Fiber laser for DIY metal 3d printers?

[aszx]

Hi, Do you think is this possible to use fiber lasers (which are widely used as small engraving devices) for DIY metal 3d printing?[/font]

These machines- which I posted in below link- are used as engraving and cutting thin sheets of steel, gold or almost any other conventional surface. We know that the industrial expensive machines have exactly the same mechanism (Galvno mirrors and a laser beam). Something that makes me to consider these as a platform for DIY metal 3d printer is that these machines are relatively cheap and they are ready to project beam to a 2d surface. Does anyone think is this a good start point for a DIY project?

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https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=htt...egUIARC8Ag

[Junkers]

Possibly.. The laser power is relatively low but it is the power density that is important. If the minimum line width (0.02mm) is indicative of the spot size then I would assume yes. I'm not sure that their hardware is easily modified/manipulated though.

[heiltobeer]

Have used a large scale metal printer from Prima additive at uni. They used a 250w fiber laser and a mirror array to melt the metal.

[ewh]

As far as I know fiber lasers are the industry standard in powder bed fusion systems. Most engineering alloys absorb the wavelength of ~1070nm well. With high wavelength lasers such as CO2 lasers the power must be greatly increased, due to the reduced absorptivity at higher wavelengths.