Hello! First post, Looking for tips on lasers... laser pointers?

[ba12348]

Because I'm sure that joke hasn't been used here before.

First off, hello to all, newly interested laser hobbyist here. As my profile says I'm a maintenance tech, but I also do a fair bit of woodworking, and though I don't own the machinery I know my way around a metal shop (I've got my eye on a 7x12 Hi-Torque mini lathe though).

My interest in lasers started a couple days ago upon seeing this beauty:

*edit* since the video doesn't appear to want to play nice here's the LINK
And that got me to thinking. I've been considering building a CNC router to make designs and intricate cuts out of wood, or anything else I find that can be routed, but routers are big, heavy, and noisy; meaning you need a big, heavy mount for them. Whereas lasers are somewhat lighter, quieter, and far less prone to vibrating their mounts to pieces. So this got me to googling, and I ended up at DTR's Laser Shop. I figured I should ask some people who know what they're doing before I start trying to laser (or would that be lase?) holes in things, and wound up here.

 

[upaa27]

For CNC cutting wood you would probably want at least 10w of output. The most efficient way to do this is by using an ir diode. There are a few nice 10w+ 808nm c-mount on ebay.

Although you could also just buy one as making lasers that high powered can be EXTREMELY dangerous. If you just stick with a normal cnc mill you don't have to leave the room or wear any yellow tinted eyewear.

Good luck on your decision.