The Geek Group!

OK, its official....this is awesome:angel:,


Wellll, I guess I'll explain,
I already posted this thread(If you haven't read it yet you should read it now(at least watch The Geek Group's video))
http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/532nm-50w-spectra-physics-need-help-fixing-85686.html#post1243913 about a non-working 50 Watt 532nm Nd:YAG Spectra-Physics laser
that The Geek Group has. The Geek Group is a non-profit Hacker-space type organization where people from the
community can come in and use the machinery for free or very cheaply. It just so happens that I live close to
The Geek Group's headquarters. I had found out about it recently, so this Saturday I went on a tour of the place.:drool::gun::san::bday:
It's so awesome it's awesome squared!!!




Now for the "other" stuff I've been hinting at in the other thread:

Let's just say that the video of the laser which, showed a few HeNe's and the Spectra-Physics, is OLD,(outdated).
And here's the part where I was SO shocked (no pun intended) that I could not believe it!
they had 3 argon's, all Innova 90's I believe, 1 krypton argon, and a Melles Griot optics table!!!!!!!
I am right now the happiest laser enthusiast in the world. (I think I'll just rent a closet at The Geek Group and move in.:crackup



Still In Shock,
Mattronium


P.S. I thought it was kind of funny thought that they had wicked laser safety goggles in their laser lab.


P.P.S. Oooh, yah, I almost forgot. They also have North Americas largest Tesla Coils (twin), An impulse generator that discharges 1,800 Volts at 80,000 Amps for 3/1000 of a second for a total of 144MW (Yes that's Megawatts), Jeff, a 10 foot tall, 2 ton industrial robot(still needs work to run), and 2 HAAS CNC machines at least one of which I believe is a 5-Axis. (the new CNC machines arrived about a week or two ago).

Videos,
Gemini (Tesla coils): Thumper Fun: Exploding Full Cans of Liquid - YouTube

Thumper (Impulse Generator): The Geek Group's Tesla Coils ( Project Gemini ) - YouTube
The Geek Group

Jeff (The Robot)Project Jeff | The Geek Group

I got to help with alignment of a mixed gas (ArKr) at SELEM Even got to control the PCAOM that selected one line at a time. It was extraordinary!

Where are these folks located??

I posted the answer to where they are located, in the other thread But it won't hurt to post it here to.The Geek Group is located in Grand Rapids, MI
You can also look at their website for specifics, Geek HQ | The Geek Group

Why are you in shock ?

weeba2kv said:

Why are you in shock ?

Click to expand...

Are you joking or are you serious. Well let me see.... I go from having one 532nm pen, one 660nm pen, a homemade 660nm pointer and a CNI PGL-III-C-532nm-500mw, plus some parts, to having access to thousands of $ worth of laser and machining equipment. So about <$500->$100,000 in 1 day, that means about $6.1/second squared of monetary acceleration.

Yes so you are going to make custom laser host ?

??????? Did you read my first post? Or did I not explain myself well enough? Because if you did read the first post and understood what I meant, and your not at least a little interested then I have to know what you've seen, or have.
Although I would like to make a host myself sometime, I'm not thinking too much about it right now.

EDIT: Yes, I see what he has.

Well i am not sure what you mean , they have some gas lasers and very nice machines to work with but ?
what is your point then ?

Id help if I was close... But I'm not

Why do we have lasers?
Most hobbyists, IMO have lasers basically because they are cool/awesome.
The Geek Group's lasers are way awesome than any of mine will probably ever be.
Did you watch the videos that I put a the bottom of the first post, they might explain it a little better.

There aren't any new videos of the laser lab that I found, so I'll see if I can convince them to make some new ones for you guys.

I saw almost all there vids years ago , each day i click there 2 channels to see some updates , but they are not adding much fun stuff lately :/ yesterday some boring highvoltage crap , waste of energy is what i call it lol

oooh, well I guess you know more about them than I do:bowdown:. I'll tell Chris that, I don't want The Geek Group to go "bland".
If you have any ideas of what you think they could do you can always PM me.

Thanks,

That would be SUPER awesome i appreciatie that

Well, I am new to The Geek Group, so I'm not sure if I personally can do anything interesting (aside from the lasers I hope), but I will do my best to "encourage" them to do more neat stuff. I don't want to get your hopes up that I can do something I can't, but I'll do what I can.

Thanks,

Try to make them do more with lasers but my guess is that you already want to do that haha feed them with ideas

its not yours in the slightest though its theirs. so you went from $500 to $500. Just saying ill be the getaway driver if you want them for good. just kidding. does sound like a good time. and fun for sure. love teslas. i have a desktop one even. and most all my shocks are from coil building. tesla would be proud.