Need help from laser professionals

Hello- I'm new to this forum, but not so new to lasers. I have a few 1mw and 5mw in different colors, and I love fucking around with them (in harmless fashion). However I'm in a position to use these for another use...

My situation : I live in an apt building above a 24 hour food store.
Their bike delivery guys always fix my front door lock so it's always open. We've had homeless people and strays come in and live in our building time and time again because of their laziness to use a key when they come in and out of the building. There has even been a robbery. The manager of the store will not take responsibility for this, and the bike delivery guys pretend not to speak English whenever there's a problem.

Further, they all lock their bikes up on this small tree planted in front of the building. Over 2 years, they've nearly killed this tree by locking up their bikes with chains and such. There's no bark left around the whole middle of this skinny thing. And the wood is being scraped to the point the tree might snap. In NYC, I've got 1 tree on my whole block, and I'd like to keep it.

Now these guys have pissed me off to the point of retaliation.
Hypothetically, If I wanted to burn a hole in their bike tires and flatten them with a laser from my apartment window (about 20 feet away), I have a clear shot to do so. My questions are these:

What wattage would you recommend?
What color (prefereably one they could not see so well)?
How long will it take to do this? I'd like to be able to flat a tire in under a minute.

Please advise. I'm not a malicious person, but these guys have opened up my building to repeated homeless people and robberies... not to mention, they've nearly killed the one tree on my whole block. And since they don't want to speak English when there's a problem, I'd like to speak to them in a language they understand.

If you can help, please comment on the thread, or message me directly.
Thanks to everyone out there who has a sence of justice and what is right.

Well first off, I don't think that you would be able to pop a bike tire from that far away, much less without them being able to see it. (Unless you used a VERY high powered infrared laser.) It would be expensive and honestly I think taking a knife to the tire would be quicker, more discrete and much more effective. Don't take only my word for it, but I don't think a laser is the tool that you're looking for.
Annnd, not to mention the danger involved in pointing a high powered laser down at people on the street. In my opinion you're asking to be arrested or get a big fine.

hehehehehe. While I must say I can't support the misuse of lasers in this fashion I still find it extremely funny. In the end If you used a laser you would have to keep it extremely still for at least 10-15 minutes and it would be obvious where the laser was coming from. You would be a lot stealthier if you just used a thumb tac or a small sewing needle. Not to mention a lot cheaper. I'm not sure if you realize that a 1Watt 445 laser that would take several minutes is going to cost you nearly 200$.

I have a sense of justice, but what all laserists here will tell you, is that little thing called "divergence" does not.

Problem is, at 20 feet, laser's dot will diverge. And one more thing - higher power the laser, larger the divergence.

Flatting a tire with a laser at 20 feet, with something not costing over several thousand dollars, is impossible I'm afraid.

Sorry.

um i doubt this will be answered,
but for the sake of science and my hobby.
tires wont burn with any normal pointer or most lab style.
you would need to go with a industrial laser.
But the money its going t cost will be alot.
So better idea get some tree pruning spray paint and protect the exposed wood. and then wrap the exposed wood in some plastic mesh from hardware store. this will help keep the wear of chain off it.
If you must pop their tires and want to do it fast, use a gas operated soldering iron. it will go threw like butter.

While your intent is not really malicious imo, and I can sense the frustration, lasers are not the solution.

For one thing, in order to burn a tire from 20 feet, you would need a whole lot more power than what's available in handheld lasers.

Even if you do manage to find a laser that's capable of such a task, there are safety issues to consider.

With even a small slip of the hand you can hit a retroreflector, and catch a reflection yours. Even worse, a reflection may go off hitting someone else.

While it may seem like a cool idea, lasers are not the solution.

Have you tried calling the cops?

Take a video of these delivery guys going in and out of the store, and than call the cops on the store owner. As their employer he is responsible for their behavior.

kiyoukan said:

um i doubt this will be answered,
but for the sake of science and my hobby.
tires wont burn with any normal pointer or most lab style.
you would need to go with a industrial laser.
But the money its going t cost will be alot.
So better idea get some tree pruning spray paint and protect the exposed wood. and then wrap the exposed wood in some plastic mesh from hardware store. this will help keep the wear of chain off it.
If you must pop their tires and want to do it fast, use a gas operated soldering iron. it will go threw like butter.

Click to expand...

You can burn a bike tire from very close with a 445 1.2W it would take forever and chances are you're going to burn a diode out before you get through but you can definitely make it start smoking. Lol I find small sewing needles to be much more efficient as well as cost effective.

you can patch a sewing needle hole, but a soldering iron hole is a different story you have to replace both the tube and the tire.
The sewing needle you just replace or patch tube.

Fix the lock when the bike guys go out so the doors locked !! and keep doing it until they learn to user their key !!!

Oh man so many apartment flashbacks. I would probably use a gas powered hand held soldering iron from harbor freight. Good luck man I know what you are going through.

automatic door closer. Change the lock :eg: Set an alarm to go off if door is open for longer than 10 minutes.

kill all of them.... but in all seriousness, a pellet gun might do the trick if you have some time, decent aim, distance, and do it at the time when no ones around to get hit by a ricochet.

Wow, I got 10 replies in maybe 20 minutes.
All postive too, no hate mail (like I thought I might get).
I thought the laser may be the way to go, but I seem to think the reviewers of this board know what they're talking about.
I thank all of you personally, and am thankful there's a group of people out there who understand the value of safety and justice.
I encourage any other ideas you may have regarding this subject....

But for now, I'll continue to use my lasers in other entertaining ways.
You guys (and girls) are great.
Thank you.

joshshermannn1 said:

kill all of them.... but in all seriousness, a pellet gun might do the trick if you have some time, decent aim, distance, and do it at the time when no ones around to get hit by a ricochet.

Click to expand...

I don't think you can have a pellet gun in NYC

Semiloaded said:

Wow, I got 10 replies in maybe 20 minutes.
All postive too, no hate mail (like I thought I might get).
I thought the laser may be the way to go, but I seem to think the reviewers of this board know what they're talking about.
I thank all of you personally, and am thankful there's a group of people out there who understand the value of safety and justice.
I encourage any other ideas you may have regarding this subject....

But for now, I'll continue to use my lasers in other entertaining ways.
You guys (and girls) are great.
Thank you.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately with lasers they would be so bright everyone would know. Otherwise you would need an IR laser and some glasses to let you properly target it.

kiyoukan said:

If you must pop their tires and want to do it fast, use a gas operated soldering iron. it will go threw like butter.

Click to expand...

yup. like warm butter...

that'll also allow you to melt solder into the key slots of their bike locks...