Homebuilt laser cutter pictures

[Mark Harriss]

**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.

Nothing beats a nice kinetic weapon like a gun for transferring energy
to the target. I'd like to see some kind of backpack super
capacitor or a kevlar flywheel/homopolar generator powering a railgun.
One that runs for more than one shot though without exploding.

 

[Tony Burch]

Hi Sam T, thanks for your kind comments. The laser I used was a secondhand
one that I bought from a privavate seller, who removed it from some old
scrapped
medical equipment. I am told that it is a 20Watt, RF excited, folded cavity
design. The laser cuts polystyrene foam very nicely and easily, but it is
not high enough power to cut wood. I'm told that lasers are used in the
furniture industry for cutting wood, but the laser power is 2000W or more
(that's at least two orders of magnitude higher power than the one I have).
Cheers, Tony

 

[Tony Burch]

Hi Andy, the laser I used was a secondhand one that I bought from a private
seller, who removed it from some old scrapped medical equipment. This was a
one-off, but you may be able to find someone on the net who is selling
second hand lasers. If you want a new one, maybe try http://www.synrad.com/
Does anyone else know suppliers for second-hand or new lasers?
Cheers, Tony

 

[Tony Burch]

Hi Par, thanks for your comments. The machine does cut slowly, maybe 10
minutes per 3mm thick sample that you can see in the pictures. Faster for
thinner plastic. I haven't tried PCB. I think this wavelength of laser
beam is reflected by copper.
Cheers, Tony

 

[Tony Burch]

Thanks Andy. Over time I'll make the pages more "dial up friendly". The
first pass of the site was done very quickly. I'll also be adding some more
details of the construction.
Cheers, Tony

 

[Tony Burch]

Thanks Heywood. Are you in Sydney? I can hire it to you
Cheers, Tony

 

[Tony Burch]

Hi Moses. 1/ I have not tried a great range of materials. Works very well
with acrylic and polystyrene foam. Does not appear to work well with
aluminium or galvanised metal. 2/ The Z axis is the laser power. There's
also scope for adding computer controlled lens focus to the Z-axis. It may
also be possible to add more axes, to move the laser head to different
angles. 3/ Do you prefer green?
Cheers, Tony