Noob Questions

Hey guys,

Iv been reading up on all the information scattered around the site.

I'm currently located in Australia and over here our laws don't permit us from having any lasers above 5mw unless we are licensed.
Due to this fact i cannot order lasers from International sites as customs will seize them.

So now i need to build my own laser, the laser i want is more leaned towards range rather than burning as i need it for hunting.
I see a lot of tutorials/videos are based on building burning lasers which im not in the need of in the moment.

So my question is how abouts can i go building such a laser, is this the same as a burning laser except it just needs to be focused a little differently? And in any case which kind of diode would give me excellent range? I dont mind smashing open a dvd player for one =]
Any help would be much appreciated.

The "burning" lasers you see are simply higher powered diodes. The higher the power, the greater hte range, and visibility - depending on focus and divergence. If you are using it for hunting, a lower powered one would be less likely to spook your quarry - and at night, makes it almost untraceable back to the source (you). A higher powered one will increase the visibility of both the dot on your target, as well as the origin of the dot - YOU ! so - as long as you are merely hunting tin-cans, soda-pop bottles, and other inanimate prey - a higher powered one would be just fine. One thing to take into account is the caliber of your weapon - the recoil, and shock of firing it can and will destroy many cheaper built lasers, so you need to plan on making every contact perfect, and shock proof if at all possible. I don't make lasers for gun-mounts, so I couldn't tell you how to do it, beyond making sure that you have the laser isolated from the source of shock, I would think. Hope that clears up a little bit of the murky waters for you - if not, keep at it, there are tons of folks on here that love to help out others !

onb000st said:

I'm currently  located in Australia and over here our laws don't permit us from having any lasers above 5mw unless we are licensed.
Due to this fact i cannot order lasers from International sites as customs will seize them.

Click to expand...

Which state are you in? I've seen many people from various states order lasers and I have yet to see a SINGLE case of someone having their laser seized.

I for one am in ACT, and have had no customs problems with my high power lasers

Murudai said:

[quote author=onb000st link=1210880905/0#0 date=1210880905]
I'm currently located in Australia and over here our laws don't permit us from having any lasers above 5mw unless we are licensed.
Due to this fact i cannot order lasers from International sites as customs will seize them.

Click to expand...

Which state are you in? I've seen many people from various states order lasers and I have yet to see a SINGLE case of someone having their laser seized.

I for one am in ACT, and have had no customs problems with my high power lasers [/quote]


Well im in sydney, and with all the updated laws i didnt want to fork out a decent amount of money and receive nothing in return because someone at the post thinks im upto no good.

Is there a full tutorial for making one of these things from start to end, iv read the FAQ which has helped me to an extent but i wouldnt know where to start :'( , iv been checking the jaycar website, the seem to have everything i need to build a laser, do you know of any better stores, dicksmith maybe?

And btw is it possible to use one of the 1MW Laser Modules from jaycar, but i take it its limited to 1MW as its title implies, or is their a way around this?

If you want a high powered laser check this thread. Here's a video tutorial.
Get a dorcy junior and a laser diode pre-installed in an aixiz mudule.
Finally, you're going to want to get a resistor, but its resistance is up to you.

If you are worried about customs go the "kit of parts" route, buy your stuff from SenKat, ask him if he will  pack the laser module inside the host body, where the batteries go,  then It can be sent to you as a torch.

If you have the LD pre-installed in the module the rest is easy enough as long as you read up what to do and work sensibly, all the info is here on this forum.

A burning laser and a long range laser are more or less the same thing, you just focus them differently

Regards rog8811

SenKat_Stonetek said:

The "burning" lasers you see are simply higher powered diodes. The higher the power, the greater hte range, and visibility - depending on focus and divergence. If you are using it for hunting, a lower powered one would be less likely to spook your quarry - and at night, makes it almost untraceable back to the source (you). A higher powered one will increase the visibility of both the dot on your target, as well as the origin of the dot - YOU ! so - as long as you are merely hunting tin-cans, soda-pop bottles, and other inanimate prey - a higher powered one would be just fine.

Click to expand...

Easy to solve. Make an adjustable driver so you can adjust the intensity such that it is just visible for any amount of daylight