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hey everyone

apollo

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Oct 21, 2007
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Hi everyone. I am pretty new to laser pointers, but I have learned a few things in the past five minutes of reading this forum. I was born in alaska, but I moved to waikiki (ya, theres internet in hawaii ;D ) when I was 5, so I dont remember much of alaska. I am 17 years old, so Im still in high school here.

I like to surf a lot, and play guitar. The whole laser thing is really cool, and I think im going to start getting into it.

I found lasers when I somehow (i cant really remember how) stumbled on laserglow. I bookmarked them about 2 weeks ago, and I emailed them asking if they had any forum or something. They said they do not own a forum, but the recomend coming to this one. So I just joined.

I have a green laser that a friend gave to me, but i dont know how powerful it is or where it came from. It doesnt do much, but i can see the beam, and its really cool.

I have a few questions though:

1. I figured out how power is measured with lasers, its mw. But what is nm? Some of these lasers say they are 100mw, but then 500nm or something. What does this mean?

2. I am thinking of getting the "scorpius" from laserglow.com. is this a good choice? and what color is the beam? can you even see the beam? I searched the forum for scorpius but not much showed up, and there were no pictures. Does anybody own one of these? Does it burn stuff?

3. Does laserglow ship to hawaii?


Thank you for letting me join!
 





Things

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welcome to the forum! ;) well does your laser have a warning sticker on it? the mw is the power level(most comon power is 5mw, but they can even go up to 500mw>!), and the nm is the wavelength(green is 532nm or something around that, and red is around 630-680nm). oh and about the scorpius, that is one HELL of a laser! you should be able to burn plastic, pop balloons, light macthes and everything with that! and the beam WILL be really really highly visible at night, and you could prolly even see it at day in a room!
 

apollo

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really? but what color will the beam be? or should i say what wavelength? see i learn quickly ::)
 

Things

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oh sorry, i thought i saw it was green :-[ :-[ umm well with that one, you can't see anything, but it burns really well, better than any other colour infact! that laser is IR(1064nm for you learning :cool:) so if you just want good burning, go for that one, but if you want visibility, a greenie is the way to go!
 

apollo

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Oct 21, 2007
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no there is no sticker on the laser.

but even though the scorpius is not visible, i still might get it. I already have a green laser, and the beam is really quite bright, although it doesnt burn anything. I would like to burn things. Can you see the dot at all? or just completely invisible?

and because its invisible, it cant do any damage to your eyes right?
 
S

SenKat

Guest
For your first high powered laser, I would recommend something OTHER than high powered IR - they are great for burning, but with no beam, they are SUPER dangerous to mess around with - and all you need is one of your friends to look down the barrel saying, "Hey - I think I can see a faint red light dow there !" And then - he/she would be blinded permanently :( So - without preaching (too late, right ??) I would say a nice and bright green would do great !
 

apollo

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oh so even though its invisible you can get damaged by it? which green laser do you recomend?
 
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yep, IR can be just as harmful to your eyes as visible light. more so even because it won't set off your blink reflex. a high powered red or green is likely your best bet for a first burning laser....and welcome to LPF!
 

Things

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yes it is much easier to get hurt by it like that, because usually your blink stops the light getting to your eyes, but with ir, your blink reflexes don't work since you basically don't see anything! that lets all that ir light into your eyes, and you don't even realise it till you are blind! well i would go with well known and good companies like NOVAlasers, laserglow,optotronics ETC: do you want it to be able to burn, or just a nice beam/laser?
 

apollo

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Oct 21, 2007
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I have decided to get a "x85" from novalasers dot com, as well as a scorpius from laserglow dot com. (no links allowed?) I did a little reading, and i found out that a member of this forum ordered a unique one that was over 1100mw? am i correct? i might do this, or i might just order a regular scorpius. I am sure i want this kind of power, so dont try to turn me back ;D . But i have done a lot of reading in the safety section, and i am going to get some goggles that will protect me, as well as be very careful with the laser.

If and when I get them, i will post pictures and or videos of it doing cool stuff!
 

Things

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you will love the X85, it is a great laser! Ummm yes i _think_ you can order custom lasers from laserglow, but it might cost a fair bit more! Just a quick note with the scorpius, the dot will be a VERY dim red, and there will be no visible beam to your eyes, so basically this laser is completely invisible apart from the really dull spot. Just because it is dull, doesn't mean its not powerful! one look into any of those lasers will most denfinatley blind you permantly! Goggles are a very very good idea, and i think pseudonomen137 sells goggles for IR, and possibly other wavelengths too, give him a PM and see what he can do if you like!
 
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apollo, i hope you used the LPF 5% discount code with nova (warp5) :) and links are allowed after a person's posted 10 times, it's to stop spammers etc.
 




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