Hand Held Cutting Laser

I'm not really sure what to make of this device.

Video mentions a '1 micron' wavelength which could be 1064 nm more or less, but little else. Given the apparent output power and size of the handheld part i suspect the laser light is supplied by fiber.

What stikes me as most odd is how this is apparently useful for disassembly of parts from the nuclear industry: If you have something that has gotten radioactivly dangerouns by activation (like a metal piece that was in the core of a nuclear reactor) the last thing you'd want to do is to vaporize it.

Cyparagon said:

Yeah, plasma cutters are 4-5 figures. A laser that beefy would be 6-7 figures, would be LESS effective, and has an assload more paperwork and safety training.

Click to expand...

They do seem to have some benefits over a plasma cutter, the big one as far as I've seen is cutting from a single side. I.e, you can cut all of the way through a pipe without having to go around the back side of it to finish the cut. Depending on the situation a plasma cutter may be less practical.

Though I agree... surely existing methods are more effective in most cases?

Some reading:

http://www.industrial-lasers.com/ar...use-of-laser-cutting-for-decommissioning.html

http://www.industrial-lasers.com/articles/2010/09/laser-applications.html

http://www.ocrobotics.com/downloads...laser cutting for nuclear decommissioning.pdf

Benm said:

I'm not really sure what to make of this device.

Video mentions a '1 micron' wavelength which could be 1064 nm more or less, but little else. Given the apparent output power and size of the handheld part i suspect the laser light is supplied by fiber.

What stikes me as most odd is how this is apparently useful for disassembly of parts from the nuclear industry: If you have something that has gotten radioactivly dangerouns by activation (like a metal piece that was in the core of a nuclear reactor) the last thing you'd want to do is to vaporize it.

Click to expand...

Looks like Yb:Fibre is the medium of choice for these. Yb:Fibre lases at 1030nm and can achieve such powers quite comfortably. Looks like this version is 5kW?

I don't think these are in widespread use, at least not the "hand held" version. But they do appear to have applications in the industry.

At any rate, any way you decide to cut up components contaminated with a radioactive substance is going to result in particles being released into the air, whether it's a saw or a plasma cutter or a laser... I'm sure they've already figured out how to deal with these issues.

diachi said:

They do seem to have some benefits over a plasma cutter, the big one as far as I've seen is cutting from a single side.

Click to expand...

That only applies to small pipes (as the beam diverges to useless rather quickly)... pipes small enough that a standard angle grinder would be faster, MUCH more portable, MUCH cheaper, and MUCH safer.

I imagine larger pipes would get the old internal probe shoved in, the good part starts at the 0.33mark. :eg:
And that narrators voice. :wtf: