Just a random question...

[RA_pierce]

Just out of curiosity, about how many Watts would be necessary to burn a clean hole through a mirror in a few seconds?
(I remember watching an episode of Future Weapons or something and some guys in a really expensive looking lab at a military base burned a 4 inch (diameter) hole through about an inch and a half of transparent Plexiglas in under 5 seconds with a gas laser... it was pretty impressive...)
I assumed it would have to be at least a couple hundred Watts, since mirrors are reflective and not much of the energy would be transferred to the mirror's surface...
Anyone know?

 

[me_too_lazy]

is that even possible?
since however many watts you fire at it, it'll bounce back into the laser at the start
then again... you can shoot it at an angle..

 

[Rhith]

I don't think you would need a couple hundred watts but it would be a nice amount. And it varies depending on the mirror glass A LOT! Since each one is different. Things such as coating, gloss, density, coloration, material and everything would effect it. Not sure how much you would really need though, sorry.

 

[RA_pierce]

is that even possible?
since however many watts you fire at it, it'll bounce back into the laser at the start
then again... you can shoot it at an angle..

If it's possible to cut steel and diamonds I'm sure a glass mirror can be vaporized...
Well if all else fails you can just throw a hammer at it...
Not as spectacular but it works.

 

[Greenie]

Yea I seen that too. It was the laser that the USA Gov is putting into the 747s. It killed the Plexiglas in no time flat.
I think it was very high IR so wouldn't most of it get absorbed by the plexiglas?

It looked like this but a bit bigger

 

[RA_pierce]

Yup thats it... Good stuff... they should make them available to mount on civilian vehicles . I'd put one on a truck bed and go hunt Bambi with it...
Anyway... about the mirror...

 

[Ashton]

Use a CO2 laser and you can burn a hole through it with <80 watts, time and thickness of course is an issue, but glass and silver are opaque to CO2. IIRC a YAG could do the same thing, but I dont recall for sure...

 

[Aseras]

a regular mirror, not a front surface mirror.. at least a 10 watt CO2 to chip/crack/shatter it, to etch 40-50 watts and to melt a hole through it 80-100 watts.

 

[Aseras]

Use a CO2 laser and you can burn a hole through it with <80 watts, time and thickness of course is an issue, but glass and silver are opaque to CO2. IIRC a YAG could do the same thing, but I dont recall for sure...

Yag is good for metal not glass. you can cheat and tape paper to a glass object and lase that and if you have enough power by vaporizing the paper, the air gets hot enough to ablate the surface of the glass.

 

[Ashton]

ah, sounds like I might be better off investing in a YAG instead of a CO2 then, since my main application would be to etch metal, not glass... though the YAGs are so much more costly...

 

[SenKat]

Naw ! You can get YAG's for a couple hundred off the bay

 

[Ashton]

Including rod, optics, lamp, and PSU? (or rod, diode, optics, and PSU, dep on how you're pumping it)

I'm still weeping over the 40W CO2 _WITH_ PSU that I missed @ $200! There's a nice one up right now that's super-cheep, though I'm sure before it's over it'll be way out opf my price-range (rated @ 100W)

 

[RA_pierce]

Hmm... Those are nice numbers. I wish I had that kind of power laying around my house. Preferably in a medium sized pointer with constant on/off and no duty cycle. On CR123s.

 

[Ashton]

lol. If you want to build a backpack of Lead-acid batteries and water-coolant, you can get a mini-co2 with 10-30W that's portable (1-2' glass tube) though when you get through it will look like a proton pack from GhostBusters... still possible though

 

[Cyparagon]

CO2?... portable? you're a funny man.


I testify 60 watts can do it in ~5-10 seconds (focused, of course)

 

[SenKat]

CO2?... portable? you're a funny man.


I testify 60 watts can do it in ~5-10 seconds (focused, of course)

HemlockMike has a CO2 he mounted in an old gun stock IIRC....Kinda ingeious if you ask me ! Now - if he could have had it so he could charge it by scuffing his socks on the carpet........