- Joined
- Aug 7, 2012
- Messages
- 2
- Points
- 0
Well Ladies and Gentlemen, Allow me to introduce myself.
My name is Adam or Armored Rah (an anagram of my full name).
I live in a boring little town in Tennessee, called Greeneville. I've been interested in lasers for around 14 years I guess. I've floated in and out of the hobby due to many different factors, cost, changing interests, etc. I was probably the first person within 50 miles to have a red pointer when I was 16 or so. I loved that thing. It was less than 5mW, but it was amazing. It would turn out street lights and the cats around my house loved it. Later on, when the Green DPSS pointers came out, I grabbed one of those. I think I paid a little over $100 for it. Again, it was only around 5mW, which seems like a joke now, but back then, I was amazed, as were most of the people who came to the club I worked at. I ended up selling it to a local DJ, who later destroyed it. I didn't own another laser for years, but I've tried to keep up to date on what's happening. Then about a year ago, while bored, I started checking out some videos online and felt the need to get a new laser. I grabbed up 7 of the cheap green pointers on Amazon. Out of the 7, 1 was DOA. I picked the best of the 6 to keep and I sold three and still have two I was thinking of selling.. I disassembled the one that was DOA, just to see what I was dealing with. They are cheap, to say the least. However, the one I picked to keep is quite good, even if it is built from junk. My first concern was saftey, so I took the end of the housing off and added an IR blocking filter from a digital camera. I then tested it by using my nightvision camera and a IR pass filter. No more dot, so I knew that was good. With the IR blocking filter installed and the laser pointed through a large magnifying lens from a projection TV ( I wore eye protection of course, I just happened to have a pair of red goggles, which seem to block most of the green spectrum, although I don't think that's what they are designed for), this laser was able to smoke electrical tape and lightly engrave the black plastic from a CD case. I don't know what the actual power output is and honestly, it isn't worth the effort to have it checked, since the laser only cost me about $5 anyway. The camera I pulled the IR blocking filter from wasn't cheap though, but safety first. LOL (Sorry if I'm rambling on.)
So, to try and cut the story short, I'm back into lasers and I've been very excited/impressed by some of the builds I've seen in themon ths I've been sneaking around browsing the forums, so two weeks ago I joined and read up on the rules and such before making my first post.
While I'm really impressed with the blue lasers and their power, I still love the green ones. The thing that hooked me on the green ones in the begining is what still keeps me interested, THE BEAM! I will never tire of going outside at night and seeing that beautiful line stretching out into the sky. I read about the direct green diodes and was so happy to hear that they are on the way, even if they are still way out of my price range.
My goal is to get a high quality green laser in the near future and maybe, with the help of the builders here, a nice blue one too. What I'm looking for in a green laser is a compromise between saftey and beam visibility.... Well, I'll stop here and save that stuff for other posts. I'd like to thank those of you who took the time to read this and I'd also like to apologize if I wrote too much. I look forward to learning from everyone here and hope I can contribute to this community in some way. Thanks again!
My name is Adam or Armored Rah (an anagram of my full name).
I live in a boring little town in Tennessee, called Greeneville. I've been interested in lasers for around 14 years I guess. I've floated in and out of the hobby due to many different factors, cost, changing interests, etc. I was probably the first person within 50 miles to have a red pointer when I was 16 or so. I loved that thing. It was less than 5mW, but it was amazing. It would turn out street lights and the cats around my house loved it. Later on, when the Green DPSS pointers came out, I grabbed one of those. I think I paid a little over $100 for it. Again, it was only around 5mW, which seems like a joke now, but back then, I was amazed, as were most of the people who came to the club I worked at. I ended up selling it to a local DJ, who later destroyed it. I didn't own another laser for years, but I've tried to keep up to date on what's happening. Then about a year ago, while bored, I started checking out some videos online and felt the need to get a new laser. I grabbed up 7 of the cheap green pointers on Amazon. Out of the 7, 1 was DOA. I picked the best of the 6 to keep and I sold three and still have two I was thinking of selling.. I disassembled the one that was DOA, just to see what I was dealing with. They are cheap, to say the least. However, the one I picked to keep is quite good, even if it is built from junk. My first concern was saftey, so I took the end of the housing off and added an IR blocking filter from a digital camera. I then tested it by using my nightvision camera and a IR pass filter. No more dot, so I knew that was good. With the IR blocking filter installed and the laser pointed through a large magnifying lens from a projection TV ( I wore eye protection of course, I just happened to have a pair of red goggles, which seem to block most of the green spectrum, although I don't think that's what they are designed for), this laser was able to smoke electrical tape and lightly engrave the black plastic from a CD case. I don't know what the actual power output is and honestly, it isn't worth the effort to have it checked, since the laser only cost me about $5 anyway. The camera I pulled the IR blocking filter from wasn't cheap though, but safety first. LOL (Sorry if I'm rambling on.)
So, to try and cut the story short, I'm back into lasers and I've been very excited/impressed by some of the builds I've seen in themon ths I've been sneaking around browsing the forums, so two weeks ago I joined and read up on the rules and such before making my first post.
While I'm really impressed with the blue lasers and their power, I still love the green ones. The thing that hooked me on the green ones in the begining is what still keeps me interested, THE BEAM! I will never tire of going outside at night and seeing that beautiful line stretching out into the sky. I read about the direct green diodes and was so happy to hear that they are on the way, even if they are still way out of my price range.
My goal is to get a high quality green laser in the near future and maybe, with the help of the builders here, a nice blue one too. What I'm looking for in a green laser is a compromise between saftey and beam visibility.... Well, I'll stop here and save that stuff for other posts. I'd like to thank those of you who took the time to read this and I'd also like to apologize if I wrote too much. I look forward to learning from everyone here and hope I can contribute to this community in some way. Thanks again!