New here and loaded with beginner's questions

I have joined recently and I hope to learn a lot from other members on this forum. I hope to post questions here in hopes of not saying anything too foolish. I considered making another thread for all my questions, but my questions are mainly random at the moment.

My first question, has anyone purchased high wattage laser diodes at Aliexpress.com? I have seen high powered diodes at that site, but i am doubtful about whether or not the wattage on the diodes are correct or not, since i have seen some relatively cheap 2 watt diodes.

welcome to the forums, if you use the search button on the top and bottom of the page it will turn up a ton of info. I will link a thread in a min for ya
http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/i-want-build-laser-thread-52972-3.html

Welcome!

-Alex

Core Deadeye said:

I have joined recently and I hope to learn a lot from other members on this forum. I hope to post questions here in hopes of not saying anything too foolish. I considered making another thread for all my questions, but my questions are mainly random at the moment.

My first question, has anyone purchased high wattage laser diodes at Aliexpress.com? I have seen high powered diodes at that site, but i am doubtful about whether or not the wattage on the diodes are correct or not, since i have seen some relatively cheap 2 watt diodes.

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Welcome to the forums. The high powered laser on aliexpress would not be what they are rated for. They may be rated for 1000000W but they might only be just 100mw.

Hi Core Deadeye, welcome to the forum :wave:
Aliexpress.com is not a source of very reliable items at all. You should probably stay clear of it.
Have you used the white search bar on the bottom of the page? It works much better than the one at the top.
Enjoy, have fun and be safe

@Laser chick
I had a feeling that the website would lack reliability. Too many typos.

Thank you everyone for the warning. Those prices seemed too good for such raw power in laser diodes.

I was in a hurry earlier to start this thread, and forgot to say something about myself, as a thread for new users suggested.

I will be going to a technical college and taking a Computer Aided Drafting program . I am interested in drawing, science fiction, and archery ( I will stop there). One of my goals is to construct a very high wattage laser pointer using laser diodes and of relatively compact size. Of course, I understqnd that there are definetly limitations, so I will just play with the idea until the time comes when I could try to construct it. For now, I will see other threads and search for different parts and other bits of info. I became interested in lasers after seeing a Wicked Lasers advertisement in Popular Science. My dad built a couple basic burning red lasers, and he would end up telling me his idea about getting multiple diodes and gathering thier light to shine through one set of lens. This is the sort of thing i want to try now.

Hello and welcome! If you are looking for quality diodes, I believe everyone here will agree DTR is the guy to go to. Quality at a reasonable price for sure.
Please do make sure to fill in your location and other info in your profile, that will help members answer your questions, especially where shipping and item availability is concerned. Have fun and stay safe!

Thank you for the reminder about profile. I willbe sure to get that done.

Welcome to LPF