kmlee
0
- Joined
- Mar 9, 2014
- Messages
- 2
- Points
- 0
Hi everyone,
I want to start by saying that this is my first post, I only discovered this website this past week and it is amazing. First, a little background: I'm a student at Clemson University and am currently a senior in Mechanical Engineering. One of my classes requires a working prototype of a manufacturing process. My group decided to model laser engraving, upon further research we realized we were in over our heads with our 200$ budget.
On to the point. We used this website to do research and it has been extremely helpful but we were unable to find any direct information to our current problem. We recently ordered a 1 Watt TO18 445 nm laser diode and a TO18 glass lens focusable housing case with a built in heatsink. Our problem is that we do not know how to focus the laser correctly so that it will etch and/or cut material. While the housing case has the word focusable in it's name, we doubt that it will focus to the extent we are hoping to achieve. Looking at this website it seems that most people here expand the beam with one lens and then focus it with another lens immediately after that. This seems like a great idea but we were unable to find detailed instructions on how to do this.
I realize that my knowledge of lasers is lacking (just starting looking into them and doing research about a month ago) so any tips, pointers, or general advice would be greatly appreciated. If someone else has already asked for advice on a project like this then I apologize for reposting but was unable to find it. Feel free to ask for more specifics about our project and I will provide everything I can.
I want to start by saying that this is my first post, I only discovered this website this past week and it is amazing. First, a little background: I'm a student at Clemson University and am currently a senior in Mechanical Engineering. One of my classes requires a working prototype of a manufacturing process. My group decided to model laser engraving, upon further research we realized we were in over our heads with our 200$ budget.
On to the point. We used this website to do research and it has been extremely helpful but we were unable to find any direct information to our current problem. We recently ordered a 1 Watt TO18 445 nm laser diode and a TO18 glass lens focusable housing case with a built in heatsink. Our problem is that we do not know how to focus the laser correctly so that it will etch and/or cut material. While the housing case has the word focusable in it's name, we doubt that it will focus to the extent we are hoping to achieve. Looking at this website it seems that most people here expand the beam with one lens and then focus it with another lens immediately after that. This seems like a great idea but we were unable to find detailed instructions on how to do this.
I realize that my knowledge of lasers is lacking (just starting looking into them and doing research about a month ago) so any tips, pointers, or general advice would be greatly appreciated. If someone else has already asked for advice on a project like this then I apologize for reposting but was unable to find it. Feel free to ask for more specifics about our project and I will provide everything I can.