Portable CO2 lasers?

[Willyh]

Did you see the 40w C02 laser destroy the wood ?

No, that's because a layer of charcoal will build up insulating the virgin wood behind it.

In industry jets of inert gas clear away ash/char, molten metal is blown out of the cut by a jet of inert gas otherwise it wouldn't cut like that.

A true DEW that can " destroy " an enemy at tactical distance, that's before they fire a hypersonic missile at your ship, will need to be extremely powerful, possibly in the millions of watts.

Thanks Red.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Portable CO2? Starwarz Gun!

12 Watts RF Excited -- 32 Volts @ 10 Amps

HM

 

[RedCowboy]

Is that a spotter laser in the small tube ?

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

Spotter Laser????? I built this in 2013 and have posted it here many times.
It is a 12 watt CO2 built in a PVC housing 25" long. Powered by 8 SUPER
Li Ion cells. I made it to look like a weapon from the original "Star Wars" movie.
HM
The small tubes hold the LiIon cells.

My current project is a "portable" 808 NM 40 Watt!!

As Chris (Alaskan) can attest, This is a BA$$T@RD to develop optics. I have new lenses coming.
I hope to fit this into 3" PVC pipe.

 

[RedCowboy]

I was asking about the small tube.

 

[WizardG]

@ WillyH: so, you said,
"I do understand everything about safety when it comes to lasers."

Pop quiz time: what kind of safety glasses will you need if you get a CO2 laser?

Also, it would help people take you more seriously if you fleshed out your profile a bit.

 

[Hemlock_Mike]

The small tube is about 1/4" x 23" long with a high impedance antenna on the side.

It is excited by a 27.125 MHz 300 Watt RF transmitter which is tuned to the CO2 cavity very carefully!

I don't mention safety glasses here because it is covered everywhere in this forum. However, the output of a CO2 laser is DEEEEEP IR and almost anything over your eyes keeps you safe.

I don't ask anyone to take me seriously. I don't care after all these years on this forum
and I consider my low rep power as a badge of honor. I'm a builder.

HM

RC --- I understand now! The small tubes hold 8 Li Ion Cells. I have not yet taken time to add a targeting
laser but the grip has the needed switch!!

 

[Willyh]

@ WillyH: so, you said,
"I do understand everything about safety when it comes to lasers."

Pop quiz time: what kind of safety glasses will you need if you get a CO2 laser?

Also, it would help people take you more seriously if you fleshed out your profile a bit.

From what I’ve read, at the very least, polycarbonate safety glasses seem to provide enough eye protection to prevent significant eye damage. This is not guaranteed though. Depending on wavelength and wattage, 4 OD laser safety glasses should provide enough protection to prevent eye damage from an 80 watt CO2 laser blast.

 

[Willyh]

I’ll just leave this here.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=509s&v=GhHchkRLt7I

If someone can build this, I will buy it. Even if it’s thousands of $.

 

[WizardG]

Almost right. You'll need OD5 to protect you from 80 watts.OD4 would still be passing 8mW.

I have to agree with others on this thread that you might want to start with something a bit more modest. Maybe a blue in the 1 to 5 watt range. And get the safety glasses before you order your laser.

You will need to wear the glasses any time you're burning stuff for several reasons. Look up blue light injury. Even if you just view the dot the intense blue light can jack up your eyes. The other reason to wear safety glasses when burning is the infrared from the focus point. Blue laser diodes don't put out any appreciable amount of IR but the material being burned certainly will. Without appropriate safety glasses it's a bit like OXY/acetylene welding without goggles.

Yeah, some here are being a bit harsh, but as stated earlier we feel the need to protect the hobby. Accidents resulting in damaged eyeballs tend to attract ...bad press and might tempt the powers that be to further regulate the availability of things like high power laser diodes. Accidents like these are also avoidable.

 

[RedCowboy]

You know I always wondered about that intense orange spot seen through my amber and orange safety glasses when burning up close with a 445 laser, I did try using some blue lens ( red blocking ) glasses under my blue blocking amber glasses and that helped, made everything dark too, but that bright orange spot I always thought was too much.

I had some vision spots for a day and a hell of an artificial sunburn when I first started welding even though I wore the mask with a dark lens, but from just not flipping it down fast enough before drawing an arc all day I scared myself, lucky I was young and healthy, probably cost me later on if I make it to old age, damage builds up over time.

I've long since quit burning up close, I like to reach out now and the orange spot is no problem at 20 feet, but desktop it was awful bright.

maybe some light blue ( red blocking ) glasses under the amber/orange ( blue blocking ) glasses would be a good idea for desktop burners?

p.s. I never got the welders spots from burning with 445 and viewing the intense orange spot, it was just really bright causing me to squint a lot while viewing it.

 

[Willyh]

Almost right. You'll need OD5 to protect you from 80 watts.OD4 would still be passing 8mW.

I have to agree with others on this thread that you might want to start with something a bit more modest. Maybe a blue in the 1 to 5 watt range. And get the safety glasses before you order your laser.

You will need to wear the glasses any time you're burning stuff for several reasons. Look up blue light injury. Even if you just view the dot the intense blue light can jack up your eyes. The other reason to wear safety glasses when burning is the infrared from the focus point. Blue laser diodes don't put out any appreciable amount of IR but the material being burned certainly will. Without appropriate safety glasses it's a bit like OXY/acetylene welding without goggles.

Yeah, some here are being a bit harsh, but as stated earlier we feel the need to protect the hobby. Accidents resulting in damaged eyeballs tend to attract ...bad press and might tempt the powers that be to further regulate the availability of things like high power laser diodes. Accidents like these are also avoidable.

Understood, thanks Wizard.

 

[Alaskan]

I’ll just leave this here.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=509s&v=GhHchkRLt7I

If someone can build this, I will buy it. Even if it’s thousands of $.

Ha, that thing probably cost more than 10K to build, maybe double that.

Edit: you may find this chart useful for selecting OD

 

[Bacon]

This build transfers more destructive energy than all of my lasers combined

But... it seems most high power c02 lasers need to be pumped with a coolant, and need a beefy power supply. It would be expensive, and fragile.

It might be "cooler" to pack a lot of blue laser diodes into something like an ammo can & sink them to a chunk of copper, than combine the outputs. Would be interesting, and visible too.

 

[Encap]

I’ll just leave this here.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=509s&v=GhHchkRLt7I

If someone can build this, I will buy it. Even if it’s thousands of $.

Why don't you contact that Canadian guy and make him an offer on that one or have him build you one instead of playing pretentious grandiose pretend on LPF?

the Hacksmith
PO Box 23042
537 Frederick Street
Kitchener, Ontario, N2B1L0
Canada
see email and contact information here: Contact The Hacksmith - Hacksmith Industries

This build transfers more destructive energy than all of my lasers combined

very true and much more destructive than that moronic video game inspired circus clown/Halloween costume 80W CO2 as well :crackup:

 

[DashApple]

I did a kinda handheld 20W Co2 , though as stated the PSU/power and cooling would need to be pack packed , I never good that far though .