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The laser chisel is a hand-held tool, connected
fibreoptically to a very hefty CO2 laser. Within the body
of
the chisel, the beam is first broadened before emerging
from a cylindrical lens with its axis at 90° to the length
of
the chisel.
The lens arrangement ensures that a line of intense
laser
light is formed a couple of millimetres in front of the
tool.
Beyond this distance, the light diverges again, becoming
relatively harmless a few centimetres away from the
tool.
The laser chisel brings to bear all the traditional skills of
sculpting, but can be applied to metals, plastics, stone,
wood - indeed anything that can be vaporised.
[Use for hair removal or tattooing not advised. Keep out
of the reach
of children, and do not let them use the laser chisel
either.]
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Annotation:
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If it would vaporize marble it would really take the work out
of cleaning up after a day of stone carving. Better have a
good respirator. |
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I volunteer to field test this for you. |
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So no hammer then or just really photonically small taps. |
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Aside: A better society would have it's children using more dangerous tools with care, respect and exceptional tuition. But then the goal isn't to lift your fellow citizen higher than yourself is it? |
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Yes, well. What this idea lacks is an opening rant about the loss of craftsmanship in the maker generation. |
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You would want to use a fibre laser, not a glass tube. I think handheld fibreoptic lasers do exist, used in some (retinal?) surgeries. |
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In order to reach cutting intensity, you're almost definitely
going to have to go with a point, not a line. The way to turn
this into a chisel would be to scan this line across the width
of the chisel at an appropriate cutting speed. (Combined
with appropriate water cooling for the mirror and fiber
optics. |
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