Interested in making a laser engraver, by taking the laser diode out of a burnt out DVD burner, and mounting it in appropriate hardware
Where do I begin?
Use a blu-ray burner instead. Do you have a CNC machine already?
No cnc yet. Why is blu-Ray better?
Blu-ray is stronger. There are some good videos on youtube and instructables has a few projects to get some ideas from.
I am wanting to rescue things from the landfill, while learning. Initially don’t care about strength, when I do I’ll have better skills to rebuild and do it right the first time
Sounds fun. Start with printers or see if you can find an old flat bed scanner.
Read up on laser safety, get some suitable laser glasses to protect your eyes and go hunting for instructions. Seriously, you only get one set of eyes.
Bear in mind I think the bulk of them are run like a standard diode so will need careful driving if you’re not using the stock hardware. Look into galvos for pointing rather than cnc if you want any speed.
DVD burners are a dime a dozen (people burn them out and throw them away)
Blu-ray is still New enough that it is less common to find one being thrown away
Glasses. Buy the right pair and use it. For diode, 445nm is best for beginners. Dtr laser shop has more info for buying and extracting your own.
I recommend flex mod p3 as the driver due to its ease of use. It also scale up to 4a. Plenty if you ever want to finish your engraving within an afternoon.
I was thinking of adding a laser engraver to my cnc router as an add on to it. Just to find the right bits.
Have a look for the ‘Microslice’ on instructables or kickstarter. That will provide a start.