If you need assistance, please send an email to forum at 4hv dot org. To ensure your email is not marked as spam, please include the phrase "4hv help" in the subject line. You can also find assistance via IRC, at irc.shadowworld.net, room #hvcomm.
Support 4hv.org!
Donate:
4hv.org is hosted on a dedicated server. Unfortunately, this server costs and we rely on the help of site members to keep 4hv.org running. Please consider donating. We will place your name on the thanks list and you'll be helping to keep 4hv.org alive and free for everyone. Members whose names appear in red bold have donated recently. Green bold denotes those who have recently donated to keep the server carbon neutral.
Special Thanks To:
Aaron Holmes
Aaron Wheeler
Adam Horden
Alan Scrimgeour
Andre
Andrew Haynes
Anonymous000
asabase
Austin Weil
barney
Barry
Bert Hickman
Bill Kukowski
Blitzorn
Brandon Paradelas
Bruce Bowling
BubeeMike
Byong Park
Cesiumsponge
Chris F.
Chris Hooper
Corey Worthington
Derek Woodroffe
Dalus
Dan Strother
Daniel Davis
Daniel Uhrenholt
datasheetarchive
Dave Billington
Dave Marshall
David F.
Dennis Rogers
drelectrix
Dr. John Gudenas
Dr. Spark
E.TexasTesla
eastvoltresearch
Eirik Taylor
Erik Dyakov
Erlend^SE
Finn Hammer
Firebug24k
GalliumMan
Gary Peterson
George Slade
GhostNull
Gordon Mcknight
Graham Armitage
Grant
GreySoul
Henry H
IamSmooth
In memory of Leo Powning
Jacob Cash
James Howells
James Pawson
Jeff Greenfield
Jeff Thomas
Jesse Frost
Jim Mitchell
jlr134
Joe Mastroianni
John Forcina
John Oberg
John Willcutt
Jon Newcomb
klugesmith
Leslie Wright
Lutz Hoffman
Mads Barnkob
Martin King
Mats Karlsson
Matt Gibson
Matthew Guidry
mbd
Michael D'Angelo
Mikkel
mileswaldron
mister_rf
Neil Foster
Nick de Smith
Nick Soroka
nicklenorp
Nik
Norman Stanley
Patrick Coleman
Paul Brodie
Paul Jordan
Paul Montgomery
Ped
Peter Krogen
Peter Terren
PhilGood
Richard Feldman
Robert Bush
Royce Bailey
Scott Fusare
Scott Newman
smiffy
Stella
Steven Busic
Steve Conner
Steve Jones
Steve Ward
Sulaiman
Thomas Coyle
Thomas A. Wallace
Thomas W
Timo
Torch
Ulf Jonsson
vasil
Vaxian
vladi mazzilli
wastehl
Weston
William Kim
William N.
William Stehl
Wesley Venis
The aforementioned have contributed financially to the continuing triumph of 4hv.org. They are deserving of my most heartfelt thanks.
Registered Member #2628
Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627
IamSmooth wrote ...
How powerful of a diode can one get for a laser that can do some serious burning?
Fibercoupled IR bars can reach several hundred watts. however they require an investment in some serious optics to deal with the horrid divergance and beam specs.
For now, best for burning cheaply is 1W-5W 808nm diodes. If you want to burn in the visable spectrum, then you will either need an A-140 (445nm) driven @ 2W, or a 12X 405nm diode @ 600-800mw.
Registered Member #190
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 12:00AM
Location:
Posts: 1567
I might want to try a laser project at some time. I would like to be able to burn some wood, metal and plastic. I will admit I know nothing about how to power the diodes without frying them, which is how this thread seemed to begin. What type of circuit is used to drive the diode, and what considerations are there to prevent one from burning it out?
Registered Member #2628
Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627
Well, if your serious about burning things, I suppose IR is the way to go.
Personally, I think it will be loads easier to use a CO2 system for what you want to do, as any high powers to match a CO2 system will require some expensive optics to make any use of the output.
Generally Laser diodes require a constant current source (regulated), and the forward voltage of the diode. most 808nm diodes IIRC have a forward voltage of 1.7V-2V. More or less the simplest way to drive them is with a current source.
Laser diodes are also spike/esd sensative devices, so using TVS and an RC snubber I find helps quite a bit.
A CO2 tube would be loads easier to driver and far cheaper then the system im talking about, as to match the power of a good CO2 laser for metal cutting (say 100W). fibercoupled IR bars and the optics alone are expensive and alot more sensative then a laser tube. If you really want to go serious and complex, then use a q-switched ND:YAG system. they can achive some VERY high peak pulse powers (even if you only drive them 50-100ns). will easly cut thin metal and plastics. most plastics (even clear) are opaque to 1064nm.
Registered Member #190
Joined: Fri Feb 17 2006, 12:00AM
Location:
Posts: 1567
It seems that if I want to do this in the future I will go with a CO2 system. I just though a diode would be easier in that I don't have to get involved with long gas-filled tubes.
Registered Member #2628
Joined: Fri Jan 15 2010, 12:23AM
Location:
Posts: 627
That is indeed true. but CO2 tubes also dont have 200mrad divergance like fibercoupled IR bars do of the equivilant 100W power.).
They are more compact and great. but the optics required to make them usable for any type of percise metal cutting is very costly and hard to find outside of surplus. mostly saying that for half the price of the optics (just optics) needed you can probably achive the same result at half price from a full CO2 system.
I think the best you will get out for this type of stuff aside from CO2 is a q-switched pulsed ND:YAG (IIRC you can use the 808nm bars to pump it). the latter will output 1064nm as final and at a not too terrible beam specs. (also with this way you can always finish this DPSS system if you ever feel like it, such as adding KTP with an input of 1064nm. you can make a very powerfull green laser.)
So in the end a CO2, while bulky, is a great investment for burning usage.
This site is powered by e107, which is released under the GNU GPL License. All work on this site, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. By submitting any information to this site, you agree that anything submitted will be so licensed. Please read our Disclaimer and Policies page for information on your rights and responsibilities regarding this site.
Add your laser fail here...
