30W PLD-30-974 fiber laser into cnc

[jtomes123]

Hi guys, I had some free time so I was lurking around ebay and I stumbled upon this laser again. I have seen them before, but I have never really had the funds that I could spend on something that potentially wouldn't work out. That is not the case now so I thought I would ask around. So my question is, do you think I could build a viable cnc laser cutter/engraver with this diode? If I am not mistaken the 970-1064 nm range is quite good for cutting metals, so it might be quite useful machine. What do you think, also what would be a good constant current driver for this beast, I haven't seen much if any cc laser power supplies that would be this powerful. I guess I could go the diy route, although I think that I would rather have a reliable power supply rather than one that would have the potential to burn out this nice diode.

 

[DashApple]

It can be done yes , I did it mostly with a 20W fibre coupled laser diode similar to that , though I never went much further than the testing phase .

One important factor is to make sure the fibre is cleaved properly , the diode I have was new so it was all ready prepared when it was factory tested

A used one may not have the fibre cleaved properly and this may cause damage to the fire tip when the diode is running .

The diode I have needs 12A @ 4Vf , I used three flex mod P3s in parallel at 4A each , works well but they are no longer available so I'm not sure what to recommend

 

[jtomes123]

Thanks for the flexmod suggestion, I will look around for some kind of alternative or I could ask around in the trade section. Did you try the laser on any kind of metal?

Edit: I have also seen some new replacement fibers for the lasers, however I have no idea about the compatibility.