[jomac_uk]

I have a small home made CNC and i want to adapt it to do laser cutting/engraving as well. Ive spent the last couple of weeks looking around for a small laser and the deeper i dig, the more confusing it gets.

It seems that the most common style of laser is one thats mounted in a square heatsink with a fan at one end, similar to the one in the link below. However, when i look at prices and power levels, this is where the confusion starts. Ive found some 300mw lasers that look the same as 500mw lasers but cost more, some higher power lasers dont have fans but the smaller 100mw ones do. (Im aware that the Chinese do tend to claim higher powers then they are in reality)

I was looking for a laser with a power output of 1.6 watts or more, and the average cost was around the £70 mark, however, i did find a 2.5 watt laser which cost £64. My two questions are, is this a realistic output or a boast, and most of the blue/purple lasers have an output at around 405nm but this one has an output at 445nm, is this a problem?

I would appreciate any help in this matter as im pretty much confused.

John

[SevenQQ]

Hello John,
I understand your confusion,there are many and many laser manufacturers in China,so many good,also many bad,want to pick a good one from the bad?a little difficult.
May I can help you.I live in the birth place of Chinese laser--wuhan,also I work in a laser manufacturer,but we don't have low power laser as you said.
You can add my skype:[email protected].

[julianashcroft]

Hopefully you will have lots of patience while your engraving, these little diode 'lasers' put out so little power, they have to move very, very slowly to make a mark. Someone tested one of the cheap laser machine you can buy on ebay and it took over an hour to engrave something 38mm square.