Ask HN: How does one buy higher power laser?
I thought it'd be fun to build my own laser cutter. However, I'm not sure where to buy the laser head. Anyone know where one buys such things?
That being said, a Chinese company named Wicked Lasers has been manufacturing and selling highly portable and relatively powerful handheld lasers at very reasonable prices - a lightsaber-like design for a few hundred dollars. By even their most powerful 1.2W laser will barely burn through cardboard and has no real functional use beyond showing off to friends. It will however blind someone permanently up to 9 miles away and even flashing it in the sky will land you in federal prison pretty quickly. There's also a good chance it gets stopped by customs during shipment as lasers fall in a grey area from a legal perspective.
These aren't toys - then can very easily maim someone unintentionally from a huge distance, even if wearing proper eyewear. Light can be reflected off a raindrop and blind you faster than your eye can even blink, literally. I strongly advise doing some research and if still interested, pursue this hobby in an academic or lab setting, if at all.
Worst advice ever.
First of all, I suspect most laser cutters are employed in industrial job shops--not research facilities--around the world. They're actually quite convenient tools. I've used them for a number of projects and it takes all of 15 minutes to train a reasonably intelligent person on how to use one safely and effectively. It's faster, cheaper, and more reliable than 3D printing for anything larger than a cigar box. I consider them safer than CNC mills, as I've only ever seen laser cutters catch on fire, but never catastrophically shatter and explode like a CNC mill.
But more importantly, "don't try this at home" is my least favorite phrase in the world. He's an adult. I'm sure he knows "these aren't toys". You're not the internet's nanny.
Irrelevant anecdotal evidence and exploding CNC straw man arguments aside, lasers are dangerous and in ways that aren't familiar to most. I certainly encourage pursuit of any worthwhile scientific or engineering endeavor, but just like I don't want intern doctors treating Ebola patients without prior explicit experience or safe equipment, I prefer not to find out what accidents a handheld device that can blind someone from miles away bring from the hands of a novice internet laser DIYer.
And who cares about "worthwhile"? You're right, we have no idea what he'll use this for. But it's not our job to be Cops of The Intarwebs. This "we must protect information from the unknown threats, because we don't know what the threat could be!" is how we get censorship. You might mean well, but your attitude is awful.
Your arrogant schizophrenic replies with fictional quotes from you're own manifestations and irrational conclusions have added no value whatsoever. I provided a name of a company and some cautious advice, nothing more yet you feel the need to go on some crusade - and for what exactly?? Are you a staunch advocate for the use of high powered lasers in uncontrolled, informal circumstances?? Seriously, you ARE the personification of all your overly active insecurities - a know it all who upon reflection knows nearly nothing. Get the chip off your shoulder and realize if you don't like something, then don't engage.
And yes, my handheld spider arctic 3 blue 1W laser is under 2 lbs, can run continuously for 10 minutes and can absolutely BLIND anyone in under a second from miles away.
What you might consider, if you're just interested in the CNC part of the project, is to build a CNC router, using a Dremel or other cheap rotary tool. I don't know what you intend to use this for, but such a tool would actually be quite useful in the average hobbyist shop. If you decide you ever want to upgrade, at least you'll know you have the CNC part of the equation down.