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Lasermann
4.99mW Green Laser Toy
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 9
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 Posted: 6/30/08, 1:10 AM Post subject: Considerin |
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Well, I've been looking at the lasers on Wicked Lasers and have learned alot. And considering I don't have much money for lasers, I wanted to get the CORE. Then is struck me, WHY? I don't seem to have much of a reason to get one, other than put on laser light shows in my backyard,  . But, I was wondering, why do you guys buy lasers? Is it just as a hobby? If so, what can you really do other than collect some pretty impressive stuff? And is it really worth getting into, especially me who is going into a second year of high school? I thought it would be a fun thing to have around, and obviously be responsible with it (i.e. don't shine it into airplanes, cars, other people's houses). But I really can't find much of a logical reason to have one... |
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CrazyKenny
Elite Laser
Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 146
Picture(s): 3
Movie(s): 1
Location: Germany
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| Posted: 6/30/08, 7:41 AM Post subject: |
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comment from wickedlasers web site: "Why do I need a laser pointer with a range of 14 miles that can melt a garbage bag? Look, if you have to ask, you'll never understand me, baby..." ^^
I use my laser for star pointing, for lighting the barbecue, for fun.
In my opinion there is no realy use for these high powered lasers.
For me, it is a hobby ^^
_________________
green 3~8mw ebay laser
green 50mw ebay laser (mounted on telescope)
homemade DVD-Burner Laser (~120mW, divergence: 0.05 !)
RGY laserscanner (130mW red 60mW green) 
300mW green Laser module from ebay 
money spent on lasers: ~1800 $ (some are broken...) |
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Bluefan
Elite Laser
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 244
Movie(s): 1
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| Posted: 6/30/08, 9:43 AM Post subject: |
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| I'm a physics student, so I have lasers, although most are modules, not pointers. |
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Lasermann
4.99mW Green Laser Toy
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 9
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| Posted: 6/30/08, 11:59 AM Post subject: |
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Well, personally I do want one. It is really cool. And mainly my parents want to know why as well. And, the star pointing sounds interesting... hmm.. I don't know if my parents would buy that though.
But, why spend so much money on it? I mean, $60 for the laser and $20 for shipping and another $40 for the goggles. And thats another thing, would I need goggles for the CORE laser? |
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laserist
Modified 10mW Greenie
Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 14
Picture(s): 4
Location: Florida, USA
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| Posted: 6/30/08, 6:04 PM Post subject: |
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For the core laser you won't need goggles, it's just 5mW like a laser toy.
If you want high power for low $$$ you could try the KipKay laser hack...
_________________
Why was brown excluded from the rainbow? And where did indigo come from? I was taught there were three primary colors and three secondary colors. Whats with this indigo shite?
--George Carlin
Modded Leadlight ~10mW 
HeNe Laser 1mW
Chee-Pass Made in China Laser pointers >5mW 
85mW Blu-Ray Laser!  |
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Lasermann
4.99mW Green Laser Toy
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 9
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| Posted: 6/30/08, 11:29 PM Post subject: |
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| I do have a CD drive that I can use to make the Kipkay laser, but it is not a DVD burner. It is an 8x CD reader and Writer. Would that still work as well? |
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Bluefan
Elite Laser
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 244
Movie(s): 1
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| Posted: 7/01/08, 7:25 AM Post subject: |
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| Lasermann wrote: |
| I do have a CD drive that I can use to make the Kipkay laser, but it is not a DVD burner. It is an 8x CD reader and Writer. Would that still work as well? |
No, cd drives are 780nm IR, practically invisible and thus dangerous. DVD uses 650nm red and blu-ray uses 405nm violet. |
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Lasermann
4.99mW Green Laser Toy
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 9
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| Posted: 7/01/08, 1:09 PM Post subject: |
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Ok, thanks for telling me. Now, does it matter if the DVD drive also supports CDs? Or is it still using the red laser? And does the speed of the drive matter?
Also, I have a drive that can only read DVDs and burn and read CDs, would that work?
Sorry if I'm getting annoying by asking n00bish questions... |
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Bluefan
Elite Laser
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 244
Movie(s): 1
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| Posted: 7/01/08, 3:54 PM Post subject: |
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| A combo drive (DVD reader, CD burner) probably has a weak (few mw) red diode and a powerfull IR one, but that's just a guess. DVD readers have low power diodes, the DVD burners are the powerfull visible red ones, and they also support cd's, probably with the same red laser (or they have a seperate powerfull IR laser). |
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Lasermann
4.99mW Green Laser Toy
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 9
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| Posted: 7/01/08, 4:26 PM Post subject: |
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| Ok, I've done some looking around, and found a dvd burner for $20. I'm going to go ahead and order some stuff so I can pu this thing together. Thanks a lot for the help. How much mW does a DVD laser diode have? About 100mW maybe? |
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CrazyKenny
Elite Laser
Joined: 03 May 2007
Posts: 146
Picture(s): 3
Movie(s): 1
Location: Germany
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| Posted: 7/01/08, 11:35 PM Post subject: |
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faster DVD burners have more powerfull lasers. I have heard about 240 mW diodes in a 20x DVD burner
_________________
green 3~8mw ebay laser
green 50mw ebay laser (mounted on telescope)
homemade DVD-Burner Laser (~120mW, divergence: 0.05 !)
RGY laserscanner (130mW red 60mW green)
300mW green Laser module from ebay
money spent on lasers: ~1800 $ (some are broken...) |
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Lasermann
4.99mW Green Laser Toy
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 9
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| Posted: 7/02/08, 12:41 AM Post subject: |
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| One final question. The DVD burner I am planning on getting for this project also has lightscribe. Would that mean the beam of light is more powerful, or the IR light is more powerful? |
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Hotwir3
4.99mW Green Laser Toy
Joined: 01 Jul 2008
Posts: 4
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| Posted: 7/02/08, 1:21 AM Post subject: |
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| lightscribe is meant for burning in images into the CD, if you didn't already know. So in that sense, I would imagine that it has something that other DVD burners don't |
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Lasermann
4.99mW Green Laser Toy
Joined: 30 Jun 2008
Posts: 9
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| Posted: 7/02/08, 1:25 AM Post subject: |
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Well, I'm really not sure if it does have something different. Because you do flip the disc over for a laser to burn the image on. I'm just not sure if it is a different laser or not.
Also, how can I figure out the mW of the laser pointer? I know there are tools out there that can measure it, but where? |
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Bluefan
Elite Laser
Joined: 20 Apr 2008
Posts: 244
Movie(s): 1
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| Posted: 7/02/08, 2:30 AM Post subject: |
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You'll need a lser power meter, and those are expensive.
If you go the DVD burner route, you'll need to make a lser diode dirver board yourself. That will only cost a few $ tops for a simple current regulated driver circuit. Also, you need to know at what current the laser needs to run, but that is known around here 
Actually, was there a topic about DVD burners and their diodes? |
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