pot question

if i were to pot mod a 5MW laser, maxed out, about how high could i get the wattage to go?

maxed out? poof. no more laser. if you turned the pot all the way, the current would fry the diode.. Pot modding doesnt only shorten life of lasers but can kill them instantly.. if you want more power > http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.11315

You can pot mod a 5mW green laser to output a bit more than normal, just don't go too far or you'll kill the IR diode.
For pot moding a red laser look at this vid. ;D

so say i wanted to attempt to build my own using a 16x dvd burner, could someone make a shopping list for me?

Fender1391 said:

so say i wanted to attempt to build my own using a 16x dvd burner, could someone make a shopping list for me?

Click to expand...

I don't want to sound mean, but asking for a "shopping list" is lazy... there's plenty of information around the forum if you look.  Plus, just telling you what parts you need leaves you with no information about what to do with them, which in that case will lead to lots of money wasted and frustration on your part.

What you need to do is research.  Read around the forum, look at what projects others have done (both sucessful and failed), get an idea of what it takes to start and carry out a project.

Daedel's thread stickied in the "Experiments & Modifications" is a good start for some very informative threads:
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1190456606

Otherwise, if you have any SPECIFIC questions, there are plenty of people with good information... just don't ask us to do all the work