What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Part Scavenger, Tue Jun 06 2006, 02:40AMI just got a 5mW laser from an old laserjet. I'm pretty sure it works, is it powerful enough to burn or etch things? Any ideas what to do with it?
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
..., Tue Jun 06 2006, 04:18AM
5mw won't do much good for anything... I also doubt it is a full 5mw, if you were just reading the class IIIA sticker that said 5mw it is probably less than that...
might read this thread...
have fun!
..., Tue Jun 06 2006, 04:18AM
5mw won't do much good for anything... I also doubt it is a full 5mw, if you were just reading the class IIIA sticker that said 5mw it is probably less than that...
might read this thread...
have fun!
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Part Scavenger, Tue Jun 06 2006, 04:18PM
Thanks for the reply. That's good info. Is there anyplace I can find a chart or something that will tell you what can be done with different wattages?
Part Scavenger, Tue Jun 06 2006, 04:18PM
Thanks for the reply. That's good info. Is there anyplace I can find a chart or something that will tell you what can be done with different wattages?
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Dr. Shark, Wed Jun 07 2006, 05:23PM
Sams laser FAQ tells you everything. In a pinch, a couple of 10s of mW can scorch really thin plastic like video-tapes, with a few 100mW, you can start melting holes in solid plastic, and with a few W you can burn paper.
For machinig, you usually want to blow off small chunks of material rather than melt it, so q-switched lasers with GWs of peak and 100s of W average power are used. A single pulse of 100mJ or so can blow a small hole into a razor blade.
Diode lasers are generally not good for this sort of thing, since it is close to impossible to focus them properly. They are only useful for communications, or testing diode drivers without having to worry about blowing up something expensive
Dr. Shark, Wed Jun 07 2006, 05:23PM
Sams laser FAQ tells you everything. In a pinch, a couple of 10s of mW can scorch really thin plastic like video-tapes, with a few 100mW, you can start melting holes in solid plastic, and with a few W you can burn paper.
For machinig, you usually want to blow off small chunks of material rather than melt it, so q-switched lasers with GWs of peak and 100s of W average power are used. A single pulse of 100mJ or so can blow a small hole into a razor blade.
Diode lasers are generally not good for this sort of thing, since it is close to impossible to focus them properly. They are only useful for communications, or testing diode drivers without having to worry about blowing up something expensive
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Plasmaniac, Wed Jun 07 2006, 07:10PM
...
Plasmaniac, Wed Jun 07 2006, 07:10PM
...
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Marko, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:01PM
You can use it as a big and unwieldy laser pointer.
It can't really blow even human eye with few miliwats of power (unless you really want it).
HeNe tubes are tipycally 5-10mW at most.
Marko, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:01PM
You can use it as a big and unwieldy laser pointer.
It can't really blow even human eye with few miliwats of power (unless you really want it).
HeNe tubes are tipycally 5-10mW at most.
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Plasmaniac, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:03PM
I was actually thinking about pulsing a 10-100J HV cap through it...
Plasmaniac, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:03PM
I was actually thinking about pulsing a 10-100J HV cap through it...
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Marko, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:11PM
Ths way you may get few more mw of peak power, but lasting very short and you couldn't burn anything with it.You would just waste the power and blow the tube up if you go for too much energy.
You really need a lot better than a puny HeNe laser. Maybe a big diode, CO2, Green Yag's can be strong and beatutiful ('strong' in terms of popping ballons and burning tape).
CO2 seems to be favourite for burning lasers, and some diodes can be pretty powerful but I don't see much people using them.
Marko, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:11PM
Ths way you may get few more mw of peak power, but lasting very short and you couldn't burn anything with it.You would just waste the power and blow the tube up if you go for too much energy.
You really need a lot better than a puny HeNe laser. Maybe a big diode, CO2, Green Yag's can be strong and beatutiful ('strong' in terms of popping ballons and burning tape).
CO2 seems to be favourite for burning lasers, and some diodes can be pretty powerful but I don't see much people using them.
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Madgyver, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:12PM
A HeNe wont work. Its just doesn't has lots of power no matter pulsed or CW. Pulsing it with 10 to 100J will probably blow it.
Madgyver, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:12PM
A HeNe wont work. Its just doesn't has lots of power no matter pulsed or CW. Pulsing it with 10 to 100J will probably blow it.
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Plasmaniac, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:21PM
Ok, so I'll just try to get it working as cw laser and then mess around a little
I've payd just 5€ for the tube, I think the fun will be worth it though I cant burn or destroy anything (except my eyes if I'm not careful enogh...).
Plasmaniac, Wed Jun 07 2006, 08:21PM
Ok, so I'll just try to get it working as cw laser and then mess around a little
I've payd just 5€ for the tube, I think the fun will be worth it though I cant burn or destroy anything (except my eyes if I'm not careful enogh...).
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
mikeselectricstuff, Wed Jun 07 2006, 10:40PM
HeNes can't be cranked up to any meaningful degree - as current increases, power peaks and then drops off - I think Sam's Faq has an explanation of the physics behind this.
Small diodes are also not very amenable to high pulse powers as the internal mirror structures get optically damaged pretty easily. A 5mw IR diode is not really much use for anything interesting.
mikeselectricstuff, Wed Jun 07 2006, 10:40PM
HeNes can't be cranked up to any meaningful degree - as current increases, power peaks and then drops off - I think Sam's Faq has an explanation of the physics behind this.
Small diodes are also not very amenable to high pulse powers as the internal mirror structures get optically damaged pretty easily. A 5mw IR diode is not really much use for anything interesting.
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Self Defenestrate, Thu Jun 08 2006, 03:19AM
Looks to me like an old seimens lgr 7631a, I have one, and they're good little lasers, nearly impossible to destroy. Usually around 2-3mw at 632.8nm.
A 5mw IR diode laser could be some fun if you could find a sensor for it. Wireless stuff, and alarms are a common project. If your looking to burn, snag one of those SSY-1's off fleabay, and an extra flash tube or two.
Self Defenestrate, Thu Jun 08 2006, 03:19AM
Plasmaniac wrote ...
Unfortunately I have no data for the tube...
Unfortunately I have no data for the tube...
Looks to me like an old seimens lgr 7631a, I have one, and they're good little lasers, nearly impossible to destroy. Usually around 2-3mw at 632.8nm.
A 5mw IR diode laser could be some fun if you could find a sensor for it. Wireless stuff, and alarms are a common project. If your looking to burn, snag one of those SSY-1's off fleabay, and an extra flash tube or two.
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Dr. Shark, Thu Jun 08 2006, 08:39AM
The easiest quick and dirty way to drive HeNe tubes like that is with a Flyback. It might not be very good for tube life, but it works reasonably well.
Dr. Shark, Thu Jun 08 2006, 08:39AM
The easiest quick and dirty way to drive HeNe tubes like that is with a Flyback. It might not be very good for tube life, but it works reasonably well.
Re: What to do with a 5mW IR laser?
Plasmaniac, Thu Jun 08 2006, 08:55PM
The tube is bigger than I actually thought...
how made it look high power
Plasmaniac, Thu Jun 08 2006, 08:55PM
The tube is bigger than I actually thought...
how made it look high power
Print this page