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Well...
I went to Liverpool University Open day last Thursday, and they gave us a tour around the Engineering department, and we happened to pass through the laser dept.
The guys there put on the usual balloon in a balloon tricks etc, but used a 10W laser to pop it!?!?!
Then they explained how lasers were used to machine items... blah .. blah... then they switched on a huge white box, about the size of a small room, took everyone over to where the beam was reflected out to, and machined a curvy demo object. 8,000 W CO2 infrared laser! They coated the metal in something to make it absorb the light. All you could see was a faint yellow dot of the steel melting....
But it kept moving backwards and forwards, and it produced a curved piece of steel!
They gave us £2 clear plastic safety specs to wear which made me laugh, as if that's going to block out the infra-red!
Anyway... pointless post, but I just thought I'd let you know about it!
Dan
I went to Liverpool University Open day last Thursday, and they gave us a tour around the Engineering department, and we happened to pass through the laser dept.
The guys there put on the usual balloon in a balloon tricks etc, but used a 10W laser to pop it!?!?!
Then they explained how lasers were used to machine items... blah .. blah... then they switched on a huge white box, about the size of a small room, took everyone over to where the beam was reflected out to, and machined a curvy demo object. 8,000 W CO2 infrared laser! They coated the metal in something to make it absorb the light. All you could see was a faint yellow dot of the steel melting....
But it kept moving backwards and forwards, and it produced a curved piece of steel!
They gave us £2 clear plastic safety specs to wear which made me laugh, as if that's going to block out the infra-red!
Anyway... pointless post, but I just thought I'd let you know about it!
Dan
