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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Yet another hello.

Joined
Aug 26, 2007
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Well, hello there...

My name is William...The reason I'm here is because I'm a bored college student and I love making fun "toys." I've never really made something quite as intricate as a laser, but intend to slowly learn. I found this place out by, again, being bored and googling topics. I'm just looking for decent low-cost toys to build - and lasers seems quite a good option.

I might be getting in on the groupbuy soon (I've been reading for about 4 hours now, just decided to register), to start the building, but am thinking I should probably read more as I think I jumped in a bit too far reading the tutorials. My goal is to build both a green and a red "pocket" laser (I like mobility), the first capable of light, the second capable of heat (maybe go as far as to cut tape...)

I'm not really sure where to begin in my search, but tomorrow I think I am going to go to radioshack and build daedal's laser diode driver. I know it might be delving a bit too far, but might as well start learning. After I get in on the groupbuy, I might consider finally building the red laser and just do the green later...

Anyway, I'm very open to advice, and will take it without hesitation...just research.

Thanks again for allowing me my stay :)

William
 





S

SenKat

Guest
William ! Welcome to the best forum on the face of the Earth ! :)

You are not delving too far - I think it is great that you are here, and are interested in buiding !

The red is doable....the GREEN, on the other hand...well....
Here is what I would suggest on the green - if you try to build one from scratch, you are setting yourself up for failure, and disapointment :( They are EXTREMELY hard to get aligned, and the cost of the parts alone will most likely bankrupt you !

If you are interested in a pocket greenie - you can disassemble an existing greenie, like the DX lasers (inexpensive !) and mount the hardware into another case of your design, or desire. DX (dealextreme.com) has a TON of flashlights that in my opinion are very nice looking torches ! So that is always an option for you :)

Stick around, READ, READ, READ ! Then read some more ! LOL LOTS of info on here for absorbing - you will like it here, I am sure of it !

G !
 
Joined
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Thank you for the advice on both parts...I think for the green I will be doing exactly what you mentioned, just for something fun to do.

So I've been re-reading, and I think I might have missed something in my skimming. The driver in daedal's post is basically a complete assembly for a laser, minus the flashlight casing and mounts for it, or whatever one may prefer.

However, it says I might need to re-assemble the boards already inside the flashlight. This is where it gets somewhat confusing, because I thought that with the driver, it need just be connected to the power source?...this is why I was saying I might be delving too deeply into the topic...should I make an effort to start with this, or is there something simpler I should do to learn the basics of it?

Thanks for any advice,

William
 
S

SenKat

Guest
To START with, if you want to gain some experience with messing with the diodes, you should try the mini dorcy mod...simple, ad one 47Uf capacitor, and use the driver built into the light. THEN you can look for fancy torches to host your own circuits, nad such :)

G !
 
Joined
Aug 26, 2007
Messages
3
Points
0
SenKat said:
To START with, if you want to gain some experience with messing with the diodes, you should try the mini dorcy mod...simple, ad one 47Uf capacitor, and use the driver built into the light. THEN you can look for fancy torches to host your own circuits, nad such :)

G !
Thanks, I'll definitely be doing that then :D

Edit: this is what you are referring to, correct? h--p://---.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1181635652

In addition, I am aware that to be able to have a somewhat strong laser, you should use a good 18x or 20x dvd burner. However, I have quite a few old cd/cdrw/dvd drives laying around...would it be bad to try using these just in case I screw up first time around, I won't ruin the $17.50 diode.

Thanks again.

William
 




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