New To Everything

Hello LPF Members.

As the title says, I'm absolutely new to lasers. I know just the very basic information which I'm sure any 3rd grader, and beyond, would know:

1. Lasers are awesome, entertaining and dangerous in their own right.
2. The higher the W, the more powerful and bigger batter consumption.
3. "XXXnm" are the various color waves.

I'm not so much as an enthusiastic fan to lasers, but I do enjoy geeky stuff. Electronics, computers, and automotive. Although I do not posses expert knowledge on lasers, I would like to one day build my own.

I guess I could say that YouTube introduced me to high powered lasers and through that process I found Dragon Lasers. The Spartan 445nm looks amazingly awesome, but before I bought it, I Googled and did research (reviews, competitors, etc).

That's how I ended up finding this place; and what a place it is. I was reading through a whole lot of information. Of course, I didn't know what I was reading, but I was gobbling up the information as if I were Cookie Monster.

I'll be honest, my first initial milestone is to own a beastly 1W 445nm and from looking through the forum, Yobresal seems like the guy to talk to. After that, start looking into building some. Starting small, of course.

Other than that, I'm your typical 26 year old, ex-Military, computer engineer. I like to get along with everyone and I'm a big believer in giving respect to get respect. I also don't like to post in threads unless I have something to say. Post count means nothing to me, although some claim it should, but spamming for nothing isn't too becoming of me.

I don't know what else to say except for "thank you" to those of you who have built this place to what it is. Much respect to those who build these wonderful things and to those who hold valuable knowledge about them. It's good to know that there are forums out there willing to help the people like me who have no clue about lasers.

AdioZ

Welcome to the forum.

Yobresal makes a lot of nice 445s. If you go to the buy sell and trade board you will find a lot of people selling 445s. If you are looking for kind of a "kit" then jayrob makes a lot of nice ones.

Remember your goggles, and welcome!

Now, I don't mean to sound mean or aggressive here, but just hear me out. A lot... LOT of people come in here after seeing a 1w 445 laser (blue) laser on youtube. No disrespect to them, I found out about lasers that way.

However, many people want one of those right away. I cannot advise you strongly enough to wait a bit and get a cheepie green (they're only $10-15 for pretty good quality). And, I personally use my 10mw green laser more than any other because it's small, not as dangerous as others but you can still see the entire beam at night easily, and it will light up a room at night if you point it at the ceiling. And if you do purchase a 1w 445, the green laser will still be interesting as it is a different color. Heck, I still get a kick of my 1mw red from 2005 in a pitch black room.

Fenzir said:

Now, I don't mean to sound mean or aggressive here, but just hear me out. A lot... LOT of people come in here after seeing a 1w 445 laser (blue) laser on youtube. No disrespect to them, I found out about lasers that way.

However, many people want one of those right away. I cannot advise you strongly enough to wait a bit and get a cheepie green (they're only $10-15 for pretty good quality). And, I personally use my 10mw green laser more than any other because it's small, not as dangerous as others but you can still see the entire beam at night easily, and it will light up a room at night if you point it at the ceiling. And if you do purchase a 1w 445, the green laser will still be interesting as it is a different color. Heck, I still get a kick of my 1mw red from 2005 in a pitch black room.

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Fenzir, I appreciate you looking out for the new guys and I completely understand the need for safety. After doing a good amount of research on powerful lasers, I do thank you for the good safety advice. Even though I have very little experience with lasers, other than the 1~5mw ones you see young kids play with, I do appreciate the fact that high power lasers aren't meant to be underestimated and can very easily damage eye sights just by looking at them; even more so pointed directly into the eyes.

Seeing that the 1W 455nm is purely amazing, I want one because of that simple fact. However, it won't be the one I'll be experimenting with. As I said before, I'm starting small (VERY small) and bringing myself up, hopefully one day to the levels of some professionals here.

Jacob32123 said:

Welcome to the forum.

Yobresal makes a lot of nice 445s. If you go to the buy sell and trade board you will find a lot of people selling 445s. If you are looking for kind of a "kit" then jayrob makes a lot of nice ones.

Remember your goggles, and welcome!

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Jacob32123, Thank you for the tip and welcoming. As I'm browsing through the site, that's pretty much the first thing I see everywhere, lol, "Goggles goggles, GOGGLES!" I've seen some good ones from China, but a lot of people complain about the wait time on shipping. Like I said earlier, I don't know anything (yet) about lasers, so I'm still browsing around to see if I can find some online. Hopefully eBay? :thinking:

Well, I think you should wait a bit before getting a 445nm >1W laser. If you build a couple of lasers first then once you get to know what you are doing, then build your own 445nm laser you will like it much better than if you buy one.

I recommend you buy first a phr-803t sled (easily found <$10, contains ~100mw violet), a lpc-815 sled ( also <$10, contains a ~300mw red laser), 2 hosts (pen host are cheap, <$10), drivers, and batteries for each. And grab a green like 50mw or so.

After that find a nice host with a big heatsink and build a 445nm.

Welcome to LPF, this is a great resource for laser information and many wonderful people here as well.
I agree with benmwv, building your own laser is a great feeling and will teach you much on the way. As you progress you will be able to build your own 445nm laser, cheaper and with a more satistfied feeling.
Either way you choose....have fun and be safe:beer:

benmwv said:

Well, I think you should wait a bit before getting a 445nm >1W laser. If you build a couple of lasers first then once you get to know what you are doing, then build your own 445nm laser you will like it much better than if you buy one.

I recommend you buy first a phr-803t sled (easily found <$10, contains ~100mw violet), a lpc-815 sled ( also <$10, contains a ~300mw red laser), 2 hosts (pen host are cheap, <$10), drivers, and batteries for each. And grab a green like 50mw or so.

After that find a nice host with a big heatsink and build a 445nm.

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Yeah, that's what I actually plan on doing. Starting small then building my way up. Thankfully, my brother-in-law along with his dad (which so happens to be an electric engineer) are prettying interested in this. They too want in on the action.

As for the pieces you've mentioned above, I'm looking them up as I type this. Thanks for the recommendations; they won't go to waste.

532 with Envy said:

Welcome to LPF, this is a great resource for laser information and many wonderful people here as well.
I agree with benmwv, building your own laser is a great feeling and will teach you much on the way. As you progress you will be able to build your own 445nm laser, cheaper and with a more satistfied feeling.
Either way you choose....have fun and be safe:beer:

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Thanks for the welcome! Glad to know this place is quite friendly and resourceful! I'll be honest, I was looking into just buying a 1W, till I came here and actually read all the cool stories, saw all the awesome custom lasers and great tutorials! That's what got me to wanting to build some.

I agree with everyone who has posted previously. Safety first and slow progression are important. I plan on taking my time.


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I haven't really looked through the forums yet, but where do most of you guys get your drivers and such? eBay? :thinking:

Well there are various websites made by forum members here where you can buy your stuff.
Modwerx Shop
HighTechDealZ - High Tech DealZ
Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce
Between those sites you will find everything I mentioned. I'd say if you want to do those lasers in pen hosts your best bet is to use a groove 2 driver (modwerx) and 2x 10440 batteries (AAA sized lithium ion rechargeable, I think they are on hightechdealz). I think you can find the sleds on modwerx and hightechdealz. Pen hosts on laser emporium. Axis modules on all three. You should get the diode press on laser emporium also.

benmwv said:

Well there are various websites made by forum members here where you can buy your stuff.
Modwerx Shop
HighTechDealZ - High Tech DealZ
Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce
Between those sites you will find everything I mentioned. I'd say if you want to do those lasers in pen hosts your best bet is to use a groove 2 driver (modwerx) and 2x 10440 batteries (AAA sized lithium ion rechargeable, I think they are on hightechdealz). I think you can find the sleds on modwerx and hightechdealz. Pen hosts on laser emporium. Axis modules on all three. You should get the diode press on laser emporium also.

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Awesome websites! And thank you so much! :worthy:

Welcome to the forum! Get yourself some quality eye wear and be safe.

millirad said:

Welcome to the forum! Get yourself some quality eye wear and be safe.

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Thanks for the welcome and tip! I'm already way ahead of you; bought some from Trevor. He has some new ones and I snatched one up from him. Hopefully they'll last me for a long time

Have fun, ask questions, people will help and awnser any questions. Good luck and welcome!