Hey, I am new to the community but everything I've seen seems to show great interest and knowledge about lasers. I am currently a graduate student in Economics doing research on the costs of a process of etching an identification code onto a firing pin of a firearm which would then stamp the casing of the bullet. While it might sound like an incredibly smart idea and a good way to solve crimes involving firearms being fired, it only creates a false sense of security. The firing pin's code etching is easily scratched off with less than 5 minutes of relatively painless work on a standard file. So, the costs of going through legislature and having both sides of the issue debating back and forth will eventually be taken from the our taxpayer's pockets. I was running an analysis of what it would cost to set up a facility specifically to etch firing pins. This cost would then be weighed with the benefits (if any) of implementing such a technology on all firearms sold to the public (law enforcement agencies will not be subject to this requirement for some strange reason). If someone could help me out with the equipment required, maintenance costs, optics, etc., I would really appreciate it. The only information I actually have are the following:
1.5-W diode-pumped solid-state ultraviolet laser (the manuf. used was Coherent) at 266 and 355 nm coupled with a holographic-mask technology.
The pin to be etched had characters with a high of approximately 0.008 inch, width of approximately 0.005 inch, and raised approximately 25 microns.
The area to be engraved has a diameter of approximately 0.037 inch.
Thanks a lot in advance.
Vic
1.5-W diode-pumped solid-state ultraviolet laser (the manuf. used was Coherent) at 266 and 355 nm coupled with a holographic-mask technology.
The pin to be etched had characters with a high of approximately 0.008 inch, width of approximately 0.005 inch, and raised approximately 25 microns.
The area to be engraved has a diameter of approximately 0.037 inch.
Thanks a lot in advance.
Vic
