Lasers!

[Brian Jacoby]

Does anyone have any experience with laser guts? Trying to think
about tackling one of the open-source laser-cutter projects.

Known issues with that would be procuring laser assembly and then
building. Unknown issues probably many.

Thanks

Brian

--
Sent from my mobile device

[Keith Howell]

Read up *VERY* carefully about high voltage electrical systems.

The voltages you need to generate for high power laser tubes are lethal. Most of the common ladder systems are lethal long after they are turned off because they use large banks of big capacitors.

-- 

Keith

[robi sen]

When I was a kid I worked at a company making mass specs so yeah I have a
lot of experience with lasers. As for procurement I would not see what
problems you would have in that there are lots of great suppliers and no
real major restrictions.

[Alex Smith (K4RNT)]

Also be careful with the optics on those. Remember that even a
low-power laser can be powerful enough to render someone blind!

I'd be interested in working along this project. I don't know much of
the physics behind lasers in general, but I'd like to learn. Optics
and lasers are things I've always wanted to learn about.

--
" ' With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech
censured, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied,
chains us all irrevocably.' Those words were uttered by Judge Aaron
Satie as wisdom and warning... The first time any man's freedom is
trodden on we’re all damaged." - Jean-Luc Picard, quoting Judge Aaron
Satie, Star Trek: TNG episode "The Drumhead"
- Alex Smith (K4RNT)
- Sterling, Virginia USA

[Justin]

I have a tiny bit of experience and knowledge that I might be able to dust off concerning lasers (modern physics lab), but would be very interested in tinkering. I can probably also tap some friends or my advisor from undergrad, he works with ultrafast 4W lasers.

[Matthew Lazarowitz]

http://labs.nortd.com/lasersaur/
The bill of materials listed with the project might help with one set
of sources for laser parts. But seeing how early in development the
project is, you may not get much more info than about the parts right
now.

[Jason Kohles]

There are quite a few people working on DIY laser systems at http://www.buildlog.net/.