April 2014
eBay had an amazing deal on high-power IR lasers. I want to build a laser cutting tool with one of the laser diodes. The heatsink isn't a problem, but I'm having trouble designing a constant current power supply that can handle the 50W laser. The commercial power supplies are hundreds of dollars. Any suggestions?
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It sounds like you have a CO2 gas laser... whether it's a gas or solid state laser, the very best resource by far for learning about and designing a power supply for your laser is Sam's Laserfaq - www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasertoc.htm.
I have been interested in lasers as a hobby for years and when I first became interested this was my goto site for a long time. Of course there are many websites covering lasers or laser shows (my main interest) whether hobby or commercial, but this site is where the deep knowledge of lasers (as well as other electronics topics) has been deposited.
One thing you MUST be familiar with is laser safety, especially operating a 50 watt invisible wavelength laser. The laser FAQ has plenty of information along those lines also. You will find that early in the table of contents. Best of luck to you in your search for a suitable power supply, and be very careful - protect your eyes before you power it up!
Try the circuit used here www.die4laser.com/dvd-rec/Die4Drive.htm as a starting point. Obviously you will need to size the MOSFET and heatsink appropriately as well as the current sense resistor for the power involved, but it should get you going in the right direction. A standard ATX computer power supply can often be repurposed as a high current DC source to power the thing.
