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He didn't make his tools from scratch
What I mean is that if you have something that emits coherent light when you hook up a power supply you already have a laser. Of course going from there to a practical unit for normal use is another step, so I'm not saying what Arayan did wasn't nice work. It's just that I think a true DIY laser starts out without something that already can lase, but it's a matter of definitions which aren't important anyway.
I use a 7" FL , 1" Diamiter ZnSe Lens ofr expreimenting , on ebay they show up sometimes , shorter FL is good but then burning things gets to close to the lense and thats not fun for the lens , but any lens bigger than beam diamiter from laser engravers or something made of ZnSe will work great , ZnSe 10.6um coated lens with FL 5 - 8" should be fairly easy to find on ebay or engraver shops .
Hope This Helps
Yes, but the target will only be 2 inches from the lens. The plume of flame can easily reach beyond 2 inches. You'll need something to blow the flame and debris away as it is created unless you want to replace the lens every few shots.
Hi Fed..
You can try this one, is a 20mm diameter and 100mm focal, for about 67$ including shipping.
1PCS × 20mm ZnSe Focus Lens CO2 Laser Cut 100mm focal | eBay
I don't consider laser diodes true DIY lasers either. The complete laser is already neat in a package, hook up the power source and you have coherent light.
Off course a DIY laser comes in many degrees, 1)putting a laser diode in a suitable host is a bit of DIY, 2) hooking up a laser tube to the power supply and making it's casing and cooling is more DIY, 3) making a laser from bare components like a dpss from the diode, yag crystal and mirrors is even better and 4) totally from scratch is awesome. The N2 laser would be in the last category and as far as I know the easiest from scratch laser.
My first attempt didn't lase, but I do plan to try again some time. What lordjet describes it really building something from scratch. Very few people even try that, but I hope that I can do something more than a N2 laser in the future. I recently started building a good vacuum system, so I'm slowly getting there.