Hello from Germany

Hello all,

I'm almost new to lasers except for having one to play with my cat and having some laser christmas lights.

I'm very interested in any technical things and although I don't have very much time (having an old house and a child) I'm already eager to learn something new.

I'll probably make a Sanwu my first laser. The Spiker 7W looks very interesting. I know it's (probably) the one with the highest power right now and I could start with a smaller one. But I think if I spent so much money it should be the best one you can get. Or are there any alternatives?

Bye
FastLaser

Welcome to LPF, FastLaser!
As you've already mentioned, that's one of the most powerful lasers that you can buy, and I would recommend that you start with something less powerful.
You can buy a high quality laser with a lower power, and get familiar with higher power lasers, besides you can usually have more fun with something that won't set everything it touches on fire.

No matter what you decide on, please buy some appropriate safety glasses/goggles; I would recommend looking at these, Safety Goggles, from Survival Lasers.

Another great Company to look at when you purchase, is Jetlasers, IMO, they're one of the best out there!

Have fun, be safe, and enjoy your stay here.

PS - Thanks for posting a welcome message!

Welcome FastLaser, to the forum.

A Spiker 7 watt is just about as good as it gets. They are awesome units, (own one) but may I suggest as your first laser you get one that has unlimited duty cycle. That way it's a little more user friendly and you don't have to watch how long you keep it on. The Spiker 5 watt is an awesome unit itself it has unlimited duty cycle and the divergence is a little better ( tighter beam) and it still is a awesome burner. A thought anyways.

Once again welcome and be safe. Grab a extra pair of safety glasses for a friend so they can burn stuff with you ( just not the neighbors cat) welcome and be safe.


Edit, sorry BowtieGuy got to learn to leave the cats out of it.

I wouldn't go for a 7W laser as your first. Maybe start with something in the 2-3 watt range first. The Sanwu 7W has a limited duty cycle and no warranty on diode failure or something like that.

Welcome to LPF

Hi and welcome enjoy your stay at LPF and be safe

Rich

Hello and welcome.

You can blind yourself with a 1 watt laser just as you can with a 7 watt laser and actually the divergence of the 3 watt laser makes it just as dangerous at 100 feet as the 7 watt laser. NDB7875 diode vs. NUBM44 diode, over twice the power with 3 times the divergence.

So you must have the appropriate safety glasses that attenuate the wavelength you are working with.

What's most important is understanding the possibility of harming someone else, you must be aware of others and never allow your beam to enter a window or disturb an aircraft or vehicle, or pass through the brush and end up in someone's yard.

Really a 0.5 watt 405nm is just as dangerous at 100 meters as the 7 watt 450nm because of the divergence, but learning about the gap that safety glasses can have at the bridge of your nose is done the best with a low power laser.

My point is we must be cautious with them all, always carry pointed in a safe direction even when turned off, never work on a laser with the batteries inside, common sense things that can be forgotten, but even a 50mw green laser can hurt your eyes so really if you are safety conscious then why not research how to get the most for your money.

If you want a bright laser to see the beam then the green 520 is a good choice, if you want to write on wood then the 3w laser is a good choice because of it's high energy density.

But my point is we have to be careful with them all, and the stronger ones also have wider divergence.

Welcome. Everything I was going to say has already been said. The divergence on the 7 watt is terrible and you would be happier with a 3 watt NDB7875, as it has a much tighter beam. At less than 100 feet the NDB7875 is still a beam while the 7 watt is a fanned out flashlight looking thing. Everyone who comes to lasers goes for the highest power, not realizing there are other factors involved.

Hello

-Alex

Welcome to LPF, you can't go wrong with Sanwu. Nothing but excellent construction and quality from them. I'll add to the poll and tell you to get proper goggles, better than losing an eye

Regardless of thread intent, i will take this opportunity to share a warning;

1 watt blue laser pointer:



Link: http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/hit-eye-1000mw-445nm-blue-laser-69469.html

This guy is still walking around like this. Like to see your laser beam? You have two chances of doing it wrong, but after that you won't. This guy used one of them up.

Alaskan said:

Regardless of thread intent, i will take this opportunity to share a warning;

1 watt blue laser pointer:

Link: http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/hit-eye-1000mw-445nm-blue-laser-69469.html

This guy is still walking around like this. Like to see your laser beam? You have two chances of doing it wrong, but after that you won't. This guy used one of them up.

Click to expand...

I think this is a very scary and informative post. Think it should be made a sticky. Severe eye damage can happen instantaneously. No "do over's" eyes don't grow back. A reminder to myself that what our hobby is, can be very dangous. Thanks for re- posting this thread Alaskan. :bowdown:

Hey Bob, the link that Alaskan gave is already a sticky "http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/hit-eye-1000mw-445nm-blue-laser-69469.html"

Edit: Nevermind, after re-reading your post, you are probably thinking of this thread, and not the linked thread.

I found the info when searching google for a photo of eye damage caused by a laser, lead right back to LPF.

Alaskan, yes, that was a very popular thread to link to for a while when trying to impress upon the new members, the dangers of high power lasers, and just how quick something like this can occur!
Looking at the photo of his eye is very sobering, if everyone had to look at that pic right before using their laser, I'll bet most would be more careful!

I wonder how xoul is doing lately, he used to check in from time to time?

Edit: We need to remember, this eye damage was done with a 1W laser; we are now regularly building 5-7W monsters!

I almost did this to myself once with my own laser, they need to be held down like a weapon when carrying them. I didn't have my safety glasses on at the time because I wasn't intending to use it, accidentally hit the on button when facing upwards towards me.

Edit: Now I like to have two switches on my pointers, one in the tail cap and one on the side. This could help prevent an accident, the pointer I almost zapped myself in the eye with only had a momentary side switch.

Regarding sticky threads, I've only opened three of them since I joined, maybe I'm not the average LPF member for not doing so. This picture sure does drive the point home regarding laser safety. I haven't seen xoul on at all for over a year now.