Alternate Heat sources...

[DNIndustry]

I am going to build some type of induction oven. I have one of the sweetest supplies of High voltage inductors, capacitors, transformers. Anyone ever looked into Infrared or CO2 laser for melting? I have a rather large supply of High powered Infrared diodes for gas analysers.

 

[qst42know]

I have no laser experience and I don't know for certain but I would guess it would be difficult to control the temperature, you wouldn't want to vaporize, or would you?

PMs are also highly reflective and wouldn't they cause redirected energy problems?

Can the energy from a laser be controlled so tightly?

 

[Lou]

Controlling and focusing the energy into a tight beam is the whole purpose of a laser. I have a 600W CO2 laser that is quite beastly, but it will just set wood on fire rather than cut it if it is not focused properly!

Unfortunately, a laser would be a poor choice for heating anything. It is great for cutting, but terrible for heating. Even if you heated a nonreflective graphite crucible, as the crucible began to incandesce, your heating efficiency would drastically diminish.

He'd have better luck sticking with the induction furnace or waiting on Steve to put together that much anticipated kit.

 

[DNIndustry]

600W...Wow! what wavelength does CO2 use. I saw this special on Discovery about metal fabrication at Ford. What type of cuts/speed you get with it? Are they tube or pulsed diodes stacks?

 

[lazersteve]

Lou,

That 600W CO2 must be a real beast, we have a 250W (output power) CO2 laser (used for cutting and drilling) and it is no lightweight by any means. The tube is 36" long and the head it's mounted on an XY table. The thing is a real beauty to watch in action.

I'll try to get some photos (or even video) up of ours.

Steve

 

[Lou]

Yes, this is water cooled and runs at about 100F. It lights up at 40kV IIRC. It's about 48" long. The beam is invisible. It's not mounted although it came from a friend who used to use it for cutting thick hardwoods and also thin steel (I think 1/8" max). Currently in its box awaiting my purchase of better optics.

A laser with excellent focus will easily have millions of watts per cm^2.


I'd be keen on seeing your lazer Steve.

 

[lazersteve]

Lou,

Ours is also water cooled and requires dehumidified air to keep the debris out of the optics. The XY table its on is 48" x 108" with a vacuum assist on the entire bed. We cut mostly foam and plastics.

Next time I'm over at the shop, I grab a short video of it 'doing it's thing'.

Steve

 

[DNIndustry]

Guys..
with 600W you should be able to cut 1/4 steel stock all day long. they use 1400W for 3/4 steel but can do up to 1 1/4. I have a 90 degree cutting head for a tube laser, not sure of the specs though. My guess is that if you cant see the beem its in the 950-1450 um range. most likely they use a 10um span in in there. its hard to tighten the range with a gas based unit as opposed to diode. i have some infrared diodes Im willing to donate if any one is interested. They are 945-950um. there are actually 3 in each gas analyzer assembly. I believe they have the driver built in the unit too. A litttle 250mW dvd burner diode can start fires and cigarettes... Fun at parties...

 

[Palladium]

Steve,

Upload the vid, Pleaseeeeee!!!!

 

[lazersteve]

The shop is nearly 100 miles away round trip.

My younger brother from OKC is visiting his daughter within a few miles of the shop and I'll be picking him up Sunday. I'll stop by the shop and film a video then.

Steve

 

[DNIndustry]

Nice!

 

[lazersteve]

Ok, here's the short video I promised (sorry no sound).

There are three segments to the video.

The first demonstrates the 250 watt CO2 laser doing it's thing. We use it to form tool kit inserts for companies like the USAF, Lockheed, MatCo, and many others. You see it cutting the foam for a kit in the video.

The second segment is our smaller Yttrium laser marking the pockets in the inserts. I wrote the custom software that exports the DXFs and G-Codes. They simultaneously run the table and control the marking laser.

Lastly, you see one of our completed tool kits.

Here's the link to the video:

Laser Video

I hope you guys like it.

If you ever have any kitting or marking needs be sure to contact me.

Steve

 

[Oz]

Very nice Steve!

 

[qst42know]

I'm having trouble viewing the video. Is there a certain media player I should be using?

 

[lazersteve]

Mine took a long time to buffer.

I'm thinking I need to move the video to You tube for speed sake.

Steve

 

[qst42know]

I don't have any trouble with your other videos.

 

[lazersteve]

I moved the video to You Tube.

Steve

 

[lazersteve]

The other videos are not links to raw video files like this one was.

Steve

 

[qst42know]

Awesome machine. What does something like that cost?

 

[lazersteve]

The CO2 laser and supporting XY table plus equipment was 50K+.

The marking laser system was around 15K+.

Steve