New laser machine for PCBs, Aluminium and more

Buy one: www.banggood.c...
Halp: / marcoreps
Remember the 'Lasercubs'-project? The hardware changed a lot, but it is still alive. In this video I assemble and try out an EleksMaker EleksLaser-A3 Pro 2500mW Laser Engraver.The machine performs great after updating the GRBL controller and switching to the Laserweb software.

[@4.0.4]

At 7:28 we see the proper safety procedure of etching PCBs.

[@battlecoder]

And at 5:25, how to properly test if a laser diode is working.

[@Anvilshock]

Do not look into beam with remaining eye.

[@BillAnt]

Hmm... I was trying to wrap my brain around how will this "laser etching" work, since it's not actually vaporizing the copper. Then it dawned on me that he's basically etching away a small grove AROUND the traces, so after the chemical etching those traces will be free and and independent from the rest of the board... very cool! :)

[@FireguyNtx]

Totally awesome, and love the dry added humor as well. Very interested in the flex circuit designs in the future. Have been looking also for a perfect way to etch for ages. Remember over 30 years ago the old radio shack etch kit, messy and time consuming. Think I will give this a shot. Thanks.

[@Mirandorl]

Your humour is drier than dessicated coconut thats been left in the sahara desert with a sachet of silica gel and then eaten with an extra dry martini. I love it. You shouldn't eat silica gel though. Says so on the packet.

[@adorned0]

:DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[@BillAnt]

Or drier than a semen stain on the bed sheet at a cheep "Motel 8".. tsk-tsk

[@user46782]

literally all germans

[@apricotcomputers3943]

Exactly, the guys German. Lol

[@PaperPackingMachines]

Great working! By the way, please feel free to get back to us, if you will need Smart High Power High Voltage UV Lamp Ballasts, reference at www.uvballastsupplying.com. Thanks and have a good day! :- )

[@JohnBailey39]

The laser firing at start-up is because the control pin is floating while the Arduino is initialising (on my board at least). A 10k resistor across the TTL connections on my laser control board fixed that problem for me. Not sure if there is a way to do that easily on a ready made board like that, but on my separate controller board, it was pretty easy.

[@DrexProjects]

I would use something like this module and slice it to the laser power wires. www.aliexpress.com/item/12V-DC-Infinite-Cycle-Delay-Timing-Timer-Relay-ON-OFF-Switch-Loop-Module-Trigger/32820660645.html That way you could adjust the the delay time of the laser power to allow the arduino time to boot up.

[@satipsrl5207]

same problem with my acan , first time was worried to see my wifes wooden desk with a big burn due at my disattention to power the device without usb plug connected to my pc... :-)

[@brunocabral1578]

Taking this video as inspiration I decided to try this the DIY way. Lasercut the openbuild ACRO plates on a friend, buy some aluminum profiles, a cheap 500mW laser diode from aliexpress, arduino uno + cnc shield with a4988 drivers, some screws and motors and belt and pulleys and mount everything. Then I used lasergrbl and it worked like a charm cutting paper, EVA, cardboard, and engraving wood. It was all easier than I thought. Will try to laser some PCBs soon

[@Spirit532]

One thing to try doing for custom flex is to try heating the -kapton- *koptan* tape with a heat gun, and also try having thicker traces and no big fill planes. And deeper "cuts"(more passes).

[@dbzssj4678]

Just found this channel, I know what I'll be doing this weekend.

[@pheenix42]

Thinking of making a circular slide rule, and I think this type of machine would be just the ticket for etching the scales on the moving parts. Thanks for the upload!

[@ZoeyR86]

not sure if anyone has noted this but 445nm lasers us an array based chip tech so you can't get a dotyou end up the a very fine line or oval shaped Dot. if you want a round dot use a 405nm laser as they have a true round dot. the dot can be made 3x smaller then a 445nm laser so a 1 watt 405nm preforms about as good as a 3 watt 445nm also with what your doing try swapping the steppers 0.9deg 400 step motors and Ti DRV drivers with finer micro-stepping you will lose 15~20% of your top speed but gain 16X the control over X and Y if you want the top speed back try using a 18~24v power supply for the stepper drivers only.

[@Rewind_Start_Over]

techmasterjoe thank you, I appreciate the heads up.

[@satipsrl5207]

exact ....the burn on my wifes wooden desk has an oval shape :-)

[@K.D.Fischer_HEPHY]

5:05 - AYYYLMAO. Glad you kept your sight, good sir.

[@techtalkmike4968]

Having just recently completed the build of an Eleksmill CNC machine myself I laughed when I heard the rooster crow in the background. A build I thought would take 2-3 hours, ended-up taking 6.5 hours including witnessing the sunrise ... on a workday!

[@AlexKenis]

The flexible pcb idea was great. I'll have to give that a try in the future!

[@brh4015]

Bungard sells 0.125mm PCBs even double sided. They are basically sort of pre pregs for multilayer boards. They are not flex PCBs when compared to the kapton based ones. But they are flexible.

[@Moonblade042194]

Ordered one with your coupon code I'll upload a video about my usage when it arrives.

[@charleshines6155]

Those flexible PCBs can open the door for people to create a ton of things. I never thought of using those two types of tape but that is clever. We have some of that aluminum tape which would be very similar to that copper stuff. Also some double sided tape that is remarkably strong for what it is.

[@Custom_Heroes]

Hello. Could you please explain again how did you mange to do flexible PCB? Step by step

[@shraiwi]

*THE LASER IS A DEADLY LAZER*

[@kirkmham]

what field of engineering does this fall under? truly fascinating stuff

[@charleshines6155]

I am just glad that thing didn't blind you. Those lasers are very dangerous to unprotected eyes.

[@nubletten]

Saying "peeling that will be the highlight of my day" + no change in voice tone = me having a good lol

[@jakobhalskov]

Hah, 5:26 made me smile! (I am in the middle of binge watching every video you ever made)

[@gregandark8571]

For more examples and references about how to craft your own pcb's, you can find also here ; search on youtube for the following videos : 1 Making PCBs with LDGraphy 2 PCB Laserprinter Version 2 3 Homemade Laser Exposer .

[@battlecoder]

Awesome. Would love to see more experiments with the laser engraver and your Captain Tape©.

[@android4cg]

Wow, great video! Please make video showing the complete workflow. It seems to be one of the best lasered PCB's i have seen on youtube so far. Thanks for sharing !!!!

[@MidnightVisions]

@8:37 The reason for the spacing difference on angled lines is the belt configuration running over the pulley wheels has too much expansion and contraction in the belt and wheels. Changing the belt to a reinforced non expanding type and changing the drive configuration to a standard arrangement will fix that.

[@reps]

I think the belts do have a metal mesh reinforcement inside. What did you mean by 'drive configuration to a standard arrangement'?

[@MidnightVisions]

This design wrapps the belt around the wheels. the expansion and contraction of the wheels alters the positioning of the head on that axis. the belts should not have any source of contact except for the two pulleys at each end of the machine. this will give the least amount of positioning error.

[@reps]

Yeh, the flexing wheels! That sounds like a possibility. Thanks for the idea!

[@DavidALovingMPF102]

My laser engraver should arrive the end of this month...Very good video.

[@allthegearnoidea6752]

I love your shot of firing the laser at the butane- LOL

[@instanoodles]

Sometimes I wish I bought a kit for my CNC machine, it has been a work in progress for along time. This is very interesting

[@brunocabral1578]

you can mount something similar buying openbuils ACRO plate set, some aluminum profiles, nema motors, arduino uno / cnc shield / a4988 drivers and an aliexpress 2500mW laser for about half the price he paid.

[@linuxmintman]

I don't know if you use this but I would recommend some conformal coating ($20

[@Fugatech3DPrinting]

Would love to see how you set up LaserWeb. I'm new to lasers and having a hard time trying to import something for it to cut.

[@lpjunction]

Just a thought. Use powder coating gun to lay a powder layer on the copper. Use laser to cure the powder to create the conduction path. The uncured area not lasered is easy to remove. Next put the board to FeCl3 solution for etching. Then remove the powder coating layer. Drill the through holes. Refering etching. Best result is etching in hot solution. Try this, find a transparent zip lock polybag roughly 20% larger than the PCB. Put a sugar cube size FeCl3 into the bag. Then pour in hot water of around 90degree C. Insert the PCB then seal the zip lock of the bag. Put the bag on a small board that you can tilt it. Tilt the board +10 degrees then -10 degrees. In this way, the FeCl3 solution is slightly agitated, so you don't need use air pump to do the agitation. Zip lock bag keeps the hot solution from evaporating, so the temperature stays high whether etching.

[@maule5653]

I thoroughly enjoy your style of vids and your humor. I'm out of my depths electronically, but glean much entertainment from them. Thank you.

[@CatMoff]

В этом ЧПУ 2 вещи под сомнением: 1 - это то, что для использования всего лишь одного лазера, который при прожигании не имеет сопротивления при прожиге, (как это происходит во фрезерных чпу при обработке например дерева) не обосновано использование данной кинематики; 2 - то что ремень будет протираться колесом при контакте, так как диаметр контакта колеса с ремнем больше чем контакт колеса с рамой.

[@joelmoskowitz5170]

Marco, This is a great video and NOT BORING. Keep up the great work. I built the Elekslaser and now am trying to get Laserweb to work. (under the eleks software it works fine.) Laser web opens a drawing - DXF and it goes to the laser (grbl 1.1) but the laser doesn't turn on at the start of a run. and scaling is off. I am guessing that I need to send some sort of configuration to the laser. Can you share your configuration file and more importantly how to set it up. Everything have tried gives me an error or one sort or another rror: 1 - ?G-code words consist of a letter and a value. Letter was not found. error: 3 - Grbl '$' system command was not recognized or supported. error: 3 - Grbl '$' system command was not recognized or supported. error: 2 - Numeric value format is not valid or missing an expected value. So I am obviously missing something. - thanks, joel

[@razz5891]

Hey marco, I must say I really love your videos. Could I request a video on a good headphone amplifier, the components might be readily available with you already and the internet is full of tutorials etc.. but your explanations are very easy to understand !!

[@seanflanagan5674]

Please do a follow-up and explain the features that persuaded you to purchase this machine. A quick view of the page on BankBad's site shows several 2500mW devices. Additionally, are the sources of the upgrades posted on your Patreon page? (I am very interested in following your lead on this project, though not for PCBs.)

[@reps]

GRBL update: github.com/gnea/grbl/wiki/Flashing-Grbl-to-an-Arduino Laserweb software: github.com/LaserWeb/LaserWeb4

[@seanflanagan5674]

mr mister, I first wish to know the things he considered and reasons for his choices to better understand nuances of the various machines/configurations. And certainly I hope to absorb some of his wisdom. My interest is in the area of decorative etching metals, and scorching/burning wood and paper.

[@seanflanagan5674]

mr mister, thanks for the information, I appreciate your help.

[@DiverCTH]

The A3 model that +Marco Reps has doesn't display nearly as bad an X-Axis alignment issue as the A5 model, but this issue is a combination of the zero-play design of the rollers, and the non-adjustable belt tensioners. The belt tensioner www.thingiverse.com/thing:2341585 was created by joshuruiz The roller tensioner www.thingiverse.com/thing:2482004 was created by Falconson and nottingham82

[@seanflanagan5674]

DiverCTH, thank you, I believe that will help me a lot.

[@mike_van_in]

Nicely done, Marco! I have to mention that you forgot to tell us that ... You'll be back!

[@liveen]

Wait wait, with the laser powering on issue, couldnt you maybe have it inverted in hardware, and then in the controller's software you have it inverted again there? so it turns OFF (from off, I know) at first, then the controller starts and you have it set to do nothing until you start a job? its hacky, but if it works, that could be something?

[@sarahclark5447]

Isn't this machine limited not by the software but first by the "dot" size of the laser and secondly by the step size of the laser head? surely the ultimate machine would necessarily have to have an x-y step very small indeed but the dot size of the laser would have to be variable too. my dad is experimenting with an inkjet printer "sprayer" what it is, is a unit from a factory he worked at, it isn't from an inkjet printer but from a, production date and serial number conveyer line, as the products go by the print head date's the product the ink drys instantaneously and is etch resistant. the printhead my dad has is large and heavy but it can fire a dot from 20 mm away so small you can hardly see it, the print head for obvious reasons only has the dot matrix in the x-direction (as the moving conveyor is the y) further, and more interesting the ink used in this head is designed to spray onto plastic! if anyone is reading this from the uk and is working on a traditional inkjet printer setup and you would like to try this ink I could send you a little to see if that takes your project forward. Miss Sarah Clark.

[@anibalvilelarj]

Hello Sarah, did your Dad completed his tests with that etch resistant ink ?

[@johnchiz54]

We cut through clear acrylic and polycarbonate with our 30w co2 laser

[@jeffbeck6501]

Wow. Check out those caliper pliers I think they are called in the USA. Pico de Loros in Spanish. At 1:13. Those are awesome pliers.

[@Natemasterflex]

OMFG I laughed my butt off when you had the gas canister and your eye under the laser! Very funny 😁

[@m1geo]

Excellent! Just the information I was looking for, presented well, clearly, and with a splash of humour! I've subscribed! Thanks!

[@rgones]

8:40 Your diagonal lines are coming out too narrow because that laser doesn't project a circular dot. >1W blue-ish diodes are usually multimode, producing an astigmatic bar-like shaped beam no matter how you try focus them. To get a circular gaussian beam easily, you should use single-mode laser diode. An affordable option is using 12x 405nm Blu-Ray laser diodes (search ebay for BDR-209 diode), which you can find on ebay and go up to around 800-900mW. Careful with more powerful models, since some 405nm multimode diodes have cropped up in the market and those won't be any better.

[@Stelios.Posantzis]

Nice, very nice. I definitely liked the parts with the innocent looking puppies and the Koptan tape. Printing flexible pcbs by using kapton film seems like a great idea, if you can improve it. On the other hand, I still do not like the idea of these jagged lines all digital printers make when it comes to making pcbs. Or maybe, I just like straight lines to be actually straight rather than staircase-like. Somehow it doesn't feel right to me. Although I know in low frequency and voltage applications it's no problem at all, I have this nagging thought that it may cause reliability issues 10-20 years down the line (I have this thing about making things that last) especially when, upon maginification, it appears that the staircase lines are actually composed in fact by a number of horizontal segments which have tiny gaps in between (9:07), quite serpentine-like. I'm sure a CNC machine could be designed that would allow for the head to move in a variety of angles. It would only take only one more motor and one more rail (welll, actually two rails: one free to rotate on which the head can slide and one fixed where the other end of the rotating rail would be supported). Is there such a thing out there? I reckon it could be worth the trouble because in theory it should put much less strain on the vertical motion motors (and the whole moving assemblies) when printing diagonal or curved lines. Another advantage would be that it would print perfect circles of any size.

[@zlackbiro]

Powered by Arduino Nano (CH340 serial) and Arduino CNC shield! :)))))))

[@RixtronixLAB]

Cool video shot, thanks for sharing, keep it up :)

[@carloh8790]

I've watched tons of computer videos and this one was by far the funniest and entertaining video I've seen! Never thought I'd been laughing at a computer videos. Love your humor ;)

[@TheOriginalEviltech]

It's all because of the shape of the laser dot. It is not cylindrical, it's a thick line.

[@thomashanson7600]

Presented in a fine way. Thank you. I would never have attempted such a build had I not watched your vid. I am a graphic designer not a C.B. designer. I don't think this would work to take the place of a good photo emulsion unless you have any pointers. Again, thanx Tom

[@mikelemon5109]

Yeah flex PCB!!! great video but I don't understand why not to use a laser printer? it can reach much higher accuracys and resolutions....

[@amperion1]

Use NAND gate. plug it to laser controll pin and other one spare in controller pinout. When controller is booting it is setting all pins at 1. With NAND gate youll get 0 while booting and 1 then operating. It costs one free pin on pinout and almost nothing on gate.

[@ldboehm]

Great video! Really like the thoughts of the flexible pcb. I'm trying to replace a foil circuit for an old car. It has a very specific shape with little hole cut outs to attach to the back of the cluster. Think this might do the job to etch the circuit and create hole cut outs?

[@marksierra3522]

They gave him a pretty nice case for the parts...

[@backofficeshow]

Marco, I have the T8 and it also does that damn tool power up on boot as well. Still, it was cheap and hackable.

[@allthegearnoidea6752]

Very impressed. I always wanted to have a PCB mill. But I'm thinking with the low cost of China PCB this type of equipment is expensive and still a lot of work. But I'm sure the making is part of the hobby that you enjoy. Well done very interesting and thanks best regards Chris

[@allthegearnoidea6752]

Well I understand that feeling and used to make PCBs myself. It however normally quicker than six weeks more likely 2-3 the services I use.

[@gregandark8571]

For more examples and references about how to craft your own pcb's, you can find also here ; search on youtube for the following videos : 1 Making PCBs with LDGraphy 2 PCB Laserprinter Version 2 3 Homemade Laser Exposer .

[@FLyyyT_]

I do that too when I peel the acrylic paper

[@WaltonPete]

Another inspiring video. Now I want a laser engraver! Your dogs are really cute BTW!

[@TheElbarfo]

Marco, how did you get Laserweb to trace the outlines of the traces rather than raster it?

[@moisesferber]

Same question here. I tried Laser cut option, but I'm not sure it is ideal. Any update on this question?

[@bumbarabun]

@@moisesferber just use FlatCAM

[@Eman2000]

Do you think that this would cut opaque white acrylic?

[@reps]

Not sure, depending on the thickness it might just end up being a half melted, half charred mess ...

[@Eman2000]

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking about 3mm. Also this brings up another question. Is it worth it to buy the 5500 mw version. It's about twice the laser power but also twice the price.

[@brunocabral1578]

a friend of mine that uses CO2 laser in hist work told me once that low powered lasers can actually cut i.e. 6mm acrylic, you just need to be slower and add a blower to remove garbage from the laser path while it is cutting the material. I never tried, though

[@MikkelKroman]

Very cool! I ordered one through your link! Have you come across other methods for coating a copper clad board and using a laser engraver, other than the spray paint?

[@reps]

Not really, adhesive tapes / vinyl can work, but leave more dirt behind. I am making another video soon, mostly about mechanical improvements, but I might also include a wax spray product, that evaporates completely

[@darkstatehk]

Would it be possible to add a laser printer prism to the build to scan the laser over the etching mask? Can such power be deflected using prisms?

[@NTGInnovations]

Marco, you are a genious! Kind regards from east Germany! :D

[@johnmartin6178]

Thanks for the vid. BUT what was the spray etch resist, still trying to find a source of supply?

[@CarstenBe]

Pretty shure it was just black spraypaint

[@johnmartin6178]

@@CarstenBe Yeah thanks, I should have gone through the vid again, it was obvious.

[@shanethereefer9428]

Great vid, thoroughly enjoyed your info, humour and general delivery. Liked, subscribed and notifications enabled 👍

[@AngelusMortis1000]

He is good at reviews

[@5150mkii]

I gave this video a like just for the goat.

[@snaprollinpitts]

wow, that sure would solve a big problem. could you please share the link to banggood, thanks mike

[@Paxmax]

Very nice boot up state of the laser driver output... How can they get every other thing ok-ish but just completely disregard this obvious safety hazard!? ..what if there is a power out and machine reboots?! Fire hazard?

[@manickn6819]

Good review. Looks decent. If you improve the quality please do another video with details.

[@mlab3051]

Try to use flatcam we can set passes round for etching . and for the flashing problem might be arduino bootloader , you can upload program using programmer such as avr isp or arduino as isp to upload only program not bootloader. This mehod your arduino will startup faster because arduino bootloader will wait for programming sequence about 0.5 second.

[@Real_Tim_S]

@Macro Reps: I have a question for you... you do PCB stuff with a etching, and you have a ELEGOO SATURN now... have you tried doing a single "layer" exposure of a pre-sensitized PCB? The idea came to me after a binge on your videos and some other 3d printing stuff. Makes me wonder if a DLP projector could be modified with a pure UV source and no color wheel to produce an exposure machine...

[@brunocabral1578]

I did try that in a anycubic photon. It works, but lasering is much funnier

[@pepper669]

Fuckin' high power laser will never enter my friggin' house.

[@tedvanmatje]

hi marco. this is the first of your videos that I have watched....have to say, this laser etching seems like a solid idea to me, man. if any of you guys have any ideas how I can convince my wife that I need one, I'd be grateful ;) thanks for sharing.... +1 to your subscriber list

[@urdnal]

How many mils you think you can get out of it? And can better laser optics improve that?

[@djberg3483]

As a newbie to electronics and arduinos, is there an easy way to use an existing 3d printer for laser work? And is there a free 2d cam program out there like a slicer but for 2 axis work?

[@brunocabral1578]

For CAM you can use any CAD like librecad. You can replace your extruder with a laser mounted diode laser, link it to your RAMPS with marlin and use lasergrbl to control it without needing to replace marlin. Or you can install megagrbl (grbl for arduino mega) and use it as a CNC losing the 3d support

[@bikefarmtaiwan1800]

Great video content- wonderful narrating voice, really very engaging! Good stuff.

[@motleydesign]

Dear Marco can you also laser in silver ? if yes how deep can you laser in the silver ? Kind regards, David

[@tobystewart4403]

I have also ported my own fork of Gerber to make it work with Chinese knock off CNC machines. I felt like a real man's nerd for weeks afterwards. Heck, I still talk about it.

[@brandonbentley8532]

Impressive kit for the price!

[@pauldevey8628]

Great video. Thank you. Will you keep us informed of what changes and improvements you make? I am an new subscriber.

[@user-nb8yt2il2r]

6:12 a masterpiece is born

[@sarreqteryx]

it seems to me one of the axes is just slightly out of alignment. that could cause the diagonals to cut the way they did.

[@ruadeil_zabelin]

Why do you still need to etch it after the laser? Isn't the whole idea that you then don't need to deal with the chemicals? Or is the laser not powerful enough to do that?

[@reps]

Nope, the 3W laser can't vaporize copper, luckily. That would be very messy.

[@ruadeil_zabelin]

So you only use it to not need the lighting and still etch it afterwards. I guess that still can improve some things

[@brunocabral1578]

@@reps Did you tried to lower the laser power laser to mark the paint or it has to be at least 2500mW?

[@plemli]

@3:28 Watch "The Final Tightening Of The Screws" in your horror movie theater today !

[@detskekonto]

Hello, can you please write me what spray you use to make PCBs? Thank you for answer.

[@Theodordklausen]

Do you have a solution to making it cut in clear acrylic? Or is that impossible with this kind of laser. Thanks

[@brunocabral1578]

You can cut some colors with multiple passes. Transparent, no

[@paulinmt2185]

Nice overview. Thanks!

[@jbs428]

Nice job, looking forward to more...

[@GenUltra758]

purchased one myself.. tho i still havent managed to figure out how to get the traced image you use to generate the gerber in LAserweb

[@WilliamEllison]

Love you man keep it up. Great video and funny

[@fatgeekuk]

Is the laser driver up to the task? I've seen instructions in the past not to run the laser for longer than 10 minutes at a time because the driver is not a constant current source and if the laser gets to warm it will degrade over time. looking for proper constant current drivers seems to be an expensive proposition (or am I mistaken?)

[@reps]

It is up to the task permanently, as far as I can tell. I've been running it for half an hour at full power, for more than 10 minutes at lower power and for multiple hours as you can see in the introduction to the next episode. Never severely hot, although it might limit the life span of the laser somewhat, no way to be sure about that

[@andreww1328]

HI, will this work well if you put it in a vertical manner or inclined at an angle?

[@RinksRides]

admirable to say the least! I'm trying to one-up lamja.net with 2+layers homemade PCB prototypes using a Duplicator i3 v2.1 with 3D printed engraver rod holder (rod made from an old printer, more of a 3D printed scribe holder. Having a few layer alignment issues. Also have a 2.5W blue laser from ebay. Lol, I tried to manually SMD solder with it, let's just say it's better left to the machine to hold the laser still while soldering ;) But that will be for a later video once i figure out how to properly align the layers on the 3D printer. UPDATE: While I was successful in aligning a 14x14cm 2Layer PCB to +/-0.25mm with 0.5mm VIA's (ethernet wire copper as VIA rivet technique). I ended up modifying the printer with a diagonal Y-axis threaded rod so I could adjust the tramming of the bed to square from a skew. I suppose a 3D printer made from stamped & bent sheet metal would not be so precise anyway. I'm currently in the process of converting my Cinccinati 2.5HP 3PH Knee-mill into a DIY CNC.

[@LucasHartmann]

Can this 2.5W laser remove automotive high temperature spray paint? I mean the kind of paint that can stand 600Celsius and could potentially make an easy DIY soldermask. ;-)

[@nxxxxzn]

We love you man. Keep it up

[@PeteVanDemark]

Great stuff!

[@douro20]

405nm laser isn't it? I think a 375nm one would be better for PCB since you can use reasonably low power levels and UV resist.

[@reps]

I would like to move in the opposite direction and find a compact infrared laser emitter to cut acrylic

[@gamerpaddy]

difficult to say, 405nm has higher energy density, but right now the maximum power on a single mode laser diode is like 1 watt (in a consumer friendly price range ofcourse.) since the emitter area is smaller on a single mode, the focus dot can be made smaller so the energy density per mm² is much higher than for example a 2..4W 450nm multimode diode laser with a thick beam. IR is less energy dense but may gets absorbed better on more materials. to cut acryllic, around 10.6µm wavelenght is needed since its still transparent to 808 and 1064nm. 10.6µm is available only on co2 tube lasers not diodes yet. and where do you get a 375nm laser that doesnt cost thousand of dollars and stil having a useable power rating? thorlabs got a 70mW one, 4250$. i usually get my diodes off DTR's shop. he got quite a interessting selection of diodes. his shop is called dtr-lpf

[@douro20]

Sorry for answering so late but you would be right; I didn't realise that UV diode lasers were still quite so expensive.

[@alexale8540]

There's in fact already a method to laser etching on nano scale by tricking the Abba law thanks to Australian university which leads to new generation of electronics or a petabyte Blu-ray discs, but for now it's basically blind way, it's still very hard to see anything nano. The discs can be read. In some way such complex nano electronics is horrific like Apple do today on new iPhones where like button programmed to the specific cable, so you cannot repair broken for cheap with parts - on iPhone 5s changing the button leads to locking the function, on iPhone 6 the device autolocking (bricking) for the owner if parts are not programmed at Apple-where repair can cost hundreds $$, devices that trapping user to the company, future electronics repair will be impossible without hackers.

[@ratbagley]

1:50. Well done.