Homebuilt laser cutter pictures

Well done tony - looks impressive.

Can I ask where you got the laser assy and what it's power requirements are?

I'm cutting foam cores for model aircraft wings with a cnc machine built from plans and have been thinking of a router table for cutting plywood sections - a laser would be a considerable improvement. I just assumed the cost would be prohibitive.

have fun, cheers, Sam T

"Tony Burch" while reading the NewsGroups, found courage and express out opinion in news:428190a4$0$5180$ snipped-for-privacy@news.optusnet.com.au:

Ingenious!!

Thanks for showing your work.

I wonder how long it takes for the laser to cut the plastic and wether you could etch PCB with it :)

Par.

Thanks for the photos, what I could see anyway. A bit slow of the dialup conenction. (Would have ADSL if I could).

Might I suggest an index file first instead of huge pictures all on one page.

Cheers,

Andy S remixreality.zor.org

Nice work. Can I borrow it? :-)

I would like to know where that laser came from!! I want one..

1/ What other materials will it cut other than plastics? 2/ Are you gonna make one with the Z axis?

3/ Would it still work if you used a green bucket instead of blue? :)

Wow home made death ray :)

Serious question though. Howcome countries like the USA haven't yet created laser beam weapons?

On Wed, 11 May 2005 23:08:52 +0930, "Kate Fights, I Cry" put finger to keyboard and composed:

Because Hollywood owns the patent?

- Franc Zabkar

--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

The thinner the beam, the less bread gets burnt. You could probably focus the beam well enough to make the problem vanish.

Or you could use a 'cold' laser ...

Explain? How can you cut stuff without making some stuff vanish? And then surely there must crispy stuff that "nearly" vanished.

You may run into the same problems the bakery had when they installed a laser bread slicer: TOAST!!

Just a guess. Inverse square law for light and power requirements.

I'd bet that they've tested prototypes.

Like this one?

or

**Picture the following scenario:

A well armed US marine, carrying an automatic weapon, capable of firing 10 rounds/sec. He needs to carry about 10kg of equipment with him (+ life support stuff).

How about:

A well armed US marine, carrying a laser, capable of killing another human. He needs to carry about 5kg for the laser, plus around 100kg for power supply and cooling system.

Get the picture?

And here's a little titbit for you: A firearm is just as effective in the vacuum of space, as it is here on Earth, since the propellant (cordite) has it's own Oxygen supply, bound up in it's structure.

Firearms are likely to be around for a LONG time yet. They're cheap, lightweight and deadly.

BTW: I class the guns from Metalstorm as variants of firearms.

--
Trevor Wilson
www.rageaudio.com.au

Try "Light and it's uses" published by Scientific American and edited by C.L. Stong from memory. It has plans for a CO2 laser strong enough to shatter glass from thermal shock.

Physics.

AFAIUI that life support stuff currently weighs about 50kg.

Yep, look up some of the planning for Future Warrior by the US. that was where the comment about the MULE comes from.

Persoanlly, I think your 100Kg laser powered marine is doable in bicycle technology, but hey, I'm a bike nut {:-)}}}

The vapourised bread would form a plasma and transfer heat to the bread cooking it anyway, it's been tried so many times from bread to denim fabric to wood. With cutting steel plate they stack a few sheets of steel: the top couple of items are write-offs from the plasma but the rest are ok.