Can I change colours with this?

BUGGAR. I forgot to mention I have owned a keyring laser years back and had a lot of fun with it too. Just for reference- I am not just out of school and going to burn the ass off all my friends legs. I have other items/tools which never get used in the presence of my family (mainly my children).

It's got me curious why lasers are so popular as pointers. I can understand lasers are used in light shows (disco's), in industry as cutters, burners, etc... but why are pointers so intreging to people??

pinkpanda3310 said:

BUGGAR. I forgot to mention I have owned a keyring laser years back and had a lot of fun with it too. Just for reference- I am not just out of school and going to burn the ass off all my friends legs. I have other items/tools which never get used in the presence of my family (mainly my children).

It's got me curious why lasers are so popular as pointers. I can understand lasers are used in light shows (disco's), in industry as cutters, burners, etc... but why are pointers so intreging to people??

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Mainly because they are small and easily moved. But first, if you want to buy a burning laser, we need to know a few things...

The country you live in (some companies will not send lasers to some places)
The amount you are willing to spend.
The color you want.

green lasers typically cost 3x as much as a red or violet, [if you want the reason why, the attached picture will explain.]

Green lasers appear 50x as bright as red ones, 100x as bright as violet ones.

red lasers w/ powers of 300mw will run you about $150
green lasers w/ powers of 300mw will cost about $600
violet lasers of that power will cost $100 if you build it yourself.

Panda,

"Upgradeability" likely won't happen in the DPSS/Diode laser world, but you can get started pretty cheaply.

If you want to start slow, somewhat safer, but still want to burn, and have visible light, maybe look at O-Like's focusable 50mW green -- $39.00 ..(but you'd still want to get goggles with that, definitely. Like these, for $20. )

O-Like has a good reputation around here, and that laser is inexpensive, decently powerful for a beginner, moderately bright (compared to anything else you've likely seen in a pointer style), and pretty well built. It -will- burn when focused with its focusing ring, and it'll give you an idea and feel for handling a laser like this. It also has a keylock, so you can keep it disabled if there's a chance of someone inexperienced getting a hold of it.

Visually, you'll love it, if it's your first green. Don't underestimate the ability of 50mW of 532nm. It will burn black surfaces, and pop dark colored balloons (just not from 'across the room' like a 250mW will) And it'll look awesome at night... Just don't point it at anyone. I think it's a good place to start to get a feel for this stuff.

Thank you very much for all your help. I'll have a look around for what's available similar to what you suggested aryntha but won't jump so fast this time.

mrgoogfan said:

red lasers w/ powers of 300mw will run you about $150

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If you're starting out with laser pointers, i would recommend getting a 200 mW rated red laser, like the deal extreme dilda. For just $30 shipped, you will get a pretty visible laser, that will burn things when focussed.

Mind you, this thing is by no means safe to play with, but at least things get uncomfortably bright when your eye are in danger.

780 and 808 nm are both visible, but as pointed out, appear very very dim, even at dangerous power levels. I reckon you should actually shine it straight into your eye without blinking, and pretty sure that if you would blink it would be too late to save anything.

I've been reading and thinking about what to do and I think I'll go with a 50mw or less green (probably less). Then I'll have a pointer for when I've got time to burn and one for burning when I'm by myself.

I understand now why IR is so dangerous. Apart from the complacency as mentioned accidental reflections would be near impossible to flinch at.

While we are on the subject- I want the best protection but can't decide which is better. The above recommendation was for these 808nm Infrared Laser Eyes Protection Glasses/Goggle The OD at the bottom state 2-3 and I have seen these advertised other places with the rating being 2. The easyhaz calc recommends 2.5 OD. So I was wondering if these were a better choice 650nm Laser Eyes Protection Glasses/Goggle They have a rating of 4 OD at 755n. The target is 3 OD at 780nm and the first goggles were 3 OD at 808nm.

So if someone could tell me either goggle will do or one is better than the other, I would much appreciate it.

pinkpanda3310 said:

So I was wondering if these were a better choice 650nm Laser Eyes Protection Glasses/Goggle They have a rating of 4 OD at 755n. The target is 3 OD at 780nm and the first goggles were 3 OD at 808nm.

So if someone could tell me either goggle will do or one is better than the other, I would much appreciate it.

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the 650 one seems good to me. What do you plan to do with that laser? As far as ir lasers go, that one isn't very powerful. It was probably from a optocommunications line. If you attach a fibre to that laser you could possibly make a nice woodburner.

Undecided as to what I'm going to do with it. It's not big enough for my initial plans of cutting carbon fibre. It was more of a 'don't spend to much in case it doesn't work out'.

What are these green squares in the ID box << I notice yours is red mrgoogfan.

pinkpanda3310 said:

Undecided as to what I'm going to do with it. It's not big enough for my initial plans of cutting carbon fibre. It was more of a 'don't spend to much in case it doesn't work out'.

What are these green squares in the ID box << I notice yours is red mrgoogfan.

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They are to do with reputation points, more reputation more green bars. When there is red bars the user has negative reputation.

pinkpanda3310 said:

Undecided as to what I'm going to do with it. It's not big enough for my initial plans of cutting carbon fibre. It was more of a 'don't spend to much in case it doesn't work out'.

What are these green squares in the ID box << I notice yours is red mrgoogfan.

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To cut carbon fibre you will need at least 7W of infrared.

HOLY****! I didn't think it would be that much. The glue that holds it together starts to breakdown at 60C.

pinkpanda3310 said:

HOLY****! I didn't think it would be that much. The glue that holds it together starts to breakdown at 60C.

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yes but the fibre ittself wont cut. It would tear.

I know the carbon is the hard stuff. I was guessing if the epoxy was cut away exposing the weave then I could get away with 2w. I'll have to can that idea altogether. I was going to work up to that but I'm starting to lose interest in lasers somewhat. From what I understand of your post - even 7w will not cut the carbon.

pinkpanda3310 said:

I know the carbon is the hard stuff. I was guessing if the epoxy was cut away exposing the weave then I could get away with 2w. I'll have to can that idea altogether. I was going to work up to that but I'm starting to lose interest in lasers somewhat. From what I understand of your post - even 7w will not cut the carbon.

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If the carbon is black, 7w will cut it quite nicely. Also, why lose interest in lasers? The green ones are awesome at night. Even a 30mw green will give you nice beams. With a little smoke and mirrors, you can make a laser tunnel too. my 250mw Laser || my hene laser

That's a pretty picture! As I said before, I primarily want to burn (or cut if you will). I don't mind getting a low mw green just to keep my head in check with the power of these things (eg. one that looks powerful and one that is powerful) but 7w is more than I want to spend or play with.

Setting up nice effects and building a laser all sounds interesting but the end result is to look at a bit of light that I need to protect myself from. If it had a bit more of a purpose (like burning) then it would be more appealling.

There is one in the mail, so I will fiddle with it a bit but I don't think I'll keep it for long (if i can sell it that is). I think I'll get the multi nm goggles incase I decide to build one later.

pinkpanda3310 said:

That's a pretty picture! As I said before, I primarily want to burn (or cut if you will). I don't mind getting a low mw green just to keep my head in check with the power of these things (eg. one that looks powerful and one that is powerful) but 7w is more than I want to spend or play with.

Setting up nice effects and building a laser all sounds interesting but the end result is to look at a bit of light that I need to protect myself from. If it had a bit more of a purpose (like burning) then it would be more appealling.

There is one in the mail, so I will fiddle with it a bit but I don't think I'll keep it for long (if i can sell it that is). I think I'll get the multi nm goggles incase I decide to build one later.

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A tunnel like that can be built with a 50mw green, a small motor, hot glue, a mirror, and some smoke or fog. ~$30.