A couple questions

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sardonicus
Beiträge: 3
Registriert: Fr 22 Apr, 2022 2:05 pm
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A couple questions

Beitrag von sardonicus » Fr 22 Apr, 2022 2:22 pm

While I am not new to electronics, I am very new to working with lasers. I was recently looking at a few videos about laser engravers and the difference between wattage ratings - actual use vs optical power. Very interesting stuff. Then I saw another video about a robot that was killing weeds on a farm by burning with a laser, and this peaked my interest because I operate a small farm and I can already build path finding robots. So next comes the weed killing laser part and that is where my questions come in here.

First, how much optical power do you think would really be necessary to burn a small plant? Mostly I am thinking about this for my driveways to kill off the weeds that grow down the middle and along the edges. Right now my uncle manages these weeds using chemicals like glyphosate and I am hoping to build a chemical free way to kill off these plants.

Second, is it possible to take several lower wattage laser diodes and combine their beams to achieve this effect, rather than buying a single higher wattage laser diode?

Third, when I look at lasers intended for engravers/cutters many of them have what looks like quite large heatsinks. How much heat dissipation capacity is required? For my purpose the unit would be outside in the summer heat, would a passive heatsink still be enough? Or would it be beneficial to rig up a liquid cooling system like is used for gaming and other high performance computers?

Death
Beiträge: 957
Registriert: So 01 Dez, 2013 10:16 pm
Do you already have Laser-Equipment?: CO² Laser
YAG Laser
Dioden Laser
Wohnort: Duisburg

Re: A couple questions

Beitrag von Death » Fr 22 Apr, 2022 9:33 pm

first : crazy
second : yes
third : better use a co²-laser for engraving/cutting, it is faster then a diode laser

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VDX
Beiträge: 3475
Registriert: Mi 17 Mär, 2010 11:16 am
Do you already have Laser-Equipment?: ... diverse Laser für die Materialbearbeitung

weitere Hobbies: - CNC-Fräsen, 3D-Scannen, 3D-Drucken, Laserbearbeitung, Mikrotechnik ...
Wohnort: Nähe Hanau, Main-Kinzig-Kreis

Re: A couple questions

Beitrag von VDX » Fr 22 Apr, 2022 9:52 pm

... a friend started a similar project with 3 of my 9Watt IR laserdiodes with attached 0,1mm-fiber (9Amps current will give 9Watts@975nm output . so 3x9W=27W optical output!). -- you can "cook" the weeds center without really burning it, what's enough to "kill" it.

You can combine several diodes on a spot (for this he wanted 3 of the diodes).

If the air or ambient temp is below 20°C, then a passive heatsink is mostly enough ... when above 25°C, then better water cooling and/or active peltier modules ...

Viktor
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - https://reprap.org/forum/list.php?426 -- Facebook-Gruppe - https://www.facebook.com/groups/383822522290730
Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - https://reprap.org/forum/list.php?425

sardonicus
Beiträge: 3
Registriert: Fr 22 Apr, 2022 2:05 pm
Do you already have Laser-Equipment?: No

Re: A couple questions

Beitrag von sardonicus » Fr 22 Apr, 2022 10:47 pm

Thats very interesting, thank you. The little video I saw looked like it was burning them, but dead is dead as far as im concerned so cooked would work for me lol. Could you give me a link to those diodes you mentioned.

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VDX
Beiträge: 3475
Registriert: Mi 17 Mär, 2010 11:16 am
Do you already have Laser-Equipment?: ... diverse Laser für die Materialbearbeitung

weitere Hobbies: - CNC-Fräsen, 3D-Scannen, 3D-Drucken, Laserbearbeitung, Mikrotechnik ...
Wohnort: Nähe Hanau, Main-Kinzig-Kreis

Re: A couple questions

Beitrag von VDX » Sa 23 Apr, 2022 7:34 am

... you can find some of the related infos here - https://reprap.org/wiki/Laser_Cutter_Notes

Or in this two old threads:

https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?133,13836,page=3

https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?133,235148

If you want to read through other posts from me, scattered all over the web, then start a search with google for "vdx laser" :freak:

Viktor
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - https://reprap.org/forum/list.php?426 -- Facebook-Gruppe - https://www.facebook.com/groups/383822522290730
Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - https://reprap.org/forum/list.php?425

sardonicus
Beiträge: 3
Registriert: Fr 22 Apr, 2022 2:05 pm
Do you already have Laser-Equipment?: No

Re: A couple questions

Beitrag von sardonicus » Sa 23 Apr, 2022 1:13 pm

Thank you, that is all very helpful.

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