Oh, what have I found...

Greeting from the Salt Lake City area of Utah. I found this forum while looking for a green laser pointer for star gazing. I had no idea there was so much information on them. I thought it would be a much simpler choice. I still haven't picked one but I have it down to a Howie Glatter 5mw or an Optotronic. That search feature has been taking up a lot of my time these days.

With all the information here I might just have to build my own laser down the road. Looks like a good fun project (I like tinkering) that the kids would enjoy.

Welcome! Your one step ahead of many other newbies because you have come here 1st before purchasing, many come here after there purchase and ask why it wont burn, or if its a good purchase etc, I always seem to recomend this site but check out sci-fi lasers, youll find it with google, the founder is a member here any he looks after his customers very much,
Anyway, enjoy your stay and remember the lpf search bar is your friend

Welcome to lpf!

Oh yeah, nothing beats building your own laser. Just be warned.... it's addictive.

Welcome to the forum!

Welcome to the forum, hope you learn lots here and remember nothing costs more than ten bucks, even the real expensive looking stuff was only $20! Well thats what I tell the wife!

Welcome to LPF :>) Have fun and get ready for an information overload.

I ordered an Optotronics 30mw green pointer today. Should be fun. Next I will have to figure out how to build my own. Sounds like I will need a new soldering gun (among other things).

"
With all the information here I might just have to build my own laser down the road. Looks like a good fun project (I like tinkering) that the kids would enjoy."


What kids?? anytime lasers are seen as "TOYS" or 'fun' we get worried..

while it is true the a 'button battery' red cat 'toy' is not really powerful enough to do harm- just having the idea they ALL are toys is crazy scary.

Only a fool would believe that children would not 'play' with your lasers when you are not home opr not watching= IF they are not mature enough to really appreciate the dangers then they are NOT ready.

Its human nature when a common flashlight seems to be failing to point it into our faces and turn ther light off and on- maybe bang it on our palm and try again but that is very bad with lasers and especailly DPSS like the green you have coming- Optronics I am sure has high quality IR filtration but not the cheapies- and it is possible for IR to come and NO green seen- - its not quite visible--
a 3$ 532 green pen can make more than 70 mW but a portion of that is IR. --

BUT doing projects with the kiddos is great and there are many done with low power lasers-&
not really expensive to build:
Laser Spiro
Laser Liquid Sky
Laser Tunnel EFX
Laser Lumia
and more--


BTW

consider ALL the 3$ pointer pens to be WAY too powerful for the younger folks with close supervision.

kchunks said:

I ordered an Optotronics 30mw green pointer today. Should be fun. Next I will have to figure out how to build my own. Sounds like I will need a new soldering GUN (among other things).

Click to expand...

?gun??

do you mean the ones that look like a pistol?? waste of $$- Pros use a 'soldering station' and the good ones are grounded so no worry about ESD< hope you fully understand what ESD is? (SEARCH-IT!)

A good station like those made by Hakk (no relation) are quick to get hot- stay at the temp you want and recover quickly-too hot is bad for doides and drivers etc- too cool- you get a 'cold joint' ...may look good but poor connection..


DO NOT try to build your first laser using an expensive diode- as you will likely fail- less pain when it is less $$.

You need to get at the very LEAST mediun quality safety goggles for the color you want and most also cover one more color- One set for all are VERY pricey- but do give almost complete protection.

you need:
a diode 'pressing tool' and how to use..

a dummy load to set current on your driver(if needed)

forget to 'short ALL 'caps' 'every time --just once= FAIL

heat sink ?? when do you need one?

AND..
a good DMM and adjustable power supply (& how to use both)

understand 'duty/rest cycle'

these are but a few of the thousands of questions asked and answered MANY times..
do not ask them again-

google/wiki/ Sam's Laser FAQ, the other laser forums, and the stickies at the top of EVERY section. The tutorials section is a great place to start.(for building)

Did you reasearch Optronics before you paid? & how much did that 30mW cost you?? heard rumors they are closeing down??:tsk: getting warranty work after a biz closes will not end well.-

:crackup::wtf:
-JK afaik they are not closing BUT many are--


Its very rare to see a trusted VET member leaving a buyer unhappy- BUt other newcomers are a risk- sad but true- an additional risk can come into play when you order working lasers from outside USA- and for SURE you NEVER want a battery to be sent w/ a laser crossing borders-dont do IT!

AND except when inside the 'intended device' (like a cell phone(BUT NOT A LASER)) ALL LI-Ions are banned at the USPS.

Check the LPF member map to see if another is near enough to get hands-on advice- there is also a 'LPM owning' member map ..very handy when you have none and wonder about the REAL output..(& its free too)


:beer:


welcome .hak

Thanks Hak. Yes, I thought that building a couple of lasers that my kids could use as light sabers would be great fun. Yes, that is a joke. This Optotronics will be stored with my firearms. The fun with kids would be the building project. My oldest child is rather disinterested in sports so this summer we have been learning about electronics and computer programming. It will probably be next summer before we tackle building one of these.

I used to own an ok (by my standards) soldering gun/iron/station (it was a station . Then I was helping a family member solder a bunch of circuit boards, another less experienced family member decided to help, got frustrated, decided to whack it on the counter a bunch in an effort to clean it thinking that would help their problem and broke it. Essentially, at one point in my life I could solder pretty well but it has been a while and I have no intention of refreshing my skills with expensive parts.

When looking for a green laser I didn't find this forum until I started looking into the safety aspects of the laser. No one knew if the Meade or Orion (the big names in astronomy) pointers had filters or not and there were complaints about operating temperatures as well. That is when I found this. Reading the stickies and using the search feature I got to Optotronics. I need the thing sooner rather than later and while I could have taken time to look into the "vet member" thing I had already spent 10 days or so getting this far. It was very easy to call Jack, he had great advice and knew the answer to my questions and problem solved.

I still have lots of questions, including some things you mentioned in your post and also goggles. Trying to use the search feature first, though. I knew about the LPM list but I did not know about the other map. Thanks for pointing it out. I will have to see who might be around me. Thanks for that project list. I will take a look at those.

Happy beaming (that's the best sign off I could come up with).

kchunks said:

I still have lots of questions, including some things you mentioned in your post and also goggles. Trying to use the search feature first, though. I knew about the LPM list but I did not know about the other map. Thanks for pointing it out. I will have to see who might be around me. Thanks for that project list. I will take a look at those.

Happy beaming (that's the best sign off I could come up with).

Click to expand...

Greetings!

As per the blue line in my signature, feel free to shoot me a Personal Message if you don't think a question is worth opening a thread over.

Brotip: The real search bar is at the bottom of the page, (one that's Google powered).

Sign off ain't half bad