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by bloggie 799 days ago
These do exist, here's one I saw recently: https://www.laserpwr.net/hand-held-laser/hand-held-laser-2.h...
1 comments

30W? That's a pretty powerful laser. A 1W laser can set stuff on fire. A 5W laser can cut steel.
Keep in mind that is the constant (average) power. Assuming this is a Q-switched laser with ~10 ns pulse duration, peak power is ~70 kW. (Kind of low as far as lasers go these days, but it's just a laser marker)
Are Q-switched / pulsed lasers common in industrial applications?
Answering generally I would say yes, they are one of the common types of lasers that could be chosen depending on the application
> A 5W laser can cut steel

I've experimented with using a 60 W (I think*) laser on a small steel bracket, and even with the beam holding on a single point for a minute, it made a barely visible dot that you couldn't feel by running your finger over.

* It was nearly a decade ago, but I looked up the relevant hacker space and unless they changed the model, it was 60 watts.

The bracket was around 1cm by 5cm, and around 1mm thick.

A 60W CO2 laser won't touch steel (or even paper thin aluminum foil), while a 10W diode can cut through it. The type/wavelength of laser matters greatly.
60w back then would be a CO2 LASER - that's 10600nm and that basically bounces off any non-oxidized metal.

The fiber marking LASERs at work are 1064nm, and at a mere 20w output, will absolutely eat away at steel with no problems.

Edit: I should note there are CO2 metal cutting LASERs, but they are at very, very high output powers to overcome that reflectivity barrier. You need 500w 10600nm to cut through what a 30w 1064nm could cut. My 80w CO2 barely cuts through heavy-duty aluminum foil, and in many spots it isn't a full cut. A 20w marking LASER at 1064 would obliterate the foil.

Fair ‘nuff.

I know that a friend had a 3-5W laser (don’t remember -it was a CO2 laser) he used for wood burning, and it was fast.

It may also be what they measure.

A 5W laser can't cut steel. You need to be in the kilowatts before you can cut metal (unless it is very very very thin).
You may well be correct, and I spoke out of turn, but it is my understanding that the wavelength of the laser can make a huge difference.
Club show lasers of 5W are pretty common.
I'm sorry, but there's no way around it, with 5W you can cut metal just as easily as you can cut a tree with a knife. At least with contemporary technology (In the future who knows).