is great for marking metal, but does little for/to organics.

I agree, but for metal applications, especially highly reflective materials like aluminum, copper, stainless. The fiber laser excels. No doubt there is a large group here that would like to cut metals efficiently.

That's not to say that 800 to 1500nm wavelengths are completely incompetent in organics, or are they?

I see some fun experiments in my near future!

[MacGyver]

Originally Posted by blurrycustoms No doubt there is a large group here that would like to cut metals efficiently.

No argument here... I wouldn't mind a machine of that ilk, but until then I'll stick with my CO2.

[blurrycustoms]

Originally Posted by MacGyver No argument here... I wouldn't mind a machine of that ilk, but until then I'll stick with my CO2.

Having more than one laser is highly respectable!!


Is there anyone else here interested in fiber lasers?

[bkboggy]

Well, I'm kind of intereted to find out more. I am about to build a router CNC which I'll use to cut wood for different projects around the house and foam+plastic for RC. I've seen some stuff being cut by laser and I was amazed by how everything looked accurate and clean. I'm all about reducing the waste of materal and it just seems that laser is one way.

However, I know nothing about lasers and I just started learning about CNCs as it is.

[MacGyver]

bk, For wood/foam, you'll want CO2, not fiber.

[hoyospetrola]

I just would like to be sure, but... fiber laser are those with small power that you can attach togheter? then you have to focus the beam with a lenses? i sow a fella on ebay trying to sale one of those, it was like an aluminium box with twenty 1W fiber lasers, i really like that idea, and... the power supply should be easy to build.
Can someone send me a link to get some tutorial or more information about those lasers, thanks

[blurrycustoms]

Originally Posted by hoyospetrola I just would like to be sure, but... fiber laser are those with small power that you can attach togheter? then you have to focus the beam with a lenses? i sow a fella on ebay trying to sale one of those, it was like an aluminium box with twenty 1W fiber lasers, i really like that idea, and... the power supply should be easy to build. Can someone send me a link to get some tutorial or more information about those lasers, thanks

The general concept of a fiber laser is similar to a YAG laser, however, it replaces the YAG rod/crystal with rare-earth doped optical fibers in the amplifier. The technology is prominent in both the optical communications industry and the medical industry, and is beginning it's surge into the materials processing industry. No mirrors, flying optics, free space laser beam directing, sounds like a good fit for high power metal cutting.

The concept is fairly simple, use laser diodes to pump optical energy into the fiber amplifier, and out the other end comes a high quality laser beam. With optical efficiency approaching 80% 5 100 watt pump laser diodes coupled to an erbium doped amplifier fiber, you could have a a pretty efficient 400watt laser on your hands. If only it were so simple!

Of course that dums down the hundreds of subtleties that make up a good fiber system. Types of fiber, coupling efficiency, laser modulation, cooling, resonator design, to name a few, but the list is long.

On your comment about a simple power supply, laser diodes (bars, arrays, stacks) are extremely sensitive to currents and over-voltages. I've heard of blowing laser diodes by overshooting the max current by 5mA on a power up. And at a cost of no less than $600 per diode bar it may quickly become a very expensive, simple power supply. Yes eBay may provide some relief on diode pricing, but you get what you pay for.

I don't think this is out of reach, which is why I started this thread in the first place, but its not a simple bolt together project either.

Anybody else have any thoughts?

[blurrycustoms]

And by the way! A 400 watt cw commercial laser module is gonna run you close to $80,000 from one big name manufacturer!

[bkboggy]

Originally Posted by MacGyver bk, For wood/foam, you'll want CO2, not fiber.

Are those builds usually expensive? I will already have a preexisting CNC by the time I will want to go into lasers. All I would need is switch the mount (if I'm correct). Not sure for the rest though. I don't know anything about them (I will look up some info though in the near feature). How much would it cost me to mount some kind of laser to an existing CNC to cut foam (not sure what else it would be able to cut if it's just a cheaper design).

[hoyospetrola]

Originally Posted by MacGyver bk, For wood/foam, you'll want CO2, not fiber.

Hi Mc gyver what lenses are you using to focus your C02 laser beam? and how are you directing the beam to the lenses, fiber optic? mirrors?. thanks