co 2 laser basics
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CO 2 Laser Basics. Neil Hansen Sierra Laser Design Cameron Park, CA (530) 350 - 0941. CO 2 Laser Tube, The Heart of the Machine. The Laser is becoming the workhorse of the maker movement. Can process a wide variety of materials Produces a good surface finish on cuts - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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CO2 Laser BasicsNeil Hansen
Sierra Laser DesignCameron Park, CA(530) 350 - 0941
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CO2 Laser Tube, The Heart of the Machine
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The Laser is becoming the workhorse of the maker movement.
Can process a wide variety of materialsProduces a good surface finish on cutsCan engrave designs on surfacesVery accurate CNC processUses simple 2d drawings, shallow learning
curve
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Stable C avity Design ( < 2kW )
+ -
H igh Voltage Pow er Source
100% R eflectiveM irror
Partia lly R eflectiveM irror
Cooling Jacket
Laser C avity
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19% - N77% - H e
= +
+ = + +
Electron
Very Excited CO M olecules2
Less Excited CO M olecules2
Relaxed C O M olecules2
Photon
CO Laser Basic Principals2
The G as M ixtureis bom barded w ithe lectrons. As the gas m olecules becom e excited, they start tospontaneously re laxand re lease photons.
+ =
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O ptical Path
M irror M irror
M irror
FocusingLens
W ork
Laser
M irrors and Lensare ZnSe(Z inc Selenide)
W hat do you do w henyour ligh t eat g lass???
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• The CO2 Laser outputs in the Infrared spectrum (10.6 µm)
• The light is monochromatic• The energy density is very high! (1kW of
Input = 1.4 mW / CM2 with a typical focus of 0.3mm)
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SAFETY! (This is a class 4 laser)Laser Light from a CO2 Laser is invisible
• Eye protection designed for the proper wave length should always be worn when working with the Laser
• When adjusting optical path two people should work as a team, one adjusting and one to make sure that an unfocused beam is not; burning another part of the machine, starting a fire in the shop, cutting through the shop wall, cutting through the building next door, pets, people, etc…
• This is general advise … be safe, have fun.
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Let’s Get To Work!What can we do with
this Thing?
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• Lasers < 300 W are generally used for cutting Non Metallic Materials
• Wood, Acrylic, ABS, Plywood, Synthetic foams, …etc! are readily cut with a Laser
• Lasers cut by one of 3 methods, or a combination of them.– Vaporization (acrylic)– Chemical Degradation (Wood, ABS, Many Plastics)– Melt Shearing (Metals, Some Plastics)Air Flow is VERY important to the process!!!
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The thickness of material to cut and the cutting speed are governed by the amount of energy needed to vaporize/decompose/melt a volume of material. This relationship boils down to the cutting speed equation:
V=PQt-B
V=maximum cutting speed
P=Laser Power
T=Material Thickness
Q & B = Experimentally derived constants
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SoftwareAny 2d drawing application that can output; .PLT, .AI, .DXF, .DST, .BMP, …ETC canbe used to generate designs for the laser.
Gimp – open sourceCorel Draw – industry standardAuto Cad Light – industry standard 2d CAD Turbo Cad – very versitile 2d and 3d CAD
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LaserCut Software
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SOME FUN STUFF FROM MAKERS FAIR 2014. LASER CUTTING WAS USED TO PRODUCE A WIDE RANGE OF PRODUCTS AND PROTOTYPES.
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ReferencesCO2 Laser Cutting, 2nd Ed, John PowellLaser Material Processing, 4th Ed, Steen, MazumderHurricane Lasers User ManuelLaserCut Software ManuelMAKERS, The New Industrial Revolution, Anderson
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Questions ?