Gentlemen,
I am slowly building my first laser machine. I want to cut thin mild steel 18 ga sheet metal for our company. I am still working on the XY table at this point, but am planning for the optics now. Someone posted that the typical gold plated Si mirrors have an 80 Watt max power rating. I wondered about that.
Three different Chinese distributors of the Reci W8 170 Watt laser tubes will sell me the laser tubes, but admit that they have no experience with specifying the optics. Neither can they specify the appropriate focal length for the lens.
Will I need to use some other type of mirrors and lenses to handle this kind of power?
Will they need to be water cooled?
Can anyone estimate the appropriate focal lens for this application?
Thanks,
Tom Eldredge