Laser etching

[SgtM]

Just a thought. I'm sure we all have old CD burners laying around. Does anyone think it would be possible to turn one into something you could etch plex with? Or is the laser too weak?

[dgrmkrp]

uuuuuuuuu.. nice idea! i have some heads put aside for the moment i find a use for them.. i wonder if this could be one of those >: )

[GT40_GearHead]

maybe with a lighte scribe thing.......

it may have more power......:-?

[Slug Toy]

the thing that may stop this idea is the fact that plexi is clear or at least translucent if it has a colour to it. the laser may just pass right through. there are things you can do to make a working etching laser though. it requires some work, but you can make a carbon dioxide laser which should work for acrylic. carbon dioxide lasers are good for non metal engraving. if you want to do metal, you need something like a YAG laser because carbon dioxide lasers will only mark metal, not engrave it.

[SgtM]

Slug, you seem to have a really good understanding. Ever tried anything like this before? Thanks for the info. I'll look into the co2 laser. Do you think it would work with the laser from a CD burner?

[Slug Toy]

i dont know if a cd burner has enough power in it. you can try it out... but if it emits visible light it probably isnt good enough. what you want is the UV or infrared spectrum, and im pretty sure the carbon dioxide laser is infrared.

ive designed lasers before, but never built them yet. lots of them are similar to ccfl's in the way they work. the trick is in the fine tuning. you may need some reasonably complex circuits to control the electrical pulses needed, and you may also need to line up the electrodes perfectly parallel depending on the design (nitrogen lasers use two electrodes along the entire length that have to be perfectly parallel so you dont get any irregularities or electrical arching).

i CAN give you suggestions and links to websites if you want to try the carbon dioxide laser. just be warned that precision is key, and it may be a LARGE undertaking in every sense of the word.

[jdbnsn]

I have seen a hack somewhere with a dude who turned a printer (cannot remember the type) into an etching device. It didn't use a lazer though, I think it a cutting bit. I wouldn't count on getting your hands on the materials for a YAG lazer however..

[SgtM]

I have seen a hack somewhere with a dude who turned a printer (cannot remember the type) into an etching device. It didn't use a lazer though, I think it a cutting bit. I wouldn't count on getting your hands on the materials for a YAG lazer however..

Linkage plz!

[jdbnsn]

I'll try to find it, but it was a long time ago that I saw it. My guess is www.hackaday.com

[Slug Toy]

I wouldn't count on getting your hands on the materials for a YAG lazer however.

i wouldnt either. yag lasers are solid state and the parts are hard to find, and you cant make some of it. for those of you that dont know, yag actually stands for yttrium aluminum germanium, which is what makes up a crystal that actually produces the laser, and that crystal is often doped with neodymium. so... if you cant find that piece, you definitely cant make one unless you have access to a furnace, and some neodymium and yttrium.

its kind of a shame though, because yag lasers are really good for metal engraving.

that printer hack sounds interesting. i would imagine that you could fiddle with the ink cartridges and make it so that instead of pushing ink out, it plunges an engraving head down, and the rollers for the paper can be modified so that they just carry the printer along the material to be engraved, or they could push the material along while the printer is stationary.

[jdbnsn]

Yeah YAG is not an easy build, and I believe a tad radioactive (at least dangerous). As I recall, it was a large, cheap printer like a desk jet and he took the whole appeture which moved the ink delivery device and replaced it with a mounted rotatry (maybe even dremel) that covered the desired pattern. I know I've seen printers coverted into PCB board printers, let me check around and see if I can find that.

[jdbnsn]

This isn't it, but it's a start.


http://www.hackaday.com/2006/04/26/old-pen-plotter-converted-to-vinyl-cutter/

another, not quite it, but could be modified.

http://www.tek-tonic.com/scribpage.php

[Slug Toy]

while you're searching for that stuff, i want to bring up another issue i just thought of. control.

the printer idea is pretty good, and is obviously controllable. by this i mean you can make it print what you want and not have to program anything. the lasers are another story.

you COULD strap a laser to a printer in the same fashion as jdbnsn is describing, but you would need to have a method of turning the laser on and off based on what the image is... and that gives me a headache so it probably involves circuitry.

now, the possibility of strapping a laser to a printer and getting it working aside, heres the limitation. lasers are big. even the smallest lasers are big. based off the fact that CO2 lasers are what you want, and the fact that TEA (Transverse Electrical discharge at Atmospheric pressure) lasers are relatively small, heres how i see it. the laser itself is going to be at least 3 feet long, and heavy because of the capacitors and electrodes needed.

with the amount of weight involved, you would have to beef up the motors that the printer uses, and a solid mounting scheme would have to be made up as well. after all that is said and done, you arent dealing with something the size of a printer anymore... its more like the size of a photocopier.

anyways... control. slapping a dremel or a router into a printer is probably a lot easier than trying to manipulate a 3 foot laser. its up to you though. both ways are possible, but one is more possible than the other.

[Commando]

Sounds like a cool idea. My one recommendation is be careful. I work with lasers at work and the ones that can screw your vision are the ones that you can't see, hence IR. There are classes of lasers and they should have a warning label on them.

This might sound dumb, but if you fry your eyeball a little, you wouldn't even know it for a couple of days until you start seeing a little black spot in your vision. Yeah that little black spot doesn't ever go away either.

The reason I mention this is because lasers that are enclosed usually don't have labels on them because the manufacturer is not worried about the exposure. Therefore you never know what class of laser it is. I'd be willing to bet anything powerful enough to etch is going to be powerful enough to fry your eyeball.

[SgtM]

We all need to get together and pick each others brains over a few brews. I'm willing to put up a place to stay. lol. I've got enough info to keep me busy for a while. Thanks guys! +rep to all of you.

[Slug Toy]

after thinking about this over today's classes (first day back) i think you should probably try to strap a dremel to a printer. this probably isnt the right thing to use a laser for. dont get me wrong... lasers are fun, but the trouble you have to go through to control them in order to get an image engraved probably isnt worth it.

[SgtM]

after thinking about this over today's classes (first day back) i think you should probably try to strap a dremel to a printer. this probably isnt the right thing to use a laser for. dont get me wrong... lasers are fun, but the trouble you have to go through to control them in order to get an image engraved probably isnt worth it.

I was thinking the same thing. The thought crossed my mind though, so I figured I would put it out there.

[Slug Toy]

for the heck of it, heres something fun you can do if you have some hydrogen gas available. you can make a tanning light out of it.

just fill up a tube full of the hydrogen and pass some electricity through it... like the way a fluorescent light or ccfl works. it gives off a light purple colour and its actually pretty close to sunlight. you can use it like a tanning booth. just dont stare at the light, because it DOES have plenty of UV coming off.

[crenn]

Sorry for thread revival.... but I wanted to point out that the laser isn't the thing that HAS to move. You could move the material instead.

[Bucko]

I'll try to find it, but it was a long time ago that I saw it. My guess is www.hackaday.com (http://www.hackaday.com)

It might be amongst these:
http://www.hackaday.com/2007/03/12/printer-hacking-roundup/

[OvRiDe]

An old pen plotter would probably be the easiest to control.. You could pretty much use its native controls.. the main difference is they have a pen up and pen down control that could be used to turn on/off the laser. Weight could be an issue, but with the proper fiber optic medium you could pipe the laser to the head, eliminating the weight problem for the plotter. This is actually the way alot of industrial laser cutters already work since the industrial sized lasers that are used to cut thicker material are water cooled.

Just my .02