What mw is required to burn paper? Pop balloons? Light match? Any specific laser?

mdee4 · Dec 15, 2010

Im completely new to laser pointers and have no idea where to look or what to do. But....
What mw for a green laser is required to burn a piece of paper?
Light a match?
Pop balloons?

Any lasers you guys can link me to that can do this? I'd prefer if their $100 or less?

And what mw is safe for eyes? I know 150mw+, even if it just reflects into your eye it causes damage. What mw can I go up to without having to worry about it permanently damaging my eyes if it reflects off a surface and shines into my eyes real quick?

Thanks!

udanis · Dec 15, 2010

mdee4 said:
Im completely new to laser pointers and have no idea where to look or what to do. But....
What mw for a green laser is required to burn a piece of paper?
Light a match?
Pop balloons?

Any lasers you guys can link me to that can do this? I'd prefer if their $100 or less?

And what mw is safe for eyes? I know 150mw+, even if it just reflects into your eye it causes damage. What mw can I go up to without having to worry about it permanently damaging my eyes if it reflects off a surface and shines into my eyes real quick?

Thanks!

What color paper?
Around 50mw focused for a match and ballons.

Check out this post http://udanis.com/buy-lasers-online/ on my website that tells you where to buy them.
FDA says anything about 5mw can damage your eyes. Ir laser light can damage your eye further.

mdee4 · Dec 15, 2010

udanis said:
What color paper?
Around 50mw focused for a match and ballons.

Check out "where to buy lasers" link in my sig that will tell you where too.
FDA says anything about 5mw can damage your eyes. Ir laser light can damage your eye further.

Just regular white notebook paper. Could it burn that? What about newspaper?

Jollyrajer73 · Dec 15, 2010

If you are wanting the ability to light white paper on fire, I'd have to recommend getting a 1 Watt(1000mW) 445nm(blue) laser. They are anywhere from $200-$300 USD pre-built but if you have some know how and your not bad at soldering small components you can get all the parts you need for around $180 USD and build it on your own. If you're going to get/build one I would get some safety glasses FIRST! Remember NEVER EVER LOOK INTO THE LASER BEAM OR POINT IT AT ANYONE OR ANYTHING THAT HAS PEOPLE IN IT!(Im talking about airplanes, trains, cars... any vehicle. YOU WILL GO TO JAIL if you do so). I hope I was able to help!

Have fun but be safe! :wave:

mdee4 said:
Just regular white notebook paper. Could it burn that? What about newspaper?

mdee4 · Dec 15, 2010

Jollyrajer73 said:
If you are wanting the ability to light white paper on fire, I'd have to recommend getting a 1 Watt(1000mW) 445nm(blue) laser. They are anywhere from $200-$300 USD pre-built but if you have some know how and your not bad at soldering small components you can get all the parts you need for around $180 USD and build it on your own. If you're going to get/build one I would get some safety glasses FIRST! Remember NEVER EVER LOOK INTO THE LASER BEAM OR POINT IT AT ANYONE OR ANYTHING THAT HAS PEOPLE IN IT!(Im talking about airplanes, trains, cars... any vehicle. YOU WILL GO TO JAIL if you do so). I hope I was able to help! Have fun but be safe! :wave:

Thanks, but I'm looking more into the around $100 range. What exactly i the difference between green and blue lasers? Like why would I want a blue laser over a green one?

Jollyrajer73 · Dec 15, 2010

Well the color is your choice, but there is a major "cost to power ratio" difference with 532nm(green) vs 445(blue) when is comes to high power.You say you would like something that can burn white paper and it takes a lot of power to do this. Example: a 1W(1000mW) green 532nm laser that is portable would be much more then $2500+, on the other hand for $180-$250 you can get or build a 1W(1000mW) blue laser. With your budget unfortunately I dont think you will be able to buy anything that can burn notebook paper. It takes a lot of power to do that I'm not sure how much exactly. My guess would be at least 850mW. If I were you I'd save my money and get something that will do what you want, you will be much happier!

mdee4 said:
Thanks, but I'm looking more into the around $100 range. What exactly i the difference between green and blue lasers? Like why would I want a blue laser over a green one?

bootleg2go · Dec 15, 2010

Dinas said:
If you just use 532nm(green) to light a match,50 mw is at least.
But light a paper,it depend on the material and color of it.If black and pure cotton,you need a 300 mw laser.The output power be needed more if other paper.

Dinas,
Please stop SPAMMING this forum and giving bad advice.
50mw of 532nm will not light a match. It typically takes at least 150mw unless of course you are talking about the very cheap 50mw pointers that are actually IR pointers with 45mw of IR and 3-5mw of green.

goninanbl00d · Dec 15, 2010

bootleg2go said:
Dinas,
Please stop SPAMMING this forum and giving bad advice.
50mw of 532nm will not light a match. It typically takes at least 150mw unless of course you are talking about the very cheap 50mw pointers that are actually IR pointers with 45mw of IR and 3-5mw of green.

45mW of IR will not light a match either.

If 50mW of green can't light a match, how will 45mW of a much less energetic wavelength be able to?

Maybe when we're talking adding 45mW of IR on top of 50mW of green, it's more plausible.

50mW of green can in fact light a match, but only when focused. There's the catch- most pointers and handhelds can't be focused, or not easily, at the very least.

Flaminpyro · Dec 15, 2010

I'll say 50mW of 405nm for black paper and 100mW+ for light colored paper.

mdee4 · Dec 15, 2010

Hey what happens if you shine a 40mw green laser pointer through a prism? Im thinking of getting this prism.... https://www.optotronics.com/proddetail.php?prod=p-0001
But im only getting the prism if it'll make the laser shoot in all sorts of different directions and doc cool stuff.... Will this prism or prisms like this make the laser do cool things. Are there any videos of this!?

bootleg2go · Dec 15, 2010

mdee4 said:
Hey what happens if you shine a 40mw green laser pointer through a prism? Im thinking of getting this prism.... https://www.optotronics.com/proddetail.php?prod=p-0001
But im only getting the prism if it'll make the laser shoot in all sorts of different directions and doc cool stuff.... Will this prism or prisms like this make the laser do cool things. Are there any videos of this!?

That prism will disperse white light into it's color components, but with a single color like green, it will only change the angle of the beam.
If you want lots of patterns, order one of our diffraction grating sets.
Optotronics Product Details
These are only $4, but we do have a $20 minimum on our website, but if you're planning on ordering a pointer as well that wouldn't be a problem.

mdee4 · Dec 15, 2010

bootleg2go said:
If you want lots of patterns, order one of our diffraction grating sets.
Optotronics Product Details
These are only $4, but we do have a $20 minimum on our website, but if you're planning on ordering a pointer as well that wouldn't be a problem.

How do you use this? How exactly does this work? Is there a video or image of this!?

007247 · Mar 13, 2011

I saw a video on youtube of a 50mw IR laser burning through and cutting electrical tape. As far as I know, I don't think I could get this burning power out of a 50mw blu-ray laser diode. I guess it's because the IR diode could be focused to a finer point. Would one of these 50mw IR lasers with an output power of 50mw and operating current of 100ma light a match if focused properly? if so, I would love to use this in some DIY projects.

Ash · Mar 13, 2011

007247 said:
I saw a video on youtube of a 50mw IR laser burning through and cutting electrical tape. As far as I know, I don't think I could get this burning power out of a 50mw blu-ray laser diode. I guess it's because the IR diode could be focused to a finer point. Would one of these 50mw IR lasers with an output power of 50mw and operating current of 100ma light a match if focused properly? if so, I would love to use this in some DIY projects.

Totally wrong. A 405nm laser burns much better than an IR (808nm~1064nm) for most materials as bluray can be focused to a finer point than the IR (405nm is twice as small as 808nm).
A 50mW bluray (focused) will absolutely light a match, so will a focused (IR-filtered pure) 532nm green [must be a black-tipped /or sharpied/ match]. A 50mW red will have a difficult time (even when focused) lighting a match successfully.
The standard for lighting matches with red or IR is usually ~200mW.
For all these lasers, you need to use safety glasses if you want to look at the spot of burning without damaging your vision.

007247 · Mar 13, 2011

Thanks, I knew something was up when I saw that video and read the description. I do use safety glasses with this stuff. I was just hopeful because I could get 5 50mw IR lasers with built in drivers for 35bucks.

AmadeusMop · Apr 25, 2012

Hmm. Anyone know what wattage is required for an LIPC?

What mw is required to burn paper? Pop balloons? Light match? Any specific laser?

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