new to lasers

After seeing a few videos I got really interested in building my own laser. I would like to build a reliable one that would be able to burn things(without having to wait 10 seconds) from about ten feet away. As an almost complete n00b to electronics and lasers i'm having a hard time choosing what to do.
please someone let me know what i can do with a 200 dollar budget. if there is a thread for this and i have not seen it, I am sorry. Please direct me to it.

One suggestion for you, start with this sticky....some of the threads have become very long and convoluted but the good information is there.
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1190456606

With $200 to spend you can make life very interesting by investing in the following.
(this assumes that as a newbie you are starting from scratch)

soldering iron and solder
Digital voltmeter
Breadboard (for testing circuits
Small side cutters
Small pair of long nose pliers
Set of jewlers screwdrivers
Spare pair of hands..(I think it is called) croc clips and magnifier on a stand.

For the build itself go to
http://stonetek.org/

On the sales page you will find

Good quality laser diodes
Aixiz modules
Kits for Deadel LM317 circuit
Host torch

You should still have change to spend on your next project

....Oh and welcome to the forum

Regards rog8811

thanks a lot man. hopefully i can figure this stuff out.