How does one make a cutting/burning laser out of a CD burner?

Question

According to the internet,

"The chemical makeup of the recording layer in a CD-RW disc is polycrystalline. In order to burn on this substance, the laser beam must heat the areas of the recording track to between 500 and 700 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the crystals melt and become non-crystalline (this is called an amorphous phase). The crystals in this phase will scatter the laser beam when being read and resemble pits."

How do you take that 700 degree C laser and make it into a hand-held burning laser tool?

(It would be good for killing ants, melting ice, starting camp fires, killing rats, etc.)

Answer 1

simple answer is you can't.
The laser is not powerful enough to heat anything that large
oh sure it can turn a tiny tiny tiny area on a cd hot, but the heat dissipates quickly, you could hold your hand under it and not feel anything at all. The layer on your cd is very thin and so it does not take much to heat it.

think of it this way, a match is very good at heating a small area, like a candle or paper, but could it heat anything on a large scale like a house? no, because the heat would be dissipated too quickly.

so go back to burning ants and starting fire like your parents did, get out a magnifying glass. As for the rats, well if you can get close enough to them to use a cd burner, you have bigger problems to worry about.

Answer 2

You would not be able to do something like that. The output is not large enough. It is only large enough to heat the tiny tiny dot. The ants won't feel a thing.
Real lasers that are capable of burning things of worth are hundreds of dollars and require huge power sources and cooling.

Take a look at this site
http://www.amazing1.com/green-lasers.htm

or search for high power green laser for somethign hand held.

Answer 3

attach a power cord to the cdrw, open it up, remove lazer guard, stare into the lazer, if it burns, it's working.