A little about me and a little laser game

Spyderz20x6 said:

BUMP

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can u tell me what BUMP means please? :-[

Isn't 200mA at 5V like 1W while at 3V it's only 600mW....What happens to the other 400mW? Don't they turn to heat or something? :-/

can u tell me what BUMP means please?

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump

Switch said:

Isn't 200mA at 5V like 1W while at 3V it's only 600mW....What happens to the other 400mW? Don't they turn to heat or something? :-/

can u tell me what BUMP means please?

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump

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Watts=Voltage X Current
A diode using 400ma at 3v is using 1.2watts. Assuming that the diode is only putting out 300mw of red that would be a 25% efficiency. All of the wasted energy is converted to heat.

So let's say that you feed that same diode with 400mA at 5V, it would be consuming 2W.Assuming it's a 20x open can , it won't output much more(if at all) than before, which was 300mW.So the 800mW(2W-1.2W) are in excess and will be converted to extra heat.That a 15% efficiency , compared to the 25% at 3V.Not only efficiency decrease, but requires more heatsinking for the same duty cycle at the same power output.So it's still bad to have a higher voltage, right? :-/

My name is Adam Gordon and im from Glasgow in sunny Scotland, my favourite laser is an X75 that my mate let me borrow, I dunno how many diodes ive killed cause they were mostly IR except the 1 or 2 DVD's i killed, probably killed around 3-4 IR's and i got interested in lasers around a year ago when i was on youtube and just randomly find videos on high powered lasers

Hello, my name is Rob, (Hi ROB!) and I have a problem...

I spend large ammounts of money I don't have, to buy things I don't need, to impress people I don't know.

(Everyone hugs Rob because he finally admits his problem! yay!)

Seriously though, I am in the US Army, doing a job that I can't talk about. I am about to be a Sergeant, and I love my career. My job is something of a hobby I guess.

My really hobbies include working on cars, I race my Mustang Cobra; working with dogs, I am a professional trainer and breeder of very high quality German shepherds; and of course lasers. I've owned dozens in my time, mostly greens and reds, but recently I've started getting a bit more exotic with it.

Well, yeah. I guess that about sums me up in 19,000 words or less.

Deuces.

My name is Derk Hoogvliet, born in Amsterdam, I'm a student and I admire lasers since I was 14. Recently I picked up my hobby and made a DVD laser pointer. I'm almost finished making a spirograph. My next move will be a digitally controlled laser driver with display, USB, lots of user controls, data communication option, analog modulation and self-destruct feature only accessible via an unlikely input combination (yes I'm more of a feature freak than a realist).

Own:
1x DVD 18x burner diode (short open can) using self-designed modulated laser driver with precision voltage to current converter, slow-on, and various protections. Optics reach -0.6 mRad (converging beam) with a 5.4mm aperture
1x CDRW 40x diode (not wired to circuit but stored for future use)
4x <5mW cheap excuses for laser pointers (laser chip on circuit board)

Killed:
1x DVD 20x long open can, simply by looking at it the wrong way. Ya Rly. I think a dust particle has landed on the facet (causing COD) because I regularly removed the lens to admire the raw output or apply external optics
1x CDRW 48x diode by assuming the same max current as the DVD 20x diode
6x <5mW quality laser pointers, by means of power supply transients or overcurrent
2x <5mW cheap excuses for laser pointers (laser chip on circuit board)

A mini tesla coil... I want one

Anyway... My name is Daniel , born in and live in Sweden, 18 years old student currently reading a three year long techincal line with focus on computers. After that I guess I'll continue studying on a university.

I have always been fascinated by lasers, I guess. I remember the laser pointers you'd buy at markets containing a 5mW pointer with switchable "lenses" that would project different patterns and pictures on the wall (if someone can give me the name of this, I'd be thankful). I guess the interest of lasers went down for a while, but it started again this year when we started reading about light, wavelenght, interference and stuff like that and our teacher used a laser to show different phenomenon (sp?) and laborating with double-slits and diffraction gratings (man, it took some time and serious wikipediaing and googling to find the english terms for those two...). Unfortunately, since I have a VERY limited budget (130$/month) I can't afford a lt of expensive lasers, so for now I'll have to stick with a DX30 (probably stuck in customs  :'() and a red laser spirograph I'm going to build when the DX module arrives, which probably is tomorrow. If someone knows where to get a preferrably cheap green 5mW module similar to an Aixiz/DX module I'd be very thankful. I tried to build a DIY DVD laser from an old writer that wouldn't write anymore, but killed the diode because of newbness

Killed: 1x DVD diode, mW unknown.
1x 5mW keychain laser because of curiousity

"Own": 1x DX30, probably held in customs
1x DX red 5mW module to be mounted in a spirograph, should arrive tomorrow

switchable "lenses" that would project different patterns and pictures on the wall (if someone can give me the name of this, I'd be thankful)

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Diffraction gratings

You shoud've bought the $17 module from DX, the 5mW is nearly useless in a spyrograph.

Switch said:

switchable "lenses" that would project different patterns and pictures on the wall (if someone can give me the name of this, I'd be thankful)

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Diffraction gratings

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Can diffraction gratings really do that? The ones we used in physics just did what a double-slit did, but in a larger scale (which means greater angles).

Switch said:

You shoud've bought the $17 module from DX, the 5mW is nearly useless in a spyrograph.

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Hmm... I guess this build will be the prototype then

Snytbaggen said:

Can diffraction gratings really do that? The ones we used in physics just did what a double-slit did, but in a larger scale (which means greater angles).

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Here are some different diffraction gratings

http://www.novalasers.com/NOVAstore/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=6

Peace,
dave

daguin said:

[quote author=Snytbaggen link=1209495809/15#25 date=1209657463]Can diffraction gratings really do that? The ones we used in physics just did what a double-slit did, but in a larger scale (which means greater angles).

Click to expand...

Here are some different diffraction gratings

http://www.novalasers.com/NOVAstore/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=6

Peace,
dave
[/quote]

Yeah, I knew diffraction grats could do that, I was more thinking of the ones that made images, like a contour of a heart, rose, woman etc. All the diffraction grates in that link do is creating patterns, not objects. It's hard to explain, and I've tried googling it with no success. I'll edit if I find something.

EDIT: I'm talking about this kind of stuff. Unfortunately no pictures of the patterns, but I'll continue googling. The frustrating thing is that I held in one of these things earlier today, at a market. Should've bought it >.<

My name is Fredrik, I am 15 years old and I live close to Gothenburg in Sweden. I am currently reading a thee year long scientific line with focus on physics. I got my first little red laser pointer when I was eight, and have been fascinated by lasers since then. But I only very recently (last summer) found out that there were green and other colored hi power lasers. When I got my first 5mw greenie from DX I was extremely impressed with the green beam. And since then I have been a laser enthusiast My parents all the time call me lazerguy, so that is the background to my username
My favourite laser is my x-85 ,although its button is broken; it got stuck inside the unit But it does not affect the laser performance at all, and it should be pretty easy to fix
I have not yet made any DIY laser , so of course I haven't killed a diode yet But I will soon try to make one, when I have gathered a little more knowledge about it. I will probably build a bluray as a first build. Or is it easier to make a red?

Snytbaggen said:

[quote author=daguin link=1209495809/15#26 date=1209657897][quote author=Snytbaggen link=1209495809/15#25 date=1209657463]Can diffraction gratings really do that? The ones we used in physics just did what a double-slit did, but in a larger scale (which means greater angles).

Click to expand...

Here are some different diffraction gratings

http://www.novalasers.com/NOVAstore/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=6

Peace,
dave
[/quote]

Yeah, I knew diffraction grats could do that, I was more thinking of the ones that made images, like a contour of a heart, rose, woman etc. All the diffraction grates in that link do is creating patterns, not objects. It's hard to explain, and I've tried googling it with no success. I'll edit if I find something.

EDIT: I'm talking about this kind of stuff. Unfortunately no pictures of the patterns, but I'll continue googling. The frustrating thing is that I held in one of these things earlier today, at a market. Should've bought it >.<[/quote]
It's pretty much the same principle.I wish I had a powerful RPL so that I could project those on buildings far away. My experimenting tells me that the smaller your divergence is , the more "in focus" your image is, and the smaller your beam diameter is , the smaller the image would be(maybe the divergece after the grating is just smaller)

It's pretty cool to read about people's background and first lasers

Damn it! Since all the other swedes have entered the game, then I might just do so as well:

My name is Carl, like the king of Sweden [smiley=happy.gif] and I'm 17 years old. (my birthday is 21/9, lets see if anyone will remember that, LOL)
I live right outside Norrköping in a little place called Jursla. At school, called a "Gymnasium" I'm in my second year of three and study automation. Not really what I want to do in life, but I don't know what I want so it's all right . My other interest besides lasers is LEDs. I love em'! Actually it was because of them that I got into this hobby. It all began when I was 11 and my dad bought me a soldering kit and had some scrap circuit boards from some old machine at work. The board some LEDs on it and I had a good time desoldering them and learning the basics. Then I experimented with the LEDs and a flat nine volt battery, the LED lit up and - BAM! (no it didn't not blow up) and I was caught.

The lasers got to me three years ago when I started to experiment with some crappy red pointers. I'd thought it was really, really cool with the beam. Burning haven't really been the main interest with lasers, it's the brightness and most of all the beam that amazes me.

I call my self a DIY:er and inventor, and I've done allot of crazy stuff with my lasers and LEDs. Today I made a working laser prototype, the: "3D Spirogram" and it's a success! Probably the fist one in the world. -No it isn't I made it once before two years back but the laser was to weak, you know, useless-weak.

Anyway, I have two lasers: x125 and a DIY blu-ray. I like them both almost the same, but I'd say that the x125 is the winner.
I'm not much of a laser diode murder, I have only killed one so far from a DVD burner. -Yeah one, if you don't count reading diodes and cheap red. I've killed maybe a dozen of those.

That's it, not much more to say really, except that my grammar sucks but you just have to live with it. [smiley=tongue.gif]

Tell us more about the 3D spirogram thingy