Well, I did it! I ordered a new toy, fresh from China! I got scared when the war in Ukraine started, and decided it was time to get a cheap fiber laser while I could still get them cheap. So today, a wooden crate arrived: It was well packed, and fairly heavy, so I got my son to help me uncrate it. It's a 50 watt JPT Q Switched Laser, with a 1064nm Sino-Galvo Scanner and a 175mm x 175mm Jollystar Lens. Also I purchased the 80mm 3 jaw rotary chuck, so I can make custom tank cars and stuff. Here it is in all it's dangerous class 4 glory, waiting for a place on the bench: Happy Happy, Joy Joy! I roll over in anticipation, delighted to High Heaven at my latest acquisition. Now comes the long work part. I have to build more workbench space so I can set it next to the CO2 Laser, plumb in exhaust so I don't inhale any metal vapors, run more power plugs as it needs it's own 1000W of power in, and build a class 1 laser safety chamber to I don't put anyone's eyes out. I don't need my egg's boiled after all. I bought a 3/4" piece of plywood for the benchtop, it's going here: The 50W 1064nm Fiber laser has the same capabilities with metals as my 30W 10,600nm CO2 laser does with woods and plastics. I can only cut thin metal sheets under 1mm thickness, but I am going to try and pioneer a new use for this laser. I want to replicate the results of chemical etched brass and stainless, but without the chemicals. Imagine, being able to make an etched brass locomotive shell, ready for folding up and soldering on or gluing on details just like the pro's. You just draw and engrave, then fold and solder: And slide it over a mechanism for near instant gratification: Oh, I can't wait... Happy Happy, Joy Joy, oozing from every pore!
That is very cool! So basically you can create your own locomotives! What you could create in NP steam!
Ooh, a fiber laser!! I'm interested in seeing what all you can do with it. Be sure to share what you're learning with the general populace over in the 3D forum, too. I have a dual diode laser I've been putzing around with for thin non-metals but I'm always curious about the other technologies that enable the little guy to do great things. Congrats on the new toy!! -Mike
You built a U-18B already with this thing?! Neighbors gonna' be wondering what all those weird lights are late at night coming from your garage! The mad Z-scale scientist at work in his laboratory, muhahaha!!
You really don't sound so happy with that purchase Robert Seriously sounds like it will be super cool!
I am working on wiring in power and exhaust today. After that the workbench goes in, then the class 1 safety chamber, all that before power up.
Today I annexed some workbench real estate, and cut a 3/4" piece of plywood for it. I installed a Tee in the 4" exhaust line from the CO2 laser, and added a wastegate slide shutoff, and I ran some 12/2 flexible conduit and paralleled in the power outlet. I still need to add a leg to the front left of the workbench, But I went ahead and sanded the benchtop then sealed with a coat of water based Spar Varnish so I don't ever kick up any slivers. I still have to wait till Tuesday to place the laser up there because it weighs 127 pounds, and that's the soonest my son can get here to help me. All my neighbor friends are older and afraid of dropping it.
Class 4 lasers, this one, is an "Avoid Eye or Skin Exposure to Direct or Scattered Light". That means, if you are engraving metal, and the laser reflects off the part, it can boil your eggs! Your eyes might even look like a boiled egg if it is from a blue or UV laser. Class 3 lasers are "Avoid Eye Exposure to the Beam", but flashes or scatter usually don't boil your eggs. Class 2 lasers are "Do Not Stare Into Beam" lasers, but fairly safe. Class 1 lasers are "No Special Precautions Required", generally considered safe. So if I put a laser inside an enclosure that the beam cannot burn through or otherwise escape, it is considered a "Class 1 Laser Enclosure".
That depends upon both the wavelength of the laser and the power level. I'll get back to this... We think of light as the part of the Electromagnetic Spectrum that we can see, however in the laser world, most laser types out there, we cannot see. Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation, or LASER, is the term they give to amplification of the whole electromagnetic spectrum. So as we know, when the wavelength gets longer, it tends to do its damage on the surface of things, and as the wavelength gets smaller it can tunnel in deeper. A sharp knife vs a dull one. A 30W CO2 laser can be stopped by a thin sheet of metal because it's the dull knife. But the fiber laser is a shorter wavelength and can cut through the thin sheet of metal cause it's the sharp knife. But there are limits. As the beam gets out of focus, it's like the beam becomes blunt. So it's a matter of distance from the focal plane that you build your enclosure that makes it effective, and the concern shifts to protecting your eyes from the flash. Why? Because your eyes lens can focus a scattered or reflected laser beam to 100,000 times finer than the wide, out of focus flash that hits it. So to answer your original question, all I need is really a fireproof blackout curtain, or a thin piece of metal sheet like they use to make heater ducts in your house, placed several inches away from the focal point of the laser. In fact, that is what I am going to use, and will just build a simple shield around the laser cutting area. Now if this was an X-ray or gamma ray laser, then the beam is so sharp, it would cut through everything, and as long as the beam is pointing straight down, there are few things that could reflect it and would never need shielding cause the beam would dissipate it's power down underground somewhere. So focus concentrates a weak beam into a sharper more intense beam. The way around a blunt beam is to use more power. When you increase the CO2 laser from 30W to say 300W, it can cut through thin steel that the 50W fiber laser could cut, because you are forcing the blunt knife through with sheer force. It gets the surrounding area a lot hotter though because of the power. So there you have it, wavelength of the laser and it's power.
Thanks Mr. Ray! But can you put all that to a song? Seriously, thanks for the whys and hows. Always learning something modeling trains. Scott Mr. Ray, the science teacher.
Robert, As I said before - thank you Z Scale Sensei! Thanks for the thorough explanations, very educational. -Tiest Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Very cool explanation! So the longer distance from the emitter to the focus point causes the beam to become blunt/lose strength? If I'm reading right, the sheet metal box around your enclosure will be far enough away from the source that the beam will be much weaker and restrained by the metal? The gamma and X-ray lasers sound very powerful, and dangerous (I.E. not available to hobbyists).
You have a good handle on it now Hemi. Yes, we have no uses for X-Ray laser, those are used for military and fusion energy projects, and gamma ray lasers are still theoretical only because nobody has stumbled upon what the laser medium is. Laser mediums can be plasma's, gasses, liquids, or solids, with some even being made from radioactive materials. There is even a theory that a gravity laser is possible! Today I got my laser operational, but I don't have a shield yet. I did some test burns wearing special safety goggles, and was able to cut out some rough but usable brass brake wheels. I will need some time to define a clean process recipe though.
Once you get the document dialed in, how long will lasering them out of brass take versus photo etching? Seems like a huge time saver without the dangerous chemicals.
