tttonyyy
0
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2014
- Messages
- 116
- Points
- 18
At Hak's suggestion I'm posting a welcome - hello 
I first played with pointers back in the 90s when they were only available from specialist electronics retailers in kit form (little more than a module with focusable optics and a plastic box with switch for batteries, and a small regulator).
Back then I also toyed with the idea of building a burning CO2 laser but decided the risks far outweighed any benefits, so put my efforts into tesla coiling instead.
My interest in lasers was rekindled a couple of years ago; since 2007 I've run my cars on nothing but homebrew biodiesel (see http://www.biopowered.co.uk), and part of the process is checking for soap byproducts remaining in the fuel. This can be done by titration but also by a water shake up test - literally mixing a fuel sample with water and shaking, the biodiesel floats to the top and the water later remains at the bottom, complete with any residual soap. Judging the clarity of the water is quite subjective. After reading about how particulate detectors use a laser to measure backscatter, I've taken to shining a laser pointer through the water layer. Water layers with no visible red beam @ 1mW typically only have a few PPM soap in them, but the beam becomes clearly visible at about 100PPM.
But, I confess, purchasing some cheap and nasty 301s and 303s isn't for any purpose other than rekindling my fascination with lasers - I really had no idea such things were available for so little these days. I find that pretty amazing considering what goes into making a green laser work. And I've been reading a lot of the posts here detailing homebuilds - this sounds right up my street as far as projects go
So yes, hello - I'm glad to see this forum has a "to the point" (as it were) attitude, I like the direct approach and won't take it personally if anyone tells me I'm an idiot for suggesting buying a >1W module for illuminating my eyebrows, for example.
I first played with pointers back in the 90s when they were only available from specialist electronics retailers in kit form (little more than a module with focusable optics and a plastic box with switch for batteries, and a small regulator).
Back then I also toyed with the idea of building a burning CO2 laser but decided the risks far outweighed any benefits, so put my efforts into tesla coiling instead.
My interest in lasers was rekindled a couple of years ago; since 2007 I've run my cars on nothing but homebrew biodiesel (see http://www.biopowered.co.uk), and part of the process is checking for soap byproducts remaining in the fuel. This can be done by titration but also by a water shake up test - literally mixing a fuel sample with water and shaking, the biodiesel floats to the top and the water later remains at the bottom, complete with any residual soap. Judging the clarity of the water is quite subjective. After reading about how particulate detectors use a laser to measure backscatter, I've taken to shining a laser pointer through the water layer. Water layers with no visible red beam @ 1mW typically only have a few PPM soap in them, but the beam becomes clearly visible at about 100PPM.
But, I confess, purchasing some cheap and nasty 301s and 303s isn't for any purpose other than rekindling my fascination with lasers - I really had no idea such things were available for so little these days. I find that pretty amazing considering what goes into making a green laser work. And I've been reading a lot of the posts here detailing homebuilds - this sounds right up my street as far as projects go
So yes, hello - I'm glad to see this forum has a "to the point" (as it were) attitude, I like the direct approach and won't take it personally if anyone tells me I'm an idiot for suggesting buying a >1W module for illuminating my eyebrows, for example.
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