18 replies to this topic

[PyroSkitz]

completely off topic, but its categorized correctly , but i was just wondering if anyone has any lasers of the sort, just out of interest, i have a 200mw red laser that i got for £20 (pm for link if you like ), and a 50mw green one, just to start a discussion going lol

[Atom Fireworks]

A few of my fellow carp fishing chums have them, their name is laser pointers can get em off ebay i think thats if i am on the right tracks lol. A freind of mine also builds his own lasers and to be honest there lethal, i used one to set off sum quick match at over 100 yards lmao quality.

[PyroSkitz]

yeh their not the safest of things, will light black powder easy , from 100 yards? that must of been powerful haha, when you go past 30Mw then they're not called laser pointers, because 30Mw would be too bright for a pointer, used to ironically point out stuff, just not for presentations wise the clients will be blind , i was going to build my own but for £20 for 200Mw who can go wrong lol, although id like a build a 1Mw one with like a really high amp-age that cuts metal or something of the sort haha,

Edited by PyroSkitz, 24 March 2010 - 10:15 PM.

[Arthur Brown]

First semantics M = Mega, m = milli With lasers you mean milliwatts.

Second safety. A laser burn on the retina is permanent and can afflict your health and employability very seriously. Learn how to work safely before you cause damage. There are special dichroic safety glasses that block accurate wavelengths for laser work. Learn about the ones that may help you.

[PyroSkitz]

ah dont worry im not being stupid with lasers, just having a bit of practical fun with them, it was an idea building one of 1Mw, (don't know if that's correct), this red laser burns any black plastics or materials, like black trouser leg will starts to smoke if focused so its 200mw not 200Mw, thanks for the info , ive used lasers before, my retina safety is of utmost concern, but im not being stupid and pointing it in mirror's wondering if it will reflect if that's what you mean

Edited by PyroSkitz, 24 March 2010 - 10:27 PM.

[PyroSkitz]

and it was 1watt i was thinking off, my mistake

[BrightStar]

Well there's the big YAG I'm rebuilding in my garage...

So far it has a 5" long single NdYAG crystal rod in a water-cooled ellipsoidal gold cavity with a 4kW Krypton arc lamp. It should be good for about 100 watts at 1064nm or 30 watts 512nm green CW with an intra-cavity KTP doubler. The PSU is 300v DC with a series trigger coil for a 20kV starting kick.

It'll probably never work, but it's a good project none the less

[PyroSkitz]

sounds like some serious power your trying to make there , whats the purpose for the laser other than a james bond style movie dissection ? lol

[Karl Mitchell-Shead]

He wants to cut the moon in half....

[Arthur Brown]

Will a laser cut green cheese?

[digger]

Well there's the big YAG I'm rebuilding in my garage...

So far it has a 5" long single NdYAG crystal rod in a water-cooled ellipsoidal gold cavity with a 4kW Krypton arc lamp. It should be good for about 100 watts at 1064nm or 30 watts 512nm green CW with an intra-cavity KTP doubler. The PSU is 300v DC with a series trigger coil for a 20kV starting kick.

It'll probably never work, but it's a good project none the less

whhhhhhiiiiiiiirrrr hhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm KECRACK big hole in the garage door.

[digger]

P.S. why did you not go down the diode pumped solid state route? It sounds like you have given yourself a bigger challenge than is required (heat, focusing etc, low efficiency), however it does sound like a very interesting project.

[PyroSkitz]

i think you guys are thinking too small, just the moon i think we could be a bit more creative than that , and yeh lasers can cut blue/green what ever ya want to call it cheese lol, how about some sort of robotic dragon that shoots the laser? that's got the imagination juices flowing , 500 feet high im proposing, with......ill let you finish the rest lol

Edited by PyroSkitz, 26 March 2010 - 10:23 PM.

[pyrotrev]

Well there's the big YAG I'm rebuilding in my garage...

So far it has a 5" long single NdYAG crystal rod in a water-cooled ellipsoidal gold cavity with a 4kW Krypton arc lamp. It should be good for about 100 watts at 1064nm or 30 watts 512nm green CW with an intra-cavity KTP doubler. The PSU is 300v DC with a series trigger coil for a 20kV starting kick.

It'll probably never work, but it's a good project none the less

Hey Joseph, you should pulse that baby, get a few more and we could have the UK Nuclear Fusion society?

[Johnny C]

Be carefeful with any cheap laser. If it's a 2nd hand ex-lab laser or similar then fine. But a lot of cheap high-powered lasers from China aren't safe. They produce a lot of infrared which isn't focused or filtered, so if you look along the beam and close to it or are using mirrors you can get a lot of IR in your eyes which isn't good for them, get enough and you'll start to microwave the nerve endings. Nerves don't like being microwaved...

For example, a 50mW might be a 1watt IR diode with a crystal stepdown to convert some of the IR to visible light - but a lot of the unconverted IR gets through.

I get mine built in Canada and shipped over, I pay a lot more than £20 but I know it's been tested for IR leakage (and a lot more).

Editted to add, got assorted lasers (red and green) upto 460mW. Had to stop playing so much since a visit from the old bill for pointing one a a block of flats 5 miles away and scaring some pensioners, and these days with kids pointing them at planes the police helicopters get upset at people playing lightsabers in their back garden. Still like to annoy the neighbours cats though!

Edited by Johnny C, 30 March 2010 - 01:14 PM.