Laser cutting tool availible on hobby kit years ago

We're talking a small time hobby kit, like would be used to cut parts for projects like model aeroplanes.

So it begs the question - why aren't those cutting tools used instead of the noisy, jarring, ether-destroying blade cutters, say in construction work for example.

What *could* the hold-up be. Who's in the way of this one. Any takers?

I think i might be able to answer this one As an engineering student i just finished a laser course and got a degree allowing me to oversee lasermaschines in the company i will work in the future.Its basically for safety reasons but we learnt everything else concerning Lasers in the Manufacturing Industry as well.

Basically here in Germany lasers are classed into groups from 1-4 with 4 being the most dangerous.Class 4 that means that the workplace has to be completely sourrounded by walls and noone is allowed to look or be in the same room as the Laser when it is working as the rays cause dna changes immediatly leading to skin cancer and when you become it in your eyes you will almost certainly get your eyes damaged.

As to using Lasers to cut metall etc. You need a high amount of energy just to cut through metall, we saw 1 maschine thast could cut 2mm Steel and it used 5MW of energy to get the job done.

So what im basically saying is that for the common hobby worker there is no Laser yet available that small and that cheap.

Here any intresting link : Lasers

and here : more Lasers

Right. But it was availible - from Radio Shack. I didn't ask anyone to come here and try to contradict what did or maybe still does exist, thanks for your input re. what your course told you about, but I assure you that it was availible.

That is true about the shielding - but it is managed in hospitals, by painting the rooms to the laser colour. I don't recall everything about that because it was from a physics class about 15 years ago. Just that the absorbtion problem was solved by using the same colour in the room sheilding as the laser colour.

What do you make model airplaines from ??

Styrofoam or balsa or some other light materials right.. i guess these materials would be the easier ones to cut.. far easier than steel anyhow.

Maybe you could buy a laser and make your own
www.unitednuclear.com...

Yes, balsa wood and light materials. The laser was tiny though. It was built-on to a board that had some other tools on it. It was either battery operated or you could plug it into a normal wall socket.

So what I'm still asking about is - that being availible back then means that there ought to be construction-sized-project ones availible now. As usual people are expected to put up with inferior tools' noise pollution and all the rest, because some morons want to squeeze out all they can from their products that never needed to be made in the first place, in what is allegedly a free competitive market.

Heavy laser technology isn't exactly better.
1. You cant stand over it and guide it by hand, if its high powered enough, youre not even supposed to be in the same room.
2. Saws, you have to replace the blades... lasers, you have to replace the bulbs/emitters. You still have to replace things.
3. Suppose you were dumb enough to be in the room with a high class cutting lazer... you cant see the beam, however, a band saw, you can see clearly... and you can avoid it very easily.
4. Industrial cutting lazers are huge... I mean HUGE... a VERY long way from being handheld tools... I'm talking bigger than some lathes out there.

Originally posted by ed 209
Yes, balsa wood and light materials. The laser was tiny though. It was built-on to a board that had some other tools on it. It was either battery operated or you could plug it into a normal wall socket.

Ed,

balsa can be cut with a lot of different and inexpensive tools. I think this thread answered your question pretty completely... I would like to add that lasers indeed are very dangerous objects and unless you are careful you can blind yourself or somebody around you, for example if the beam bounces off a shiny surface on your workbench and hits you in the face etc. And you can't see the beam, as posters correctly said. Scary stuff, I don't want to be around it. And I am a physisist.

That must've been quite a powerful laser. I got to play with some Class IIIa (or maybe it was even IIIb, it was III-something, anyway) in an optics course at school, and they couldn't even cut through paper. I don't recall for certain, but I believe those were a few hundred milliwatts in power. (they plugged into the wall with an adapter, and were HeNe)

I've never seen anything that small and that powerful before. Someone here once posted a link to an internet store called Wicked Lasers, and they had some nice lasers for several hundred dollars that they claimed could cut through things like paper and leather, but I don't actually have one, so I can't verify it. Maybe something like that is what you used, although they seemed a little bit expensive to be considered 'hobbyist', though they are available to anyone willing to shell out the cash.

The one I mean had a clearly visible beam, happened to be a red laser.

"you can blind yourself or somebody around you, for example if the beam bounces off a shiny surface on your workbench" - I heard about this, that is what the medical room paint was for (mentioned above) - to absorb the beam if it did bounce.

Don't know about lasers not being manually guided, this one was fixed - you had to move the thing being cut.

To be honest I haven't even tried looking for it on sale, it was something I have known of for years, and when I hear any noise-pollution it reminds me of how the technology must be being held back artificially.

I know allot about LASER's. I deal with them every day.

I have a Class IIIb - 100mW DPSS 573nm LASER in my bedroom at the moment along with a few others. 100mW aint so powerful. It will not burn your skin. Thoughs hand held ones you see one websites are full of #. They are tweaked off there tits which results in a tradgic life-cycle as they are not passive cooled and were not built for such work load. What you see on the websites is the beam melting rather cutting.

I'm sure if you look around you may be able to find an effective handheld LASER cutter.

Forget that wicked laser junk... Its all over priced novelty crap imported from Changchun New Industries Optoelectronics Tech Co., Ltd., China.

[edit on 21-6-2006 by Nik_K]