Okay, here are my first two complete builds......I had a great time doing it. Nothing was damaged but I sure did learn a lot that I will do differently in future builds. I have yobresal to thank for many answered questions.

BUILD ONE - I first harvested the 2X blu-ray diode from a sled, bought and host, driver, CR2 batts and built the black laser. It registered right at 100mW. It burns well, but I needed more POWER........ so.....

BUILD TWO - I ordered a LG 10X blu-ray burner drive from newegg.com and harvested the diode. I then ordered an Ehgemus host from Ehgemus which was awesome!... with focus adapter and length for 3 - CR123a protected batteries. Then I bought a RCKSTR driver, AIXIZ module, 405-G-1 focusing lens from Jayrob.

It too turned out well and registered at 550mW.... It burns FAST!

Please see attached pictures and enjoy. I will post some 10X diode harvest pics as well...... I know I'm a noob and this is old news but I still think they are good pictures. Please comment & critique.

Thanks.

....More pictures.

for a first build, very !
+rep 2 u!

and, WELCOME TO THE FORUM!

Thanks. It it seeming like a very fun hobby to get into.

Welcome.
Nice pictures & a couple of great looking builds there.

Great Job! and nice pictures.

Thanks! The host was great to work with.

Dude, you're far from a n00b, obviously. So where did you originaly come from?

Ummmm. Well those are the first two lasers I've ever built but I took electronics in high school... Graduated 2001?

Is that what you meant by "where did you originaly come from?"

From another laser forum, or have you been here before?

You seem to know your way around here, and the people pretty well with just 8 posts to your name. It usually takes people a while to get to know people, ask questions about parts, ask for recommendations, how certain things work, ect. You have 8 posts and you already have built 2 lasers, one being a 550mW laser. Nobody gets it that quick.

I feel I must interject here. This guy is a co-worker of mine. As a matter of fact he is standing beside me right now. We used to share an office. He has really gotten into laser ever since he saw some of my builds. I started him off with the Small black laser kit. I had an extra. I was really surprised how good he is at soldering. We talk about drivers, lenses, diodes and pretty much everything to do with lasers everyday. We draw schematics, I show him tutorials and help him when he needs it.

Cool, glad to have you aboard then.

We have a lot of banned members trying to sneak back, so when someone new pops in, and they already know whats going on, it raises a question. Nothing personal.

Good times....... When I do "something" I try to do it well.... and thanks to yobresal's help as mentioned in the original build post... I have succeeded.

Ah I see.... T_J just lookin' out for weasels 10-4

No doubt, nice lasers. Never a question of that. We always need more people here who know what they are talking about.

I have enjoyed my stay so far Not sure what I want to tackle next.... my wife is going to have our second child, a little boy this time and day!! Very excited!... so I will be managing my time. I know I won't get on LPF much but when I can I jump in and browse around.

Congratz. I dont have any kids. The way I've always lived my life there was never any room for them.

Thanks. Well we all have differnet and unique lives. Some are born to make lasers and some are born to make babies and lasers haha.

I was born to piss people off...

Nice lasers! Very good for first build!
So your 10X BR outputs 550mW? Thats pretty high. A lot of people have 12X Blu-rays that output less than 500mW.

Quite the shutterbug, aren't you? Very nice pics

Congrats, and welcome as well!

Not that many.

Thanks.... well, I'm not sure how but I have a rckstr drive turned all the way up and the 405-g-1 coated lens that is supposed to be more effecient in letting more power through it because it does not reflect that certain wavelength...

Yeah, I like to take pictures. I bought my wife a really nice Canon 40d digi SLR so I use it a lot. I also figure that I like to see pictures of peoples work so I share as much as I can.