5w laser project help

[SonicLaser]

Im interested in building a 5w laser or something close I'm new here so some friendly pointers would be nice thank you

 

[NightExplorer96]

Hello Sonic, and let me be the first to offer you a warm greeding to LPF!

May I ask what this will be used for?

I am not too much of a DIY kinda person but I can tell you this, the easiest wavelength's for your wallet will be 445nm, 808nm and 1064nm. If by any means you have extra money, may I suggest you take a peek around the other common wavelength's including 650nm etc..

Goodluck! :beer:

 

[ARG]

Are you talking about a handheld laser or a lab laser?

5W pointers will require two diodes (see the build in my sig), unless you don't mind an invisible wavelength (IR) or a red diode with large divergence.

If you haven't already I highly recommend starting with lower powers before you jump in to a 5W laser. They are incredibly dangerous and will ignite almost anything after pointing at it for a second, even if it is meters away.

 

[Pi R Squared]

Im interested in building a 5w laser or something close I'm new here so some friendly pointers would be nice thank you

Are you talking about a handheld laser or a lab laser?

5W pointers will require two diodes (see the build in my sig), unless you don't mind an invisible wavelength (IR) or a red diode with large divergence.

If you haven't already I highly recommend starting with lower powers before you jump in to a 5W laser. They are incredibly dangerous and will ignite almost anything after pointing at it for a second, even if it is meters away.

Hello SonicLaser and welcome, please be sure to also post in the welcome area so we can get to know you. Listen to ARG his experience and technical expertise are exceptional. I too will say start with a lower power, I can tell you you wont be prepared for a class 4 laser until you have one. You could set something on fire or burn yourself or worse before you fully comprehend its power. Even a 3W or so will set stuff on fire and even a 1.5W is very dangerous. See the two white links in my signature if you want to see how to easily build a powerful laser, but like I said get some experience with something less powerful first.

Alan

 

[SonicLaser]

Yea I think I'll start small after posting I found the page I wanted build.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Yea I think I'll start small after posting I found the page I wanted build.

Have you decided on which wavelength you wanted yet?

 

[SonicLaser]

I'm not sure on wavelength. See I forge knives and carve wood so I would like to be able to
have a handheld laser that will burn into wood nicely and leather

 

[NightExplorer96]

I'm not sure on wavelength. See I forge knives and carve wood so I would like to be able to
have a handheld laser that will burn into wood nicely and leather

Ok. For those kinds of usages IR is recommend, I would look at 1064nm.

 

[Blarg King]

I would start by building a few inexpensive 200 mW red lasers just as practice before trying to build a more expensive laser like a 5 Watt IR.

 

[The Lightning Stalker]

Yeah, get a couple "cheap" diodes first, preferably in the same package type as the diode you have your
heart set on. That way you can get used to working with them and if you burn one up it won't be such a
big deal. The B and C-mount diodes have their own special difficulties pertaining to the exposed bond
wires.

 

[SonicLaser]

So while I research the more expensive laser where's the best place to get parts for the 200mw

 

[NightExplorer96]

So while I research the more expensive laser where's the best place to get parts for the 200mw

You can look here:

https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes