Laser for engraving

[enes3626]

Hi! I want to build a laser engraving machine. And i want to use cd or dvd rom because they are cheap in here. What specification that laser needs to? Must it be 3b or 1?

 

[Immo1282]

Class 1 isn't doing any engraving in a million years. You'd do well to search for and read past threads using the search button as this topic gets asked maybe twice a week

 

[CurtisOliver]

For engraving you need high end Class 3B's or preferably Class 4. But there is more to engraving than just power. Beam specs are also important. Single mode 405's are very good visible diodes for engraving as they have a nice clean spot and very good power. Multimode 445/450's are also commonly used as they have higher power to counteract for the wider spot.

 

[enes3626]

For engraving you need high end Class 3B's or preferably Class 4. But there is more to engraving than just power. Beam specs are also important. Single mode 405's are very good visible diodes for engraving as they have a nice clean spot and very good power. Multimode 445/450's are also commonly used as they have higher power to counteract for the wider spot.

Does any cd/dvd rom have one of those?

 

[Immo1282]

Does any cd/dvd rom have one of those?

Nope - CD/DVD laser diodes are usually low end class 3B infrared diodes (e.g. under 150mw @ 780nm).

You may be better off buying a module from the likes of Banggood or similar that's already set up for engraving - They've recently become quite affordable.

Whatever the final engraving machine ends up looking like - you are going to want to build a light-proof enclosure for it as the lasers useful for engraving are very dangerous to the eyes - Class 3B/4 lasers can cause severe eye-damage if you get hit with a stray reflection.

 

[CurtisOliver]

Nope, 405's typically come out blu-ray players, and 445/450's out of projectors. If you intend to build your own engraver, I suggest you take a look at DTR's laser shop and buy a diode of him. He even provides modules, lenses and drivers if needed.