405nm CNC, need advice for mounting and cooling

[maynardr6]

This being my first post, let me say I've been lurking here a long time, and the safety goggles are already in the mail. So the deal is I hacked this Xyron Personal Cutting System to be CNC and I want to put a powerful laser on it, and I would like advice on how you think it should be done. I have a pretty good idea that what I want is one of the 700mw 405nm ones with the g-2 lens from DTR. My concerns are keeping it cool while operating for who knows how long and keeping the thing small enough for the lid (not shown) to close. It has a hole in the tool holder (12.2mm) that may aid in mounting, but it's plastic and won't really serve to dissipate heat. A video is worth a million words so here's a clip of what I've got so far.

Hacked Xyron Pcs - YouTube

I've given some thought to water cooling and found that there are some water jacket type thing made for RC boat headers that look like they'll fit the aixiz modules. Here are a couple I've found for around $15.

Once I have a plan, and get all the stuff together, I'll do a build thread and a better video. If your wondering why I'm doing this...no reason. thanks for taking the time to help a laser nub.

 

[DTR]

A good sized finned heatsink and fan would probably be sufficient for your use but that would be a pretty sweet setup as well. Can't wait to see your finished product.:beer:

Have you seen this mini laser etcher a customer of mine recently did using an old CD/DVD drive.?

http://laserpointerforums.com/f54/mini-cnc-laser-etcher-78491.html

 

[maynardr6]

That's sweet. Keepin me motivated. How close can the laser be to the material being burned?

 

[maynardr6]

I just got a lathe today!! I'm officially dedicated to doing this thing.

 

[Bionic-Badger]

You might want to keep the laser away from the surface being burned because the vapors might affect the optics.

 

[maynardr6]

You might want to keep the laser away from the surface being burned because the vapors might affect the optics.

I'm working on a solution for that. I just wanted to know if it will focus as close as 1/4" or so. I'm going to have the laser at the top of a small tube that I will have kept at a slightly positive pressure by some kind of air pump. I'm still scavenging and scheming. I've come up with some pretty exciting stuff that I will keep to myself until the build thread.

EDIT:
...Moving to build thread
http://laserpointerforums.com/f38/laser-cnc-project-build-80367.html