Found this kit + diode, small enough for a handheld?

Ashton

Enlightened
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Feb 14, 2007
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I was looking for laser diodes when I sumbled on this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=016&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=260093647023&rd=1&rd=1

the way I'm reading it, it allows you to control the ammount of current flowing to the diode, thus preventing the mistake I made of over-powering it and burning it out. (I'm still looking for an inexpensive means of building a cutting/debossing/engraving/etc laser)

Likewise, I found this 1w diode for what appears a reasonable price (AFAIK):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=004&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT&viewitem=&item=140023964924&rd=1&rd=1

Any comments/suggestions/etc on these two items? (yes, I am thinking of putting them together)
 
That might just work but 1 W of IR is still a little weak for industrial cutting. 850 nm will cut some thin things OK but I think color will still be important. That diode has the heat sink and I think the thermal sensor may be for a TAC (Peltier Diode).
If it doesn't cut, you can modulate the power supply for a light show using a visible diode!! Watch for shipping costs on the LD.
Mike
 
Ashton --

This is a Nd Yag laser head apparently driven with a flash tube. No mention of Xenon or HP Krypton. Power Supply ???

There are many posts on this seller - (Chris at Heruur) both good and bad. He is knowledgable but is accused of providing limited info. I have had no problems with him and have talked to him on the phone. Ask questions. This is a high power laser but would require cooling as the input for 100 W output could exceed 2000 continuous watts. He mentions adding another flash tube too. What optics are needed ??

Some lasers like this run continuous arc on the water cooled tubes and a Q switch to pulse the output. etc etc etc..... Ask questions. He has some good stuff if you know how to use it.

It says laser optics but appears limited to cavity mirrors. It has a large 6mm rod but has a limiting apperture to hold it to TEM00 mode which limits output somewhat. It looks that in its present state, it would put out one helluva burst but that's just one hole :awman: . Focusing lenses might also be expensive to handle that power. I chipped one of his lenses with 120 mJ from a small yag. A 1064 nM yag is a big step up in power - a different world.

Mike
 
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Ashton, you might be interested in checking out the products offered by snoctony, or particularly Junktronix (they have some nice high power diodes at decent prices.)
 
junktronics has a very nice diode array I may get, thanks for the u/n! Even if I dont get that, I like the pricing on the 1-2 wat diodes... do I need a heatsync for a CW 1-2W diode? I see the larger arrays are liquid-cooled...
 
Ashton - you are looking to do engraving, right ? Check this out :
Don't know if it would work or not - but thought I would post it for you...
140091349421 is the item number on Ebay - I tried posting the link, but it looked funky....
 
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no price for shipping (though just judging from the size and weight it must be expensive) and no specs. Looks good, I'll have to look up the datasheet. thanks!
 
Crap - I didn't notice about the lack of shipping quote - gotta watch that CAREFULLY ! Been burned once or twice in my eagerness to win the auction - ended up paying almost double due to shipping....that sucked. (DOH !)
 
Dunno if it matters, but you might want to take a gander at Norm's site over at http://norm.servehttp.com. He's the seller of that 1W driver and he's done some pretty neat stuff. So neat, in fact, that he overserved his homemade web server :p
 
Ashton said:
junktronics has a very nice diode array I may get, thanks for the u/n! Even if I dont get that, I like the pricing on the 1-2 wat diodes... do I need a heatsync for a CW 1-2W diode? I see the larger arrays are liquid-cooled...

Heck yeah. You need a heatsink for a CW 100mW diode to keep it at a decent temperature. At 1-2W, TEC cooling would be something to seriously consider, or at the least a very good copper heatsink. If you get one of those larger arrays liquid cooling is an absolute must and even getting the right PSU can be difficult as you need to give them a load of amps at low voltage. I have a 10-25W or so 808nm fiber-coupled laser here, and the 14 guage wire I use to power it gets pretty dang hot by itself because of the amps running through there.
 
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