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FrozenGate by Avery

First test on a DIY 40W CO2 laser

Arayan

Arayan

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Joined
Oct 26, 2009
Messages
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This is my first (positive) test on a 40W CO2 tube. :evil:
I'm sorry but all pictures and video were taken by a phone :(

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Now I'm making a case (in plexi) for the tube and I want to build a control panel to regulate the laser emission.
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The next step will be to give it an aiming with a small red module (5 mW) whose beam will be combined with the IR beam by means a lens like this
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Next a ZnSe lens to focus the beam...

any suggestions of what I use to hold the lenses??? :)

Thanks
 

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Nice one. I'd have to have a much more secure area then I do now before I start messing with CO2, but I can still dream. :D
 
I love the plexi box you have made for it. I was considering doing the same thing, however I'd need to use the laser to cut the plexi first :D

It's waiting to be built into my laser cutter - same little 40W tube as yours. They're great (and dangerous) fun for the price.

As for the aiming optic, you should just be able to use any adjustable dichro mount (o-like has them I think, or laser-wave if you want quality).

How much are you paying for the combining optic? The hardest thing with building your own laser cutter is aligning the laser, especially if you don't have a visible beam to go by.

Cheers,
Dan
 
Very cool. I hope to have a CO2 one day. Cant wait to see pics with your complete finished setup
 
Thanks to all :beer:

piferal said:
Congratulations for your new toy :beer:

Be careful ;)

I can suggest something like that:

Or do something similar yourself.

Newport AC-1 Adjustable Lens Chuck
Click to expand...

Nice site Juan :)

Things said:
How much are you paying for the combining optic? The hardest thing with building your own laser cutter is aligning the laser, especially if you don't have a visible beam to go by.
Click to expand...

I bouht mine on ebay (from Israel) for about 60 € :wave:
 
That looks pretty cool! I guess you will need a radiator/heatsink for the cooling system once you build it into the enclosure and want to be able to operate it for longer periods of time, but that should not be that big a problem.
 
Benm said:
That looks pretty cool! I guess you will need a radiator/heatsink for the cooling system once you build it into the enclosure and want to be able to operate it for longer periods of time, but that should not be that big a problem.
Click to expand...

I want to use a thermoelectric cooling (which uses the Peltier effect) placed under the conical flask. It's easy to find some cheap ones on ebay :)
 
A true DIY CO2 laser wouldn't be an off the shelf tube ;)
Anyway, looks nice!
 
^^^ A home built flowing gas design would be totally DIY, but considering how nice ( and affordable ) those sealed tubes are these days, It's very hard to go wrong with them!! :gj:
 
I don't think to have neither the time nor the expertise to build a "full" DIY CO2 laser ;)
 
^^^ I hear you!:) Not to mention they can be quite a juggling act to make them lase. I attempted to do this a number of years ago, totally from scratch. Even down to fabricating the tube itself. I didn't actually build it from any one type of plans, but kind of a hybrid of different ideas I gleaned from different sources.

After getting everything together, Co2 mix, refrigeration compressor, old neon sign transformer, and optics from mi lasers. I just never could get it to lase! Even though I hear that Co2 is the simplest of all gas lasers to get to work, well, lets just say the project was very humbling to me!:banghead:
 
I don't consider laser diodes true DIY lasers either. The complete laser is already neat in a package, hook up the power source and you have coherent light.

Off course a DIY laser comes in many degrees, 1)putting a laser diode in a suitable host is a bit of DIY, 2) hooking up a laser tube to the power supply and making it's casing and cooling is more DIY, 3) making a laser from bare components like a dpss from the diode, yag crystal and mirrors is even better and 4) totally from scratch is awesome. The N2 laser would be in the last category and as far as I know the easiest from scratch laser.

My first attempt didn't lase, but I do plan to try again some time. What lordjet describes it really building something from scratch. Very few people even try that, but I hope that I can do something more than a N2 laser in the future. I recently started building a good vacuum system, so I'm slowly getting there.
 
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Loving the Retort stands along with clamps holding the whole thing up :p

Good job! :D
 
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