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ONCE AGAIN .. how thick the glass ..
Listen LASERS come in all sizes and powers and duty cycles .Depending precisly of what you need to cut it will determine the POWER needed .a 100 watt laser at a "AMETEUR" level of construction is still possible .. 200 watts or more it becomes very involving ..
because it will produce a lot of heat .Then the construction TECNIQUES become more elaborated .
A 100 watt C02 laser is too weak to cut glass at lest thick glass .
Firts you should start by determining the required wavelength to cut glass .Or if you have to tint the glass first before cutting it ..!
If you particularly want to cut glass, often a laser is used to heat it in a very precise, thin line (but not melt it).
Then, a blast of cold air causes sudden contraction and the glass splits neatly on the line - far neater than with conventional scoring/cracking methods.
Really, unless you just want to do this for a bit of fun, buy a surplus laser rig.
If your goal though is just to learn and have fun by building, you are setting yourself a very difficult goal. Nothing is impossible though.
The last time I used a laser worth mentioning was at university. Its power supply and cooling filled a unit the size of a 4-draw filing cabinet.
Keep an eye on eBay, often good lasers and PSU's come up and go quite cheaply.
You have to be pretty careful using any sort of laser. You need goggles that are designed to filter out the one wavelength of your particular laser. You need to actually wear the goggles all the time. You need to get an special eye exam every year. And doing all that, I still know people that have damaged their retinas, burned holes in themselves, etc.
FoxyRick the below and ask yourself: "Cut glass? will it refract the beam and damage me?".
Laser is powerful, tests are done with laser to be able to pierce (did read this curiosity in magazine) into 1m thick steel.
Do they use diamonds in industry to cut glass? I am pretty sure they use diamonds.
biff44 said:
You have to be pretty careful using any sort of laser. You need goggles that are designed to filter out the one wavelength of your particular laser. You need to actually wear the goggles all the time. You need to get an special eye exam every year. And doing all that, I still know people that have damaged their retinas, burned holes in themselves, etc.
I don't understand why you want to build a powerful laser just to cut glass? Another thing is how one can achieve this? As far as lasers being harmful, i guess only the 850nm one poses a serious threat to our eyes. If anyone did have the recipe to build a powerful laser they would be in buisness manufacturing these 'powerful' lasers.
if you whant to build a gas based laser you need vacuum pump.because the gas pressure shoud be severall torrs.At atmospheric pressure the laser may not start.For a laser based on crystals for example YagNeodym you need krypton lamp to start oscilations.(in both cases a lot of money will be needed)
FoxyRick I am very sure they use laser in industry. Well not hobby circuits.
If you will make something for a project for industry then is ok then go ahead. They also use diamonds to cut glass in industry and for hobby is quite dangerous to make lasers for cutting glass.
Imagine in optics, laser hitting glass and refracting (in small pieces of glass while cutting) and hitting your eyes. Since is less powerful wave (after most of energy is spent in process) only thing is to refract. It will damage the retina.
hmm.. I have talked with a guy that runs a laser for a living (commercial laser), and the commercial grade laser can only cut 1/2 inch into material. When I asked him about cutting glass, the glass has to have a certian core density to be able to cut. This has to be very specific!
You can always cut lexan.. but lexan will put out toxic fumes...
I would google cnc laser, cnc plasma.
Most "hobbiest" build cnc plasma rigs, not lasers..
Also look into versalaser. it is a $10k laser for small use.. Kinda interesting.
hmm..plasma rigs still cost thousdands of dollars for do it yourself piecing together... so this isn't going to be cheap.
Hope that helps...
Oh yeah, I have never heard of using special goggles to filter out waves when using a laser... Cough.. i think i read that on the side of the laser machine.. but the guy that runs the laser (he use to teach college about laser cutting and stuff) and he doesn't use googles..
$10k for small use? How small?
Please do provide link.
Even $10k is very expensive for hobby use. For $10k I can buy a powerful spectrum analyzer and laser? How many hobby projects with $10k laser I can do?
2 binalmis , I can't explain for u how to cut glass with the Soldering iron because my english is very bad for it , so just take Soldering iron in u hands use some glass ,use some water or some paste for soldering (for good contact between glass and Soldering iron ) , so just try it and u see how it easy , well it not so speed, maybe not absolutely exactly cutted but anyway u can cut the glass in very diff form , other method how u can cut the glass it is BY THE Scissors !!!! Yeah by the usual Scissors just try to cut glass under water just it this method needed some Skill . by the way this method no possible cutted line exactly just around .. FOR MAN who wanna use laser for it i recommend bay laser it more cheaply way them try to build it . belive me
Added after 13 minutes:
something about laser if u wanna build powerful laser in cheap cost use a laser based on Pairs of metal (cadmium ,Copper ,mercury ) it working with the more Efficiency them other lasers and more powerful and more compact u can build a military laser on this technology .. by the way i have one idea how to build very powerfull and very Efficiency laser but it need money and time of course this type of laser never develop before )) hope my idea is right and sometime i found time and money for build it ..
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