With the Arctic out and 1W lasers readily available, I figure I'm gonna make a YouTube build tutorial using one of the kits sold here on LPF. I'm looking for a build kit that will have a significant price difference between the DIY build and the Arctic so that there is benefit in building instead of buying. So kit builders, I'm looking for the right kit.

Some other things:
I need the kit seller to readily keep their item in stock, as well as plan on selling these kits for a while. Nothing is more annoying than a YouTube tutorial that has a irreplaceable part that is no longer available. An order page would be nice but not needed.

A built in driver is nice, but if it's gonna cost a lot more I can just as easily link to a flexdrive. I'll also just link to the Aixiz 445nm glass lens, let's hope they will ship fast now.

Again, Price. I have to have it low enough that people will choose to build their laser instead of just buying an Arctic for $200. Factor in the price of goggles and diode in total price.

I would prefer a host with at least decent heatsinking so duty cycles aren't that short, the host doesn't need to be a beast though.

An easier build would be nice, I want my video to be easy to follow.

Do you know of any stores that will constantly stock A140 diodes?

If you think you have the right kit for my video, post here or PM me. I need this video to be really good.

Running low on money? I personally don't think being able to get hold of a DIY 1W laser any cheaper than the artic, will benefit anyone apart from 12 years olds who want a new burning "lazor". Getting hold of the information on LPF is harder than just watching a youtube video.

Stop trying to make cash at the expense of the hobby, it's quite clear your only making the video for views.

No offense styropyro, but it sounds like a bad idea to me. This info is already fairly easy to come by, and less-than-intelligent people can already easily enough find it. With YouTube seeing so much traffic, it would just make it to easy for them to just watch the video, take some cash from mommy's purse, order parts and blind themselves.

I don't know if half of that made sense, I'm really tired, but I think it would be a bad idea to make potentially dangerous information so readily available to anyone in the world, most of whom, let's be honest, are not quite all there and would only want a new burning "lazor" as Asherz said and wouldn't do any research at all in regards to the proper and safe way to use and enjoy it.

Bad idea bud, sorry

Well...my theory is that if someone is going to go through the trouble of building one, they will be safer than someone who just clicks the "buy" button on WL's site and goes from there. That way they are kinda forced to do some reading, and then from there they will see how to handle it safely. I wouldn't be thinking of a video like this if WL didn't make the Arctic, but now that you can buy it not knowing anything, I might as well do something where a little safety can be learned.

See what I mean? If this still sounds like a bad idea to you guys then I won't make it.

I vote jayrob's MXDL. Meduim size, cheap, very popular!

I recently spent a lot of time pricing kits from some of the host providers on this site. There are basically 3 routes: 1) buy everything yourself and machine/make the parts yourself, 2) buy a "kit" from someone on the site who prepares the hosts and machines the heatsinks, etc, 3) buy a pre-built laser.

1 is cheapest but then you have to order everything from different sources (host, module, lenses, driver, diode, etc). WIth 2, you pay more but everything can come from one source and the heatsink etc will already be machined and ready to go. These one-stop-shops (flaminpyro, jayrob, et al) charge a bit of a premium over the buy-it-yourself but its not much more (on the order of maybe ~$10 more).

what is interesting is option 3. based on some of the 445 lasers that have sold in the BST section, you can actually buy one all done for around what it would cost to do it yourself. mine you it will be "used" and you will have no control over what parts were used etc. with a BIY you can pick and choose what you want (lens, driver, host, focus, etc).

i recently purchased an SH302 kit from both FP and JR because i want to do a comparison how-to and review of each. when all was said and done, the final cost averaged out to about $220US each (includes focus ring and expensive glass lens). thats for all the parts but a BIY (build it yourself). That is cheaper than the Arctic and now especially that the price will go up to $300US ($330 with shipping).

So its nice to have choices. but it can be confusing. for example the driver choices are a bit confusing. i am hoping that my plan for a comparative build/review post will help clear up some of the confusion. but that wont come for a month or so because FP and JR have a ~2 week waiting list and then there is shipping time and then i have to build and document.

I think if you bought all the parts yourself, you could do it for $200. you'd still need the machined parts from a person that can do that kind of work unless you can do that yourself. if you could do the whole thing yourself, its possible to put one together for...

SS302 host: $35
aixis module: $5
445 diode: $50
driver: $25
lens: $15 (like an aixis 405 glass)
heat sink raw materials: $10 (im guessing because this would be a challenge to find just a small piece of stock)
combined shipping: $20

$160ish

that to me would be the cheapest it could be done for, give or take. with the build kits i ordered i also opted for a focus ring ~$20 and jayrob's glass lens $55. so those add $75, pushing it into the same cost as buying everything from FP, JR, etc. so i don't see the benefit of a complete DIY/BIY. better to get all the parts from one source.

Would it be safe for the seller to get that much attention?

i have to get something off my chest. maybe this is the right thread for it...

all this hullabaloo about the Arctic and 1W visible lasers... back in the mid 80s i started out as a laser hobbyist putting together a 10mW HeNe. basically the same kind of thing as today where you get all the parts and stick them together and you have a laser (but unlike actually making a laser from scratch, which i personally in awe over). back then, when i made my 10mW laser, the people around me were very scared of it. just the idea that it was a laser and remember the only place most people saw a laser was in sci fi.

the whole laser hobbyist thing back then was HeNe's and gas lasers. I have a friend that got a dead 5W argon for free and restored it and got it working.

Then after many years solid state lasers came to be with the little near-infrared laser diodes and pointers. and it evolved and evolved. so here we are, now we have a 1W 445nm laser diode. so what?

do you think it will end there? no. there are already experimental >5W visible laser diodes. so this whole idea of a laser that can hurt someone actually goes back many decades. you could buy a >5mW HeNe laser tube, surplus, and build a PSU for it back in the late '70s. and that is a laser that could cause eye damage.

Granted the difference between then and now is higher power, cheaper prices, more availability. oh wait, that isn't any different than before. see my point. just let it go. lasers are going to get smaller, more powerful and cheaper and more readily available.

right now its pretty easy to put together the "leading edge" in affordable laser technology for <$200. i don't see any reason not to make a youtube video showing how and in fact i wouldn't be surprised if there isn't already a bunch of them. its not secret, nor is it difficult.

Styropyro, it's a good idea, but there's a problem.. The main problem is finding a constant supply of 445nm diodes. You could easily direct the viewers over the the GB and BST sections here at LPF, but after that there's not much else to 'teach' the viewers. Maybe I'm thinking the average YouTuber is smarter than they actually are. As everyone here knows, all that's required is buying a host with a heatsink (anyone of jayrob's would be fine), buying a driver (drlava's drivers are easy) and buying a diode. Jayrob provides plenty of info how to put his host together in each of his FS threads. drlava has some excellent PDF manuals which show how to use the flexdrive and microboostdrive.

I know that ou are trying to get people to make there own laser instead of buying from WL. If someone is already smart enough to make their own laser, they won't need the video. If someone has never made a laser before, starting out making a 1W 445nm lasre isn't a very good idea.

Just my $0.02

Anyways, if you do make the video I hope it works and prevents more people from buying an Arctic

Edit, you could also forget about the driver and just make it direct-drive. Just make sure you state over and over that they have to use the correct battery type.

the other way to look at it is outside of 445. go 405. you can get what, 500-700mW out of a 12x 405 diode. the problem here is the <$140 price for the diode or the blu-ray drive to harvest it. but it doesn't seem that difficult to get a powerful diode. I just googled "445nm laser diode" and the first few hits would get a person connected to a source.

also the fact that you can sell these diodes for <$45 makes buying a projector and harvesting the diodes profitable. so as long as people can buy these projectors i dont think it will be a challenge to get the diodes.

i think the bottom line is that anyone who gets the bug in their head to build one or is simply interested in getting a 445nm laser, would end up fairly quickly in this forum and then end up with all the info and parts they need.

making a youtube video would be very helpful however to show how all the parts go together. maybe when i get my FP and JR kits i will video the process as well and post it on youtube.

If you ever do that video, please include the googles as a mandatory item.

Building a laser from all these parts for the first time must include a safety protection for eyes at least and skin at best.

the information, as mentioned, is not difficult to come by. this is a good chance, however, for us to control the way in which people are exposed to the information. put safety info etc in the video. also it sounds interchangeable. you could just as easily make a more beginner video with a safer diode like a red.

Not a 100% fair comparison. The Arctic does include battery, charger and goggles. The goggles alone make the Arctic a bargain.

The free goggles WickedLasers includes with their lasers are crap.

I'm sorry but that's very contradictory, the price is cheaper, there is more availability and the power is ALOT higher, it's completely different than before.

Yes A 10mW He-ne could cause some eye damage, maybe a slight dark spot if your unlucky but a 1W 445nm laser will literally burst your pupil, cause excruciating pain and completely blind you, even reflections from a window at around 4% is more than 4 times the amount your He-ne outputted in power.

Not to mention the added ability of easy ordering online now a days and instant accsess to information. There is no comparison between a He-ne and a 1W 445nm, apart from they're both lasers.

Alright I'm gonna tackle these quotes in a mega post. To save space I'll cut them down if needed.

Definitely a great kit, would be great for a 445nm build. I'm just posting this thread here to ask for a builder who is willing to keep up with the demand, and I don't know if JayRob would want this or not.

I can't quote this whole post, but I am leaning for a kit so the video is easier to follow. I didn't know the Arctic price was going up, but that leaves more room for price on the kit. I'm just trying to persuade people to try their hand at building their own laser and learn some safety instead of just buying one.

It really depends on how they advertise their item IIRC. I'm posting here to find the builder that is OK with the publicity.

This is what I'm thinking. Granted, I wasn't around in the 70's to watch laser technology progress, but it still does follow the same idea. I could build a 40W IR laser for not much more than the Arctic and THAT would be dangerous, but there hasn't really been a problem with the cheap IR lasers either.

I was hoping a store like HTD or Modwerx would carry these diodes constantly because they could profit from it.

Definitely, and when they are here they can learn a little safety.

A safety section of this video will be included, with links to good goggles and I'll write a separate safety article and link to that.

I do have videos for both violet and red lasers:
YouTube - DIY: How to Make a High Powered Burning Blue/Violet Laser Pointer
YouTube - DIY: How to Build a Burning Red Laser

And yes, safety will be burned into the viewers head when this video is watched.



I know a laser like this is very dangerous, but the goal of this tutorial is safety. The whole point of this video is to prevent buying a prebuilt 445 and build their own, and learn safety along the way. Viewers are gonna have questions, they aren't gonna get all they need from the video. Otherwise they will just order an Arctic and not know much safety at all, so this is a chance to teach safety.


Edit: I also feel the need to address this one:
I've been making laser videos for 3 years, long before I started making money from YouTube. My most popular tutorials were made before I had made a cent, I made those just for the fun of teaching others, so are my 50+ lasers videos on YouTube causing an "expense" of the hobby? It is awesome getting paid for my hobby, but I still do enjoy helping others. I get so many emails every day on YouTube from n00bs needing help, and I answer nearly everyone. Whether I answer emails doesn't benefit me or pay me, I do it to because I like showing others this cool hobby.

Just one pet peeve: when you take a laser diode, driver, host, etc and bung it all together and turn it on, you haven't actually built a laser. you've assembled a laser. i say this to differentiate it from actually building a laser which to me means making one from scratch, vis a vis Successful DIY CO2 laser, made from scratch!

It might seem like semantics, but I dont really see anything very complex about soldering some wires, measuring some current and flipping a switch. then again, maybe i am jadded back back in the day when someone said they "built a laser" they meant from scratch, like the guy above. I've seen all manner of gas and solid state lasers built from scratch at the university I went to where they would dope materials and excite using IR CO2 lasers and latter solid state pumping. not to mention some of the ruby laser experiments.

Build vs assemble.

Just semantics.
Its always possible to go lower. Like saying "I built my house!". Did you dig the materials, make the bricks, make the cement, cut up the trees, etc? Probably not. Just like people say "I built my computer!" which is less complicated than the average "some assembly required" childrens toy. There should probably be some sort of defined number of minimum parts combined to consider something being built vs assembled, but oh well. I sort of draw the line at, if all the pieces were purchased as a kit, then you "assembled a kit", thats just a personal definition though.

ah I didnt realise you were one of those big youtube tycoons

i've made youtube vids before, not with the intent of views, but its annoying they get so few. and no wonder, if i type in the exact title it ends up 6 pages down lol. its some big conspiracy against me.
your vids look nice though, straight to the point and good quality. I always end up with the vid of some douche who takes a good 5minutes inbetween things to explain things in a longwinded way that i could sum up in seconds.

So far my black 18650 kit has been readily available...

I got behind on orders when I got hit with a lot of orders at once, and had to wait on DX shipping. But I have stocked up on hosts now... (just need to get caught up)

But I recommend this kit because of it's versatility... The host has a final retaining ring that allows easy access to the heatsink set screw in case you need to make adjustments in the module position to adjust your lens/focus adapter position at focus.

It also makes an easy access to replace the diode if ever needed.

The only problem with making a video tutorial, is that there a lot of options with the kit!

Perhaps just the most recommended options or something...
http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/fs...red-43857.html

The main thing I would ask if you end up making your build video about this kit, is to be sure and make it very clear that 'jayrob does not sell laser diodes'... But the kits are basically just a flashlight with a heatsink. And that the buyer must get thier own laser diode to build it into a laser...

I used to attempt explaining my videos myself instead of using subtitles, but I would get confused and say things that didn't make sense. So after failing miserably with that I just record everything at first and type everything later. Then I can stop myself from rambling on and on.


I knew your kits were great, I just wasn't sure you would want the extra orders and publicity. Now that I know you are cool with that, I think I'm good to go. With the new price of the Arctics, your kit looks great. In my video I will make sure it is more of buying a flashlight to hack instead of buying a laser kit.

I'm planning on using a flexdrive and I saw this:
"You could fit a FlexDrive inside the pill, but then you would have to let me know you would like me to drill out the top of the pill and leave the heatsink a little longer. ($10 dollars extra) But there is room for the driver on top of the pill..."

So is it $10 extra if I want to use it for a flexdrive?

In the video I think I'm gonna go with the basic kit, but I'll link here so the viewers can choose if they want any extra options.

Give me a few days to earn some funds to buy this kit, I'm a little low on funds after paying for new brake lines on my car (my brakes went out on me...that was interesting lol). Anybody want some PHR-803T sleds??

I wrote that because the host will fit a FlexDrive or a Micro BoostDrive on top of the pill...

But if you wanted to mount the driver inside the pill, I would drill out the top of the pill, and leave the heatsink a little longer for an extra $10 bucks. (recommended)

When mounting the driver on top of the pill, there is room. But you may need to clip the long pins on a 445 diode in half. And also bend the wires over after you heat shrink them. (bend wires, not pins)

IMHO if we really want to ensure safety with this video the goggles must be required.
By required I mean the kit/host & heatsink will not be sold unless you buy goggles along with it or post a pic of goggles with your username.

We have to remember a lot people think they are invincible or they can be careful & we are over reacting. Teenagers feel invincible as an effect of their neurological development not actually being complete. Its a problem we should take into account.

A youtube vid directing people here will bring morons & kids along with the others.
Who wants to read "10 year old girl blinded by laser her brother ordered from LaserPointerForums.com as a kit. Kid said he ordered the laser because it can set magazines on fire & burn holes in plastic"

"If it doesn't burn a hole in the wall then it's okay for my eyes." *cute little smile*

Sure this can still happen if goggles are required but we still need to do the best we can to ensure safety.
Personally I would like to see a kit with a microcontroller lock. Everett's is open source & ready to go 445nm Pointer build with Laser Lock security system

This post became longer then I intended & is starting to feel like a rant... It is not intended as a rant & not meant to be directed toward Jayrob's kits.

I'm attempting to keep the 445nm diodes in stock. using the A130 diodes. I'm not so sure how long I'll be selling these though.

-Kendall

If laser videos had not been on YouTube, I may not have found this place. However, the niggle I have with this idea is that it may be teaching people to build rather than just spend cash, and that may lead to learning about safety but is a 445nm, 1W laser really one for the beginner? I personally don't think so. I also feel the ones who know this will come here through other means, or likely are already here, and the ones that don't will be buying prebuilt anyway.

This is no rant either and I cast no aspersions on those developing a partnership but I had the spare change so threw my 2 cents this way.

M