Homebrew Laser Cutter made by Zach Radding

Step 5 The Laser tube

CO2 laser tube seen from above.
It's a Synrad G48-2-285 25 watt laser cost approx $2000
Fans in the blue enclosure (absent in this photo) blow air into the holes in this lucite enclosure around the laser. This cools the laser and keeps smoke and other dirt from getting on the front of the laser. This is a good way to keep the laser from burning a hole in itself.
This unit has a number of nice features. It takes a relatively low thirty volt supply. It steps it up to a bazillion volts internally. That's how many volts it takes to make the laser un-lazy. The unit also has a convenient DB9 connector
with a TTL level (five volt) input signal line to turn the laser beam on and off. You can connect a PWM (pulse width modulated) signal in here to turn the laser power down to any level you want. Zach's PWM is at a frequency of 20khz.

Comments

[njsoffice]

Any chance of getting a look at the head mechanism, like a $250, 150watt 1200mm long laser tube is probably mounted horizontally, secured to the gantry right?. mirrored to/through the head to the work piece. Otherwise, I guess I`ll have to raise the ceiling...ha,ha, vertical mounting (might get wonky when speed picks up), OR... has anyone got any ideas?

Cheers :)

[hintss]

on epilog/universal lasers, its mounted inside/behind the machine, then a mirror or 2 reflect it toward the front of the machine, along the left side, where it hits a mirror mounted to the gantry, making it go toward the right of the machine. then a mirror on the head reflects it downward, through a lens, onto the material

[zachschi]

Where do you purchase one of these units? Directly from Synrad?