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A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

spectrum.ieee.org

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Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#101

Post by WillAdams »

gpderetta wrote: post #92
LeifCarrotson wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"The average car-buyer or metalworker" can already afford a $30 cordless angle grinder: https://www.harborfreight.com/power-tools/grinders/angle-gri... (Cost plus a $30-$80 battery, of course, but after you pick your color, you've already got batteries). Your locks are far more protected by the social contract that would compel a stranger to stop someone who was cutting a bike lock with an angle grinder, and would ca…

"Use goggles to protect remaining eye"

A long while ago, I was told that the flight deck crew on Air Force One would wear eyepatches during nuclear drills, so that if (hopefully temporarily) blinded by an airborne nuke, would be able to continue flying after switching the eyepatch to the other eye.

Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#102

Post by lukan »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #56
Thorrez wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the Netherlands have a law against knowingly buying stolen property?

Every place in the world does probably. But how would you prove an unmarked, cheap bike was stolen?

How would you know a marked bike was stolen? Does the police offer a public listing of all the stolen bikes?

(I do not think so, but this probably would make sense)

Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#103

Post by cjenkins »

mft_ wrote: post #24
coder543 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you expand on why you think this would be so great for home workshops? How do you envision using the laser? Handheld, mounted, or on a CNC?

CNC would be an obvious implementation. At the moment, there are expensive-but-affordable home CNC laser cutters, typically for a small number of thousand EUR/USD. The more powerful ones can do a very neat job cutting (up to a few mm of) plywood. There are also CNC plasma cutters, which do a good but slightly rough job of cutting sheet metal, and are relatuvely large and complex beasts. I guess a highly-powerful lase…

Bit of a tangent, but you might have better luck with hardwood vs. plywood. The glue in plywood makes it more difficult for CO2 lasers to cut through. I was super surprised when someone at work mentioned they were able to blow through some hardwood in a single pass but had a struggle to get through plywood.

Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#104

Post by dghughes »

devoutsalsa wrote: post #56
Thorrez wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the Netherlands have a law against knowingly buying stolen property?

Every place in the world does probably. But how would you prove an unmarked, cheap bike was stolen?

If you can't and the owner can and if you are caught then you are liable.

Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#105

Post by dghughes »

aqme28 wrote: post #28
llm_trw wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Everyone can already afford a stick welder. We don't need goggles when we leave the house.

Those can’t blind you from a distance though. Not nearly the same risk

The headlights of 2024 Ford F150 can blind me from a distance.

Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#106

Post by CodeWriter23 »

antisthenes wrote: post #97
jandrese wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably from the bike thieves. There's a glut in the stolen bike market so the price competition is fierce.

It seems like that that point the bike thieves are just a bike rental company. You get the bike for < 20 Euro and then, presumably, at some point in the future it gets stolen again, but you already got 20 Euros worth of use out of it.

"Discount Variable Duration" rental program.

Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#107

Post by Domenic_S »

sschueller wrote: post #65
aqme28 wrote: post #7

A society in which "the average car-buyer" has a tiny portable steel-melting laser is a society where I'm wearing welding goggles every time I leave the house. And I'm not sure how you even lock a bike or a door or a safe any more.

Because of this Switzerland has outlawed portable laser pointers higher than the lowest class. Anything more powerful than a low end projector pointer is now classified as a weapon and regulated as such. This at least keeps these units out of the hands of the general public and those that can't use them responsibly. It sucks for those of us who used them responsibly just like we did with RC aircraft before drones bec…

What keeps someone from driving across the border to acquire one, or ordering on ebay, or getting one at a sketchy shop? "Some idiot" is exactly the kind of person that would ignore the law.

I mean it seems like a fine law, but it's a law so now I never have to think about it again seems strange to me. Running stop signs is outlawed but I still look before I cross the street.

Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#109

Post by jfoutz »

dghughes wrote: post #105
aqme28 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those can’t blind you from a distance though. Not nearly the same risk

The headlights of 2024 Ford F150 can blind me from a distance.

yes, but not permanently. You can certainly get dazzled by bright headlights, I can anyway.

but laser light, like staring into the sun, will destroy the delicate structure of your retina, and it doesn't grow back.

Re: A tiny ultrabright laser that can melt steel

#110

Post by Blackthorn »

xavieralexandre wrote: post #2

The article rightly points out the industrial impact of more powerful and compact lasers but I cannot wait for those PCSELs to reach the small workshop market. Having a cheap laser able to cut metal at home / small shops would be so useful (And sneakily dangerous as lasers are).

Given how quickly dangerous these compact lasers can be, I think I'd rather stick with the handheld plasma cutter.
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