Hey guys wanted to ask a question on co2 laser sourcing,

Lasers
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Hey guys wanted to ask a question on co2 laser sourcing, and if it could be possible to attach a Co2 laser to my OX CNC? Would it be cheaper to just buy a K40 and dismantle it for parts or is there a good cheap source for just the tube? Could a 40W co2 laser be controlled by a TinyG with PWM signal? I know there are multiple questions here but appreciate any info anyone can provide.
I have a JTech photonics laser hooked up to my OX but it’s not powerful enough for some applications and is only max 2.8w. I figure 40w should handle my needs with ease.

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Or maybe it would be easier to just build a freeburn and pick up an 80w laser from SDZ, they seem to be pretty affordable.

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@Matt_Herrera it may be possible. Check out the length of a 40w tube in comparison to your X axis. If you added another brace in the rear you might be able to support this. The main thing would be the lack of protection. The K40 would be a better solution as it comes enclosed, freeburn would also be a great selection.

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Thanks @Brandon_Satterfield very good point on the enclosure and safety. I like my eye balls and plan to keep them. I think I’m leaning more towards freeburn. It has the larger footprint, I can enclose it, and I should be able to add an A axis to rotate the bottles I’m engraving. The JTech 2.8 watt struggles to effectively burn off the paint coating on the bottles. It works but I end up spending allot of time cleaning up the area and removing leftover paint with acetone. If I build from scratch I can purchase an 80w laser and have some serious cutting power. I also learned that you can make your own laser mirrors with old hard drive disks. The aluminum alloy disks should be easy to cut on the OX.

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There is a very good video on youtube about making your own mirrors from copper. He also made them from the harddrive disks and found the power loss was a bit on the high side. Here is one video but there is another on the hard drive mirrors.

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Thanks Nigel that was an interesting video. I may have missed it but I wonder where he got those copper rounds from? Darn I was hoping the hard drive would have been a good solution but I knew that may be far fetched.