need help, home made laser.

ok.
ive got a dell latitude CP CD-ROM and im in the process of taking it appart becouse it wasnt gonna get used anyway but i wanna get things out of it and TRY to make a laser.
ive never had one before and dont really know what im doing but its just a little bit of fun.
im just asking for anyone that might be able to help me thru making one with this thing and getting the other parts i need.
thanks

Well - stop where you are, since if it is a cd-rom - it will be IR if it is a burner - and a low powered red to boot. DVD burners are where you can find the good diodes to mess with. The diodes in CD-roms are simply not economical to mess with. You can get some neat little mirrors, and optics out of there, though.....

i striped it down to a million pieces and never found a diode anyway. lol.
would you be able to post a detailed pic of exactly were it is or at least were they USUALY are?

Check out the other post about a DIY red....see if that helps, if it doesn't - let me know !