Skill Make Engineered a Laser Powerful Enough to Cut Metal

Inventors are constantly pushing the envelope with their one-off builds that transform concepts into real-world tools. A recent example that caught our eye was a 260-watt laser mounted to an arm brace, much like an action hero in a sci-fi film.

This thing concentrates the power of 18 different laser diodes into a single, extremely intense beam. Each of those diodes produces approximately 14 watts, but it is the mirrors and prisms that do the difficult task of combining all of those individual beams into one unstoppable force of nature. Of course, getting all that power delivered in the first place is a bit of a challenge, since they’re utilizing lithium iron phosphate batteries as the foundation and then raising that voltage up to 34 volts with a module that allows the user to adjust the current for varied results.

You’d think that would be the biggest obstacle, but there was another issue that nearly derailed the entire project: heat management. When you deal with so much power, temperatures quickly rise. The actual brilliant bit here is that they devised a unique water cooling system that pumps fluid via these aluminum blocks pressed up against the diodes before whisking it off to a radiator with a fan and pump to straighten everything out. Without that, the operation time is roughly equivalent to saying “seconds before it overheats.”

Once assembled, the user attaches it to their arm, uses a visible laser to aim it (it’s aligned through the prism, which is convenient), and then activates the main show, a large, invisible infrared beam at 950 nanometers. The glass focusing lens is brilliantly built to handle all that energy without melting into a puddle, and let me tell you, when it’s turned on, this thing chops through wood like it’s nobody’s business. Glass fractures due to heat. Metal begins to melt where the beam strikes, which is both dangerous and awesome.

Of course, safety must be a priority here; you don’t want to burn yourself or your eyes when you least expect it. So there’s a unique 3D-printed barrier to protect your hand and eyewear to keep infrared radiation away from your eyes. That’s where 3D printing came in helpful; several of the bespoke housings, arm mounts, and even a backpack to carry the batteries and cooling components were all created this way.

The tricky part was getting the beam to combine properly and ensuring that the cooling system was adequate without causing the entire thing to fail, but when it all comes together, you’re left with a handheld tool capable of interacting with metal in ways that used to require massive industrial machinery.