Anyone building a laser

[cncadmin]

Anyone working on building a CNC laser? I really thinking about building one, seams like their are allot of was to go about it. Here is a great design I came across.

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[LuckyD]

I have had only limited experience teaching CNC milling to high school kids. Rather than make one, I would rather start with buying and modifying a 100+watt, CNC laser wood carver. I also need CNC software that would allow me to color portions of a picture that can be scanned by the same software to provide the depth data my high-pressure gas-assisted wood-cutting laser would cut on the z-axis. I welcome all suggestions.
Ron Davison
ron@luckydcamp.com

[thuffner3]

I'd be very much interested in finding out all I could about using LASER's for cutting. Building one, as well as operation.
Would this be of the class iv or v type??? Newbie question.

[balsaman]

laser=$$$

not just to buy, but to operate.

Eric

[LuckyD]

How much money are we talking about to buy and to operate?

[JFettig]

I have seen a 64ftx12ft lazer, cutting 1" steel. forgot how many kilowatts, but it was over 500, maybe 5000. Dont really remember. The machine was a few million I bet.

Jon

[balsaman]

a hundred watt co2 laser is around $5,000 used and the optics are expensive when you burn em out. $200-300 bucks a shot.

Eric

[LuckyD]

I found a friend with an 80-watt laser that he used to etch out (~1/8" deep) his family tree on a mohagany slab; it looks great. I will get him to do etch the picture panels for the caskets and forget about high-relief carvings.

[cadcoke3]

I believe http://www.co2laser.com sells (or used to sell) a sealed CO2 laser and components to integrate it into your existing CNC gantry mill. It has been a while, but my recollection is that the 35 watt version was only around $3,000.

They currently (on the web site) sell a 25 watt laser "printer" which is a desktop box that will do 12" x 16" cutting or etching, around $10,000.

[arvidb]

Look here for everything you ever wanted to know about lasers, and DIY lasers in particular:

http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/laserfaq.htm

The laser type to use for machining would be CO2 (gas laser) or YAG (solid state laser).

Arvid

[crasher455]

I've seen used SpectraPhysics 820 and 825 co2 lasers for under $25,000. There in the 1.5Kw to 2.5 kw range.
I had an Amada lasmac 644, at my shop with and 820 laser and It cut 1/4" steel well.
If you fine tune your focal hight and gas presure you can cut 1/4" steel well at 1100 watts.
The main downfall to these lasers is there size. They have a footprint of about 6ft cubed + you need a large water chiller, and three gas bottles.

[owhite]

Anyone working on building a CNC laser?

I am. I have archival entries of the system at my blog:

http://nilno.com/laser_dir/blogger.html

which contains flotsam that has collected during the course of the project. Right now I'm building the laser controller and motor drivers which requires a lot of custom electronics. I'm using Jon Elson's universal controller board:

http://pico-systems.com/univstep.html

gecko motor drivers, and digital encoders.

The total estimated cost is about $12k. The laser itself was $6500, I bought a cnc table for $500, and the optics were another $2500. Other costs include 220 volt wiring, cooling and ventilation.

This particular laser should be of sufficient wattage to cut sheet metal and 1/4 thick wood. I hope to use it to make: cheap cnc parts for members on this web site, artistic products to sell, engravings on glass work that my wife does, wood boxes, and high end lamps.

I am guessing that the project will take around 6 months to complete.

Owen

[deanc500]

Check out Bobs site here http://www.emissiontechnologies.com/

He has been selling CO2 laser kits and plans for a few years now.

I work with 3 Trumpf brand lasers. 2600, 3000, and 5000 watt. The 5000 cuts up to 1" mild steel. They were each 1 million when new.

[bunalmis]

http://repairfaq.cis.upenn.edu/sam/rconway/35wtkit.pdf

I want to learn result.

[vortexdave]

Information Unlimited is a good site to look at for laser tubes. I just bought a 20W CO2 tube for 395 bucks. I am planning on building a selective laser sintering machine with it so 20 Watts will be fine. If you want to do some cutting with it I believe that with the proper laser optics to focus the beam to the diffraction limited spot size (around 10 microns) you could cut thin metal with it. I have found that CO2 laser optics are somewhat expensive. Anyway, I hope the source mentioned above helps. I would have posted sooner but I just discovered this site.

[cncadmin]

Information Unlimited is a good site to look at for laser tubes. I just bought a 20W CO2 tube for 395 bucks. I am planning on building a selective laser sintering machine with it so 20 Watts will be fine. If you want to do some cutting with it I believe that with the proper laser optics to focus the beam to the diffraction limited spot size (around 10 microns) you could cut thin metal with it. I have found that CO2 laser optics are somewhat expensive. Anyway, I hope the source mentioned above helps. I would have posted sooner but I just discovered this site.

Where did you get you're laser for that priice at??

[ger21]

http://www.amazing1.com/burning-lasers.htm

[trubleshtr]

http://www.amazing1.com/burning-lasers.htm

This guy is actually selling weapons! check out the laser gun.

I think his co2 cutting kit maybe a good low cost intro into laser cutting, anyone bought one??

[cncadmin]

I'm thinking of starting my own laser cutting machine, that tube would be perfect.