Hello from Maryland

Hello All,

I just wanted to introduce myself and say hello.

I am completely new to this caliber of Lasers and know very little. I became interested after seeing a Laser that a close friend recently purchased. I started doing a little research on purchasing one, and found your forum. I've been reading here for a few hours now and it certainly seems there is a wealth of knowledge. I'm glad that I started reading here before I purchased one.

I will keep on reading and hopefully get myself started with my first Laser sometime in the near future.

Thanks for all of the great information. Very nice to meet you all.

Welcome and you're starting off on the right foot. Reading/learning some first before diving in is the right way to go. Make sure you read all about safely handling a laser. These are NOT "toys". +REP for trying to learn first

Hey,

Glad to see a new member. :wave: If you want a fairly good laser (no burning, but it is a good practice tool) you can get 5mW green lasers from ebay or amazon. They are good for beam visibility and they are cheap. If you want to build your own high-powered laser, there are so many options, so you might want to check out the laser build threads.

Have fun and stay safe with your lasers!

P.S. The cheap greens do leak InfraRed, so if you are worried about that, you might want to get an IR filter.

Welcome to the forum, Justus. This is a wonderful place to learn. There are threads in the archives (all available via the search tool here on LPF) that range from your vary basic questions on laser types, powers, colors, etc to very advanced laser topics including theoretical science and electrical/electronic design for laser support components. This is kinda the "one stop shop" for all things laser on the web. Take your time to snoop around and get to know some folks. The community here is awesome... when you can't find what your looking for in the archives, just ask. This place is overflowing with smart cookies (I'm just a newb, so I know this from bugging them all the time)

Have fun and be safe!

c

Hi and welcome from down under, great your reading the rules and laser basics, safety first we have so many that start with i want a high power laser really cheap ...

Great attitude! Hope it won't be part of your dog training equipment.:shhh: Youtube is rife with 'cats chasing red dot'. Unless they don shades like the KRNAZNBOY avatar, these acts risk injury to their retinas.

Hello Justus. Welcome to the forums. Just keep on reading some everyday and in several months you can be an expert on lasers, no shortage of info here.

Alan

Hey another Maryland member finally. Welcome, feel free to pm me with any questions. I'll do my best though I'm quite new myself. Good luck here, it's a great place to learn.