You would need a very high power laser to enable scanning that fast, and a very high speed, high power driver. Plus the plastic lenses in those units would just melt. Not the right assembly for the job. Why not just print stencils with something like this http://www.amazon.com/Cricut-29-0001-Personal-Electronic-Cutting/dp/B000W5I= 9OC lay them on the work and spray a light coating of varnish or stain overtop on the wood On Wed, Jun 20, 2012 at 2:07 PM, Mark Hanchey wrot= e: > On 6/20/2012 4:47 PM, AK wrote: >> The power you need is directly related to how fast you want to be able >> to mark the wood, and your final spot size on the wood. =A0You could get >> away with a few watts of IR light if you have good optical focus and >> didn't mind the marking process proceeding slowly (about 1-2 cm/sec). >> > From that figure, just multiply up the power by the speed increase you >> need. =A0From your mention of spinning mirrors, I'll assume that you're >> thinking of raster scanning the image. =A0To save time, many use vector >> scanning, as in the end the path length will be much shorter. For this >> you'll need galvos. > > I have the laser assemblies and mirrors from a couple older HP laserjet > printers, they have the laser diode lined up with the spinning mirror so > that it outputs a single horizontal line. I was thinking of replacing > the diodes with higher power ones, and mounting one of these modules on > a sled that I have from an old scanner but turning it vertical so the > whole laser assembly moves top to bottom . The idea was to burn a line > horizontal, sled moves down vertical one notch, laser assembly burns > next horizontal line, sled moves down vertical, repeats until pattern is > finished. > > I don't need this to be fast, it can take 2 hours to burn it and that > would be fine, I just want to avoid the process of standing over a > pattern and tracing it and =A0having to go back and forth between pattern > and wood to touch up missed spots or line, or spots I didn't press hard > enough, and it would be fun to try too. > >> =A0 For best focus across the plane of work, f-theta >> lenses are most often used. =A0This keeps the focal point of the beam at >> the same plane as it scans across the work, however it's not strictly >> necessary just for marking if you simply allow for a long enough throw >> from your galvos/mirros so the focal point doesn't stray too far from >> the plane of work. >> > > Can you tell me what lenses would be best and what I should be looking > for. I did some work with them in college but that was decades ago when > everything was laser tubes and fairly bulky stuff, and =A0a lot higher > power than what I am considering. I really haven't done much with laser > diodes and mirrors. > > Thanks > Mark > > -- > http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive > View/change your membership options at > http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .