beginner try to make is own laser !

hello,

i buy a green laser on ebay (5 mw 532nm) and i like it, after I found this cool website. I see many of you make your own laser and I want to try too, I would like to have a 1w laser.

I know i need battery , diode and driver but do I need lents or anything else ?

do you have trick to make one low cost (for the first time) ?

tanks,

yougine

look around, do some searches. nobody is going to want to take the time to explain what has already been explained.

yougine said:

hello,

i buy a green laser on ebay (5 mw 532nm) and i like it, after I found this cool website. I see many of you make your own laser and I want to try too, I would like to have a 1w laser.

I know i need battery , diode and driver but do I need lents or anything else ?

do you have trick to make one low cost (for the first time) ?

tanks,

yougine

Click to expand...

I also say this alot...but

1W of 532nm is not going to be cheap, are you also aware of the dangers?

Just do a lot of research. There are plenty of great tutorials on this site as it is. Once you understand the basics a little better and have more specific questions feel free to PM me.

yougine said:

I know i need battery , diode and driver but do I need lents or anything else ?

Click to expand...

Safety goggles.

If you want to make a 1W green laser you're going to have to do a lot of research and put in quite a bit of money.

If you want to burn stuff go with a blue laser thats 1W+ you'll be more satisfied for the amount you spend.

Tbh green lasers at 5mW-20mW hurt my eyes. So if youre going for a 1W green (or any laser 25mW+ [or i guess any laser for that matter]) I have to second the safety goggles recommendation by djQUAN.

Agreeable 100%. Better quality, certified laser goggle is a MUST for Class IV (4) lasers, especially with the green ones, or the blue diode for this matter.

I do admit I have an uncertified laser goggle but it's fine for 70mW laser I have (520nm handheld laser), I got HDE red plastic goggle from Amazon ($9.99) and it did well in reducing 70mW light into sub 1mW light. Still, spend more on better laser goggle, your eyeballs will thank you.

And, secondly, building your own 1 Watt green laser is nearly impossible, from what I know: it's tricky to cool 3 watts IR laser required for the frequency-doubling setup (Nd : YAG + KTP), and the alignment for the KTP's polarization preference is going to be painful. And, it's very expensive. You're better off getting a multi-mode 445nm blue laser diode and be done with. And for either 1 W green or blue laser, better Li-ion batteries are a strict must (that means NO TrustFire or whatever-fire), for the sake of safety - I spent $20 on my pair of A123 Li : FePO4 18650 batteries, and I felt better having it in my laser.

EDIT: I forgot to add one more thing.... 70mW laser light from my 520nm true green diode laser is stupid bright without my goggle on, I personally do not want to know what 1 Watt light would look like. (If you have done TIG welding before, it comes extremely close to that.) IMO, for the beginner, 5mW is more than enough; consider this the laser with a set of training wheels. That is, until you are more familiar with it and have enough respect, you can go with higher energy laser.

its because i buy a laser with Rechargeable battery and I buy 5 other spare battery buy the laser got stuck at the customs and i have 5 Ultrafire 16340 CR123A 880mAh 3.7V battery but no laser

i want to make something with it !


1w laser is probably too much but I found this one one ebay
One High Burning Power 1watt 1000mW 808nm to 5 9mm Laser Diode Gift | eBay
with this 1w diode he give a free 100mw diode

with this driver
808nm 100 1000mW Laser Diode Driver Reverse Protection | eBay

I just want to see the laser beam is not obligated to be ultra powerful.

tanks,

yougine said:

its because i buy a laser with Rechargeable battery and I buy 5 other spare battery buy the laser got stuck at the customs and i have 5 Ultrafire 16340 CR123A 880mAh 3.7V battery but no laser

i want to make something with it !


1w laser is probably too much but I found this one one ebay
One High Burning Power 1watt 1000mW 808nm to 5 9mm Laser Diode Gift | eBay
with this 1w diode he give a free 100mw diode

with this driver
808nm 100 1000mW Laser Diode Driver Reverse Protection | eBay

I just want to see the laser beam is not obligated to be ultra powerful.

tanks,

Click to expand...

That's an IR diode. Yes, its very powerful but you will only be able to see a small red dot. No beam at all. Its especially dangerous since its so powerful yet you can't actually see the beam. I do not suggest that. Check out DTR's laser shop.

Ok, fair enough. However, 808nm is Infrared, you can't see it, at least not well enough (I can see 808nm laser light faintly, and even 405nm looks blue to me. XP) - I would be uneasy letting the beginners tinker with 808nm laser diodes, and 1 Watt 808nm diode you showed in the link will incinerate anything easily (except for metal, glass and some plastics).

And, I would ditch UltraFire batteries, way too much documented disasters. A genuine Panasonic Li-ion battery is a bit expensive but will last surprisingly long - a cheap insurance. For higher powered handheld laser, I would recommend 18650 and 26650 as they are more forgivable towards Ampere rating required by the driver and diode altogether.

Lastly, are you comfortable with soldering? If not, you can buy one off the member sellin' here. Goggle first (policy).

FlutterPie said:

That's an IR diode. Yes, its very powerful but you will only be able to see a small red dot. No beam at all. Its especially dangerous since its so powerful yet you can't actually see the beam. I do not suggest that. Check out DTR's laser shop.

Click to expand...

Oooh tank you I will try to read a little bit more about laser but im a canadian french and is dificult to understand all the information :/

DrMario said:

Ok, fair enough. However, 808nm is Infrared, you can't see it, at least not well enough (I can see 808nm laser light faintly, and even 405nm looks blue to me. XP) - I would be uneasy letting the beginners tinker with 808nm laser diodes, and 1 Watt 808nm diode you showed in the link will incinerate anything easily (except for metal, glass and some plastics).

And, I would ditch UltraFire batteries, way too much documented disasters. A genuine Panasonic Li-ion battery is a bit expensive but will last surprisingly long - a cheap insurance. For higher powered handheld laser, I would recommend 18650 and 26650 as they are more forgivable towards Ampere rating required by the driver and diode altogether.

Lastly, are you comfortable with soldering? If not, you can buy one off the member sellin' here. Goggle first (policy).

Click to expand...

ok I found a wavelenght chart if i want to see the beam i need a laser diode
between 400nm and 700 nm ? can we see easily a yellow laser beam ?

Here's a link to get you started: https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diodes - I would recommend reading a bit first.

And I would recommend checking with your Canadian laws - I am not sure the module as-is would be allowed. In the USA, however, it's not illegal to own a powerful laser but importing one is. (Still boggles my mind since there are extremely powerful diodes in extremely fast disc drives.) * Recently checked - you're good.

EDIT: There's no yellow diode but there is DPSS ($$$), however, the nice green 520nm diode is a smack dab in eye sensitivity area (560 - 500nm). And if you're wondering - 555nm is "Electric Yellow", Golden green. 532nm DPSS and 520nm diode is pretty much visible to eyes, you can see the beam in the dark for 5mW. (70mW is powerful but I can see the 520nm Emerald Green laser beam easily. Looks like almost translucent beam.)