Metryq
0
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2014
- Messages
- 20
- Points
- 0
Greetings. I'm an armchair science fan who grew up in a house with 5000 books in it—many of them sci-fi. I never had any formal training in electronics, but picked up enough through reading and tinkering to work as a repair and maintenance tech in TV studios. I currently install various kinds of media systems, and I've worked as a VFX artist for small multimedia companies. (Does anyone even say "multimedia" anymore?)
The first laser I ever tinkered with was a build-it-yourself HeNe gas laser kit. I remember getting "belted" by the parasitic repeater in the power supply while reconfiguring that laser. I also had some fun pulling the gas laser out of an old top-loading laserdisc player. Around that time, red semiconductor laser pointers began to appear. And I've owned so many I've lost count. I've owned a few green laser pointers, and bought two purple pointers—one which I gave to a friend. I was stoked when I found out it produced a nice "blacklight" effect when diffused off a white ceiling.
Very recently, I bought a 75mW purple and a 2W blue hand-held (odd to call anything over actual pointer output a "pointer"). And decided to get serious. I found this forum and registered, just so I can join any discussions that pique my interest. I plan to do more reading than posting—and there is so much to learn here!
I've lived in central Massachusetts most of my life, and currently share space with a very lovey cat who thinks she's my wife. Since there are no safety glasses for cats, I'll just have to tolerate her banging on the door while I play with my lasers in another room. (Oddly, no, she does not chase any lasers. So she's not feeling left out over that.)
The first laser I ever tinkered with was a build-it-yourself HeNe gas laser kit. I remember getting "belted" by the parasitic repeater in the power supply while reconfiguring that laser. I also had some fun pulling the gas laser out of an old top-loading laserdisc player. Around that time, red semiconductor laser pointers began to appear. And I've owned so many I've lost count. I've owned a few green laser pointers, and bought two purple pointers—one which I gave to a friend. I was stoked when I found out it produced a nice "blacklight" effect when diffused off a white ceiling.
Very recently, I bought a 75mW purple and a 2W blue hand-held (odd to call anything over actual pointer output a "pointer"). And decided to get serious. I found this forum and registered, just so I can join any discussions that pique my interest. I plan to do more reading than posting—and there is so much to learn here!
I've lived in central Massachusetts most of my life, and currently share space with a very lovey cat who thinks she's my wife. Since there are no safety glasses for cats, I'll just have to tolerate her banging on the door while I play with my lasers in another room. (Oddly, no, she does not chase any lasers. So she's not feeling left out over that.)