Cutting laser?

[Helios]

You can also use a fiber optic coupler. I dont know much about it, but I know a lot of people use it.

There are a few people here that can help you. You might want to make a thread in the "Gas" section of this forum. Another place to ask is Photolexicon. Just dont talk about pointers. Diode Virgin, and a few others there have working CO2 cutters.

I didnt even think about fiber. That could be a great solution since there would be negligible weight.

 

[Tech_Junkie]

Thats what most of them use IIRC. Its not that much money either.

 

[Pieznice29]

I don't think you can get fibers that work with CO2 wavelengths, for the same reason that a CO2 laser cuts glass and acrylic, its absorbed by near enough everything.

 

[Helios]

I don't think you can get fibers that work with CO2 wavelengths, for the same reason that a CO2 laser cuts glass and acrylic, its absorbed by near enough everything.

Well their are certain materials which they use for optics that the wavelength travels through. I dont know much about that area though. Someone else will chime in im sure.

 

[Pieznice29]

Well their are certain materials which they use for optics that the wavelength travels through.

The only materials I know of that pass that wavelength is salt (NaCl) zinc selenide and germanium. Im pretty sure you can't get any of those in a flexible fiber form, unfortunatly.

 

[piferal]

Yes, exists a special type of flexible optical fiber for CO2 laser used in neurosurgery.

These special fibers are different from conventional ones because the core is hollow and surrounded by multiple layers (coated) of microcrystals mirrors.

I think it would be too expensive for your application

 

[Tech_Junkie]

I don't think you can get fibers that work with CO2 wavelengths, for the same reason that a CO2 laser cuts glass and acrylic, its absorbed by near enough everything.

Try this....click

 

[LPF Dude]

I did see the thread by "Things", and he used mirrors, though I haven't yet seen or figured out how he compensated for the change of distance. I think I'm going to re-engineer the head to hold the whole tube, but I need to add limit switches first so I don't accidentally break the tube if I overshoot. The tube is a couple feet long, so will stick up over the top of the machine. The weight should not be an issue, but I'll have to engineer the tube-support plate to grip the tube at multiple locations along it's length.

Yes, I think I should move this to the gas lasers sub-forum now. Thanks for the info!

 

[benmwv]

I think you should try and avoid putting the laser on the head.
The best way I can think of is to mount one mirror on the bar (bouncing it to the head) and one on the head (bouncing it down) and a lens to focus it to a point.

Kinda hard to explain. I'll make a pic

The red is where your co2 laser should be mounted, the white things are mirrors, and the blue dot is a lens. The pink shows your beam.

 

[Pieznice29]

Thanks Tech_Junkie, you've reminded me I need to keep up with the times
Never seen stuff like that before...

I did see the thread by "Things", and he used mirrors, though I haven't yet seen or figured out how he compensated for the change of distance.

The beam width of the output of a CO2 laser doesn't really change much over the distances used in these applications, so the focus is pretty much spot on for the entire cutting area. That is, if it's the focus you are worried about.

 

[TheTeslaWarrior]

Things has the design that is used by professional co2 cutting systems.

Co2 has some of the best divergence that you can get in a laser. However, the beam is not "small" and you need a ZnSe lens to culminate the output.

 

[Bluefan]

co2 lasers have a relatively high divergenge because of the long wavelength. Because it's a gas laser and those usually have a good quality beam profile it's not that bad, but gas lasers like a HeNe or argon do much better. A YAG laser (also used for cutting and stuff) will have a lower divergence than a co2 unless it has a high order multimode output.