Diode lasers ---Under the Hood 20 @SarbarMultimedia

Uploaded July 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

The questions I posed at the end of the last session allows me to explain and demonstrate both the positive and negative effects of using air assist with a diode laser. Because of the mechanism by which a diode laser cuts wood there is an ever present danger of fire if you do not understand the risks. The extra punch (higher intensity) that a 20 watt diode provides, opens more opportunities for damaging materials that will absorb 455nm light energy. Precision cutting of thin card has previously ended up with red glowing embers on fine details. Can 20 watts do what 5 and 10 watts could not?
Can we use this extra power to turn slate into glass?

RDWorks Learning Lab 215. AT LAST!!! I understand how lenses cut.

RDWorks Learning Lab 202 More Laser Cutting Investigations

RDWorks Learning Lab 173 Dead RDC6442 control panel 2

RDWorks Learning Lab 174 Should I use an inert assist gas

RDWorks Learning Lab 159A The Chequer board Footnote

RDWorks Learning Lab 229 Search for a Beam Collimator Part 2

$RDWorks Learning Lab 245 Lenses and Laser Beams A Marriage Made in Hell Lenses have worked perfectly for thousands of years BUT laser beams have only been around for about 60 years Yes, its still light waves/rays and will be refracted by lenses in exactly the same manner as always. Normal light is more or less uniform intensity across the surface of a lens whereas the Gaussian profile of a laser beam means it has most of its light INTENSITY at and around the centre of the beam. Light refracts (bends) as it passes through a lens which is designed to direct all light energy to a common point (the focal point). This means the outer edge of a lens must refract the rays more than those at the centre. Our laser machine lenses are manufactured with the age old (and simplest to manufacture) form of lens geometry.....spherical. This shape has imperfect focusing properties called aberration. Thus, light from the outer edge of a lens focuses at different points to that through the center. For uniform light this weakness is hardly noticable, perhaps a bit of blur if you look carefully. However, for a laser beam with its maximum intensity (its max ability to damager material) at the beam axis, this becomes a problem. A lens may have a nominal focal point that would apply to normal light, but pass laser light through it and the maximum intensity at the axis of the beam meets the least refractive axis of the lens. Bad news. Hence the title of this video.......they stay married (with all the imperfections) for the sake of the children and to the outside world all seems well. This video is some background about several months of test work I have conducted using various beam sizes and many lens types to examine the inner workings of this imperfect marriage. Most will not be interested in the large report of my tests and findings because on the surface, laser machines do aproximately what is expected of them without ever needing to lift the hood. If you have an interest in the report I produced then please contact me via this private contact form. https://forms.zohopublic.eu/ndeavorlimited/form/K40XtreeemLaserCutterContactRussSadler/formperma/k2Cn0QN5ChpazfTMAUw25lZ-FKpjZa96TQWHjv3ntOg$

RDWorks Learning Lab 195 Honeycomb A Disaster Looming

Tangerine Tiger 02 Catching up with China Blue