List of Laser Functions?

I tried to search this online, but I couldn't find them I guess no one have list the function before? or maybe I am not searching for the right keywords?

I was talking to a friend and saying my hobby with lasers, they don't know what to say, but ask me what are the functions of the lasers... I was able to list out some of the functions, but of course I was not able to list all of them! it's just very hard to list ALL of them... as it will have something to do with our IQ and creativity... but I do very much wonder what other people use their lasers for? let's list some of them out for fun... I would like to know if there's any... very strange or very elite way to use your laser? but let's put them into category, I think for examples .... burning paper, would include all kinds of paper, so let's not list like "I burn red paper, white paper, or pink paper." But of course you can explain a little bit on the things you are burning, what wave length you found burning it easier...etc

For me the main reasons I buy them is because I love them, it's one of my hobby.

But I mainly use them as follow:

1. Point at the sky and talk to people about different things, thoughts (as I always like to imagine things)

2. Heat up for examples coffee for fun.

3. Burning paper... well again, just for fun...

4. This is more related to business, I put them up close to the test subject to test the heat resistance, usually on cases, packing materials... etc.

5. This is what I wanted to do, but I haven't do yet... as I wonder how much power it take to do just that.... point laser at the sky, so my friend near me can tell exactly where I am... sounds strange to do that, but I do go hiking quite a lot at night, and sometimes my friends fall behind, and they would like to know where I am, if it's too far, I will stay back a bit for them... and I know a 100mw green is not good enough to do that when in clear night sky... it's very hard to see when it's 100 meters away, I wonder what power it take to do that under any weather.

6. Start up a fire for camping/cooking, better than using a flash light, as I can light things up from a distant away.

7. This is also something I wanted to do, but not sure how to do yet... is to for examples use a lens to de-focus the point to make one area glow for a short time, so people can know where I am... I know I can uses one very bright point to get attention too, but the problem with this method is when there are trees, the tree will block the lights, so it would be good to be able to light up for example one whole tree, but I have no idea what I needed to do to de-focus it to make it big enough... anyone have any idea ?

8. suddenly something come to mind... I Do have quite a few camera, and I do use them often... and sometimes we got mold on them... but no one have any idea how to control those mold grown... I wonder if shooting a laser beam into the lens could help somehow kill some of them... oh well, just a thought, it might kill the coating inside.

9. Shoot it at the top of the celling, so it light up a room... (let's not do that with your 1W light in your wood-made houses....

10. De-focus it to see the clarity of some materials... it happens that I do work with some PET materials with laminated silicone, but the PET materials might be different, but since it has the silicone in between layers, it's very hard to tell the difference... but with a low power laser with de-focused beam, I can tell the difference when it go through or with some reflection...

EDIT: Add 11. Oh, and I heard those company which Make microchip/CPU/Flash memory also uses lasers, because their work is so delicate, they can't allow any dust on their IC, PCB, or chips... so they uses laser to ... I forgot the word, but somehow scan to make sure there are no dust on them before they proceed.


I think that is they 11 points I have... anyone have experiences to share, please do, I would really like to know how others use their lasers :thanks::thanks:

Can you guess what we do with Lasers...

Jerry

I test items like sapphires and rubies for florescence, and hunt for florescent minerals.
& Ignite fuses for pyrotech -Glenn

I have two LOW POWER (< 5mw) reds that I use for cat toys;

ThinkGeek :: Star Wars Lightsaber Laser Pointer
(Darth Vader model... don't believe the picture - can't see the beam... probably <= 3mw)

Frolicat BOLT:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_n...=frolicat+bolt&rh=i:aps,k:frolicat+bolt&ajr=8

I have a 200mw green and a 300mw red. I just like to look at the beams. "Burnin stuff" loses it's appeal, after a while... though I guess it's good to do with a NEW laser.

Going to a soft-focus, they both make a radiometer spin like crazy (hard focus might damage the radiometer).

I've killed a few ants. I am looking forward to killing the next yellow jacket nest that forms in my apartment / stairwell, because I HATE the things. Some yellow jacket nests are too high to hit with a can of insecticide, so... besides, lasering yellow jackets is better for the environment.

The aircraft traffic patterns around here are well-established... 1 airport and 1 Air Force base. I am VERY familiar with the traffic patterns, from stargazing, so I know where to safely point in the sky.

I would like to see if I could hit a cloud, and see if I can see a laser spot on it, but lately we have 100+ degress fahrenheit weather EVERY day, NO rain, NO clouds.

I'll think of other things to do eventually.

Radio Meter?

Oh! From your Ant experiences, I forgot to ask if any of you had tried to kill Cockroaches... Anyone have tried using them to kill cockroaches?? I found Cockroaches are hard to kill... they run like crazy, and they can survive 15min in water without any air! and when I shot it with my green, he just run like crazy... so I am getting nowhere... but I am getting some good laser from here, I will certainly try them and see how it goes.

I have actually Shock a Cockroaches with 6,000 Volt, but the dude seems to be fine after 1 hour... I didn't actually see it move away, but it's twitting after one or two hours... so I shock it again.... Oh well... I don't want to abuse Them, but I don't like them and somewhat afraid of them

JBTexas said:

I have two LOW POWER (< 5mw) reds that I use for cat toys;

ThinkGeek :: Star Wars Lightsaber Laser Pointer
(Darth Vader model... don't believe the picture - can't see the beam... probably <= 3mw)

Frolicat BOLT:
Amazon.com: frolicat bolt

I have a 200mw green and a 300mw red. I just like to look at the beams. "Burnin stuff" loses it's appeal, after a while... though I guess it's good to do with a NEW laser.

Going to a soft-focus, they both make a radiometer spin like crazy (hard focus might damage the radiometer).

I've killed a few ants. I am looking forward to killing the next yellow jacket nest that forms in my apartment / stairwell, because I HATE the things. Some yellow jacket nests are too high to hit with a can of insecticide, so... besides, lasering yellow jackets is better for the environment.

The aircraft traffic patterns around here are well-established... 1 airport and 1 Air Force base. I am VERY familiar with the traffic patterns, from stargazing, so I know where to safely point in the sky.

I would like to see if I could hit a cloud, and see if I can see a laser spot on it, but lately we have 100+ degress fahrenheit weather EVERY day, NO rain, NO clouds.

I'll think of other things to do eventually.

Click to expand...

SOG said:

Radio Meter?

Oh! From your Ant experiences, I forgot to ask if any of you had tried to kill Cockroaches... Anyone have tried using them to kill cockroaches?? I found Cockroaches are hard to kill... they run like crazy, and they can survive 15min in water without any air! and when I shot it with my green, he just run like crazy... so I am getting nowhere... but I am getting some good laser from here, I will certainly try them and see how it goes.

I have actually Shock a Cockroaches with 6,000 Volt, but the dude seems to be fine after 1 hour... I didn't actually see it move away, but it's twitting after one or two hours... so I shock it again.... Oh well... I don't want to abuse Them, but I don't like them and somewhat afraid of them

Click to expand...

LMAO! :crackup::crackup::crackup:

I haven't and to deal cockroaches, or seem one in my apartment in the last decade (if I see one, exterminator is coming next day) but I do hate bugs in general, so whenever I see one, lately I have been grabbing one of my lasers:eg:

So far I've found that any bugs with large carapaces/well developed exoskeletons are more or less immune to lasers.

By this I mean they usually fall down, or run away. They just don't hold still long enough for the laser beam to do anything

The best bug burner I have is the 405nm ~800mW laser focused to infinity, surprisingly works better than the 1W+ 445's:evil:

Yes; bugs (and arachnids) seem to be immune to electricity. This is going to sound like I am making it up, but it is true. I receive my mail through a "mail kiosk" in my apartment building. It is about a ~ 1 minute walk from my apartment. Because of medical things, I generally check my mail AFTER dark, well into the early morning hours to escape the heat; unless I am *expecting* a laser, then I brave the heat and WAIT on the mailman like a starving pirate.

For the past 2 years, about mid-summer, this huge BIG FAT spider shows up. It tends to spin a web, right where people might run into it at night. Now, I generally carry a 100 kV stun gun with me at night, because some "mild to moderately" bad elements have moved in close to the neighborhood. I also have a 650 kV stun gun. Both manufactured by StunMaster in Austin Texas.

For the past 2 years, I have tried to electrocute that damn spider with BOTH the 100 kV and the 650 kV. Damn thing just gets stunned... and then the next night, IT IS SITTING IN IT'S WEB GRINNING AT PEOPLE. No worse for wear.

It hasn't shown up yet this year... maybe it died during the winter and went to spider heaven. BUT this year I have a 200mw green and a 300mw red...

lasersbee said:

Can you guess what we do with Lasers...

Jerry

Click to expand...

I wanted to guess but guessing can never be sure, and I would like to know multi ways of fun...

scopeguy20 said:

I test items like sapphires and rubies for florescence, and hunt for florescent minerals.
& Ignite fuses for pyrotech -Glenn

Click to expand...

Nice I am getting my first purple from Dave, I think it should arrive this week or the next, can't wait to test the florescent affects.

JBTexas said:

I have two LOW POWER (< 5mw) reds that I use for cat toys;

Click to expand...

Hey this cat thing is nice, I didn't know you can do that! now time to go back and take my red lasers out! I have one for like 20 years, and it uses 2AA, and used to cost like 1,000, I wonder if it will still work

InfinitusEquitas said:

LMAO! :crackup::crackup::crackup:

I haven't and to deal cockroaches, or seem one in my apartment in the last decade (if I see one, exterminator is coming next day) but I do hate bugs in general, so whenever I see one, lately I have been grabbing one of my lasers:eg:

So far I've found that any bugs with large carapaces/well developed exoskeletons are more or less immune to lasers.

By this I mean they usually fall down, or run away. They just don't hold still long enough for the laser beam to do anything

The best bug burner I have is the 405nm ~800mW laser focused to infinity, surprisingly works better than the 1W+ 445's:evil:

Click to expand...

Man, you are lucky, I go to China for business sometimes, and cockroaches are everywhere on the street, and sometimes even rats, but the rats are quite smart, especially the small one... I am not looking into killing rats thought (messy brain mass and guts...), only if they get into my garden, but they are usually long gone before I can find them, unless I am on my bike with some speed.

Somehow the rats are able to climb up to a 0.5 meter wall, I have no idea how they do it, but I saw it with my own eyes last time, that damn thing just ran up the wall when I try to corner it with my bike, but oh well, they get on trees sometimes too.

By the way, it's not so easy to shock insects because the electronic tend to find a better way to "escape" so you have to make sure the thing is in between two poles. I actually make myself a stun rode, with a metal paper clip in front, so I can slide it on the floor to chase the cockroaches to stun them... they only get shock/stun when they are in between the two metal pole sticks. I will see if I can post some pictures later :eg:

But even the stick I made are like half meter long, I think it's still not long enough... and I really don't want to touch the cockroaches. :knight:

By the way, FYI, when killing cockroaches, it's better not to splite it's guts all over the place, as I heard cockroaches are really dirty, and they got parasite living inside of them, and if you kill them by hand, some of the parasite might gets into you.... anyway, not a good idea to squeeze/squish them.

This was a pretty funny read (on the topic of bugs that suck).

Cool on Purpose: 5 Insects from Hell that aren't Cool on Purpose
(he corrects himself on calling spiders and centipedes insects at the end, btw)

Raise your hand of you watched Arachnophobia than went out got a can of deodorant spray and went nuts on an ant hill!


@JBT - I would have preferred spiders, but I REALLY don't like spiders. When I have to deal with one like like what you describe I'm more likely to use a pellet gun, or a dart. (I'm pretty good at darts)

As far as electricity goes... if the exoskeleton of the insect is conductive... that would explain that it is damn near impossible to electrocute them.

Some insects are OK. I always liked mantises.

But scorpions, spiders, ants... I grew up here, and we have black widows, brown recluses, fire ants, scorpions, yellow jackets... generally just have to avoid the bugs. I even take them away from my cat when one finds it's way inside... some beetle carapaces are mildy toxic.

I found my cat "PLAYING" with a scorpion once. I just about fainted.

Yellow jackets are pretty nasty for wasps... about midway up on a couple of official pain scales... and they are very mean and aggressive. Thats why the next yellow jacket nest that appears around here is going to be a target. Hopefully by then I will have a 405 and/or 445.

Here's kind of a fun and informative thing you can do.

Get your laser "focused to infinity" by using a far away object (a known building, landmark, etc.) While you are at it, use binoculars or a telescope and estimate the width of your "spot".

Find both your location and the target on Google Maps;
Google Maps

... then work out the distance of the beam path. There is a rough scale on Google Maps in the lower left corner. Click "Satellite" at the upper right to see a detailed image versus just a rough "street plan".

You can even check your divergance with these calculators against "generic" divergences for your laser type & wavelength. As above, use binoculars or a telescope on the "spot" on your target, estimate the spot's size.
pseudonomen137's JScript mRad Calculator
pseudonomen137's JScript Diameter Calculator

I "checked" my 200mw green Gatlin this way recently. Now I have 2 hi-power lasers, a 200mw green and a 300mw red.

I have a target about ~ 60+ meters away that I can use in the daytime (can see the green or red spot easily, but doesn't attract a lot of attention). I hit this target from my front door. This also gets both lasers VERY CLOSE to the ~ "infinity focus point".

Then, at nighttime, I have a target that is ~ 260+ meters away. I hit it from the sidewalk next to my apartment ... streight north, through the apartment complex, across a field, and then to a building that is in another part of the complex.

I find that the focus point for ~ 60+ and ~ 260+ meters requires only a VERY SMALL adjustment. This tells me that if I use the ~ 260+ target, then I am VERY CLOSE to the "true" infinity focus point.

Here are the maps of my areas (shrunk down to x=800), to give a better idea of what I am doing:

Daytime / rough infinity focus


Nighttime/ "final" infinity focus

SOG said:

Radio Meter?

Click to expand...

Radiometer....



YouTube - ‪Crookes radiometer - From Gyroscope.com‬‏


Jerry

JBTexas said:

Some insects are OK. I always liked mantises.

But scorpions, spiders, ants... I grew up here, and we have black widows, brown recluses, fire ants, scorpions, yellow jackets... generally just have to avoid the bugs. I even take them away from my cat when one finds it's way inside... some beetle carapaces are mildy toxic.

I found my cat "PLAYING" with a scorpion once. I just about fainted.

Yellow jackets are pretty nasty for wasps... about midway up on a couple of official pain scales... and they are very mean and aggressive. Thats why the next yellow jacket nest that appears around here is going to be a target. Hopefully by then I will have a 405 and/or 445.

Click to expand...

Don't worry, As far as I know... the poison from spiders and Scorpion only affect primates, so cats won't get poison from them... But please let me know if I am incorrect.

lasersbee said:

Radiometer....

YouTube - ‪Crookes radiometer - From Gyroscope.com‬‏


Jerry

Click to expand...

How does this thing work? I read online and it said "An example of a Crookes radiometer. The vanes rotate when exposed to light, with faster rotation for more intense light, providing a quantitative measurement of electromagnetic radiation intensity." so... it spin faster and rotate faster when the light is more intense, but then again, how do you do a so call "providing a quantitative measurement of electromagnetic radiation intensity." ?? just to see how fast it spin and compares ??


By the way, as I have search laser for pests controls, I found out the old search team from Bill Gate actually have developed a devices that will kill mosquito with laser, and it's for malaria (spelling?) controls. I am not sure where I can buy that, but it would be nice if I know where to get one and if it's like a hundred-rish, I might get one... Actually just got news from a friend last week saying he got Dengue fever, but I am glad he got no internal bleeding.

SOG; sorry I missed your post earlier (" radio meter " ? ); I was reading through the thread too quickly; I missed it among all of the quoting we were doing.

As to how a radiometer works; rather then attempt to explain it myself (I could do it, but it would be clumsy), maybe this link will help:
Radiometer - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
... which leads to other links, which may help.

Radiometers also spin in the presence of *HEAT*, in addition to light.

I can get mine to spin with a hair dryer set to LOW HEAT from across my kitchen (about 5-6 feet).

I used my radiometer recently to try to get a *rough estimate* as to how much / if any / IR was being spilled out of my 200mw green Gatlin (outside of the beam... I.E. a "cone"). I am not sure if that would be definitive. In any case, the radiometer ONLY spun when the green beam was ON the vanes (hard AND soft focused). When I moved the spot off of the vanes, the radiometer (eventually) stopped spinning. I take that to mean that, at least, no VAST amount of IR exists in a "cone" off of the collimated green beam.

=====

I'm glad to hear that about cats... I didn't know that cats are not effected (or little-effected) by spider and scorpion venom. I think I will research that. Maybe because of things from my childhood, I've always had a fascination with venomous things.

If you have a 240mW 660nm like I do, then you can use it for emergency signaling purposes on your boat. That's about the only practical application I have for the laser.

If you have a laser that pulses in the megawatt range over a wide spectrum of laser frequencies then NASA/JPL will pay you for it, put it on the latest rover and send it to Mars to vaporize rock at a distance of 30 feet for mineral analysis.

That laser will lift off for Mars this fall aboard the rover Curiosity.

Curiosity: the bigger, badder Mars Rover.