Penny Vs. Big Scary Laser.....

[platinum]

You say that like it's a bad thing ;-)

I'd like to put a vote in for some dry sand. Can you make glass?

That's a good one.

Hey Adam, you should grab the scanners from your RGY and scan patterns on a sheet of sand... (Might want to replace the mirrors with something rather robust first.)

-Jonathan

[300EVIL]

I believe that defacing or destroying US *coin* currency is only a crime if they can prove that your intent was fraud or deceit. I think the statute for paper money does not have that stipulation. (This google answers post seems to affirm that, anyway.)

In both cases, however, the presiding judge has the ability to set the fine - if any. So in this case, I think he'd be willing to cut a laser hobbyist some slack!

Adam

LOL! Yeah, I destroyed three pennies so the fine should be 3 cents. Where can I send my money?

You say that like it's a bad thing ;-)

I'd like to put a vote in for some dry sand. Can you make glass?

That's a good one.

Hey Adam, you should grab the scanners from your RGY and scan patterns on a sheet of sand... (Might want to replace the mirrors with something rather robust first.)

-Jonathan

Sand to glass sounds like fun! I'm sure I could do that with ease. I'll get some sand and post a video.

[madgadget]

newbie question.. how does the diode producing this mad amount of IR energy simply not melt at the source?

[VJ AIWAZ]

i would think that destroying a penny is perfectly legal
i mean you can do it at any truck stop in the US in the form of those machines that you put a penny in an crank the wheel an it flattens it and imprints some image
--
John
VJ AIWAZ

[Laser Ben]

Very good point, even government tourist dumps have those machines for smashing pennies!

[platinum]

Also, it helps reduce inflation to destroy our currency. Maybe that's why the government keeps making commemorative coins. They are bought up and taken out of circulation that way.

-Jonathan

[heruursciences]

newbie question.. how does the diode producing this mad amount of IR energy simply not melt at the source?

Short answer the laser is cooled VERY VERY WELL! The laser diode is on pure silver heat sink mounted onto a copper heat spreader in a case with closely coupled water cooling, the laser is also made of 25 emitters each rated at 3W of output, or 75W full rated power the bigger brother has 25 emitters also but each emitter is good for 5W of output for a whopping 125W of RATED CW power output... It is amazing however that the lasers can output all that laser power from a 1cm bar..

Unfortunately I am sold out of these units, but I do have a LOT of other laser stuff coming soon...No isn't the RMA dept of coherent.

[mixedgas]

newbie question.. how does the diode producing this mad amount of IR energy simply not melt at the source?

Goo Question.

good cooling, its usually spread out across several diode dies inside the unit, and carefully made raw crystal materials with ultra low adsorption.

Steve

[Laser Ben]

Please explain those pictures. These are pictures of the RMA department of Coherent here in San Jose. 99% of the stuff in those pictures are broken parts removed from laser. On top of that, I can almost guarantee that Coherent will not just sell you that stuff...

Additionally, the smaller unit that he is working with has 19 emitters, not 25. I don't know about the large one though.

[buffo]

i would think that destroying a penny is perfectly legal - I mean you can do it at any truck stop in the US in the form of those machines that you put a penny in an crank the wheel an it flattens it and imprints some image

Very good point, even government tourist dumps have those machines for smashing pennies!

Right. And all those machines all have a disclaimer on them that explain that it's legal to deface US coinage so long as your purpose is not to defraud someone. So drilling a hole in a penny with a laser is OK, but drilling a hole in a quarter so you can tie fishing line to it and pull it back out of the soda machine at work is not. (And yeah, I know most machines have a knife or a hinged door that will prevent this trick from working.)

The US code (see link in my post above) makes it clear that your intent must be fraudulent for the statue to apply to coins, but this exception does not apply to bills for some reason.

Adam