Uploaded March 2024 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Converting my RF CO2 laser to a diode laser was very simple....no puffs of smoke!!
There were many suprises as I took my first venture into the diode laser world. The violence and intensity of the blue light at the material surface was was 10 times greater than I had ever witnessed with a CO2 laser ....and that was from just 5 watts!!! Having owned a precision sheet metal business for many years, the light intensity was comparable to a welding arc and left white spots in the eye for several minutes after the briefest exposure.
Finding the focal point was reasonably straightforward but using black acrylic for this task seemed to indicate quite a large spot size . This immediately made me sceptical about cutting ANYTHING with just 5 watts. Perhaps engraving would be better but on a different material.. With little hope of success I proceeded with my normal CO2 engraving routine.
Converting my RF CO2 laser to a diode laser was very simple....no puffs of smoke!!
There were many suprises as I took my first venture into the diode laser world. The violence and intensity of the blue light at the material surface was was 10 times greater than I had ever witnessed with a CO2 laser ....and that was from just 5 watts!!! Having owned a precision sheet metal business for many years, the light intensity was comparable to a welding arc and left white spots in the eye for several minutes after the briefest exposure.
Finding the focal point was reasonably straightforward but using black acrylic for this task seemed to indicate quite a large spot size . This immediately made me sceptical about cutting ANYTHING with just 5 watts. Perhaps engraving would be better but on a different material.. With little hope of success I proceeded with my normal CO2 engraving routine.
