Laser diode useful ?

[pythonus]

Hello everyone,

So , am interested in making a cnc laser cutter without any CO2 tubes, my question is around the laser It self , I have found some interesting laser diodes from digiKey.com and others around 25 to 40 W. and some ZnSe focusing lens:

http://www.newark.com/osram/splpl90/diode-laser-905nm-25w/dp/05M1289 I think this one is perfect in terms of wavelength but correct me if I'm wrong.

http://www.ebay.ca/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=20mm%20focal%20ZnSe%20lens&_sop=15&_clu=2&_fcid=136&_localstpos&_stpos&gbr=1

let me hear your thoughts about it:
How to handle cooling if it is necessary?
How to drive the diode?
power output in terms of girth and materials it can cut trough and
Will it damage the lens ?
Any suggestion of yours
Have anyone done something like it ?

CO2 tubes are to delicate to ship to México from USA and also too expensive for me.

thank you all.

[r691175002]

Your plan will not work. The diode you chose has a 0.1% duty cycle.

Diodes will not be cheaper than a tube unless we are talking uselessly small toys.

[cvoinescu]

Notwithstanding the fact that the diode can only put out 40 mW average (40 W at a duty cycle of 0.1%), the wavelength is off by an order of magnitude too. The wavelength of your diode is roughly 1 um (near infrared), and that of a carbon dioxide laser is about 10 um (long-wavelength infrared). That means you almost certainly can't use the same optics, and some materials that absorb 10 um may reflect 1 um and cause problems.

[pythonus]

so, basically is better if buy an 2w cw diode than this ones... also cheaper in some cases, what about laser bars ?there are son cheap ones on ebay industrial 100w kind of.. but the optics is kind of messy no ? or is there any optic fiber adapter ready to go ?

[cvoinescu]

Do you have a link for that 100 W thing?

[pythonus]

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=laser+diode&_sop=15&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1311&_nkw=laser+diode+bar&_sacat=0

[r691175002]

Powering and cooling a large laser diode is not trivial. Finding suitable optics and properly delivering the beam from an array of diodes will be exceptionally expensive and difficult.

Diodes are not an easier or cheaper alternative to a tube. If you are serious about diodes then start reading up on them.

[Gadroc]

What is that you want to do with your laser? Are you cutting only, engraving or both? What materials do you want to work on? These questions will dictate what kind of laser you need.

As to CO2 being to expensive, I seriously doubt your going to find a cheaper substitute. It's not by coincidence that all of the low cost cutter / engraving machines are CO2 tubes. If there where a more durable and cheaper to manufacture substitute I'm positive we would see a flood of new Chinese machines using it.

[pythonus]

mmm , am interested into making the most of it without spending more than a hundred , i already got dc motors and steppers from a printer and a cd rom , the printer car and sensors. maybe something for etching pcb's and cutting soft wood engraving .. making some stencils, and over all to have fun , do something and learn

[canadianavenger]

well you're not going to etch any PCB's or cut [metal] stencils with that power and wavelength.