building a burning laser

I have never built  a laser before, but I have built my share of small circuits, and I want to build a burning laser. I only have about 50 dollars to  spare. I have used a focused magnify glass to burn leaves and would like the same effect if at all possible. Please tell me what parts I need and in how to ensemble them. *if I have to spend more I will, but only if I have to

Well you need to get yourself a DVD-RW drive to extract a nice and powerfull diode.Then look up the ddl driver in the experiments and modifications section.I think this will be your cheapest bet.An open can diode from a 20x burner should be good for 300mW, but even that is not enough to be able to burn like a big magnifying glass on a sunny day.

Read all over this page laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?virboard=b_general;num=1206843997
and that should help some. About where to get a good burning diode... check out stonetek.org/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=65&zenid=59d27c1895c6f8681fa939285826e349 and newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136144

Welcome to the forums lasernoob80,

Theres a lot of good information to read up on here.
With you having electronics experience, you should be able to build something nice for around $50. to $75.