Laser for drill press

[lassehknudsen]

Greetings,

I use my drill press to do the drilling for pcbs i make, but the process is currently slow, so i would like to find a laser pointer, that can make a dot with maybe a diameter of 0.8 mm at a distance of around 10 CM, with an angle of ~45 degrees.
I have have already used a generic pointer and had that shine through a hole, but i dont get the sharpness i would like.
Does anyone know of a device that could help me solving this problem?

-lasse

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
Try a dremmel with a fine bit and set the speed to low, i would say a 405nm with a 3-element would do but it might make the hole to big and it will burn the board.

Rich

 

[lassehknudsen]

Thank you Lifetime,
Im not trying to use the laser to burn a hole in the board, i would just like to use it to indicate, where my drill would hit for easy allignment. With my current setup, the dot makes a huge target, and that makes it difficult to line up 20 holes

-lasse

 

[10fenny]

Any single mode laser with adjustable focus will do. Most low powered reds are single mode. Same with 405nm(violet) red might be better for visibility in a lit room

 

[lassehknudsen]

Thank you 10fenny,
i found a mxd1230, that if i drive it a low current, i can get the desired resoult.

-lasse

 

[diachi]

Keep in mind if you have the laser at a non-zero angle relative to the surface the dot won't be perfectly round, it'll be oval.

 

[Chrisbee]

I'd recommend just going with a focusable <5mw red module. I say red because the greens tend to be over spec a lot of the time (even though green is easier to see), and being that your possibly going to be shining it onto reflective metal surfaces, you want it to be 5mw or less. You can find those red modules on ebay all day long for a few bucks a piece.

 

[Cyparagon]

The line lasers you can buy are all collimated. You want one that you can focus. One lens collimates X and Y from the laser diode, and the line lens (usually made of several 'waves') spreads the beam again in the X direction. You need to have control over the collimation to change it to focus near your work-piece. Otherwise, they'll all be 2-4mm lines. The line width will not be the same with all distances, but you can fiddle and get something good enough. You'll also need two lines to mark a point.

Buy separately the line lenses and two adjustable focus laser modules. Adjust the focus first, then add the line lenses. Play around with the settings.