P A R E N T S !

This is full of great information! To be honest, I flat out bought a 115mW 532nm CNI Pen without telling my parents. I have my own debit card through my bank and my own funds from working. I eased them into it, and showed them that there are many legitimate fields that use laser technology. Slowly they have learned to completely accept and think some of the stuff is cool, my dad even complimented me last night because I finished modifying my old computer power supply for other uses. I have built myself a small spyrograph before and they thought that was amazing. You can see now that I have three lasers in my possession and one is being fixed. Don't just beg them to let you get a laser though, maybe try showing them some colleges that even have the programs. Personally I plan to go to Indian River Community College to get my Associates in the Photonics field and then proceed to get my Masters at the University of Central Florida. Florida Institute of Technology also has a whole photonics and optics department. Maybe show them this website too. http://www.op-tec.org/ I have not looked at the website that much but I have read else where about them, it is a group effort of multiple photonics institutes and companies working together. I really think that showing them the professionalism that can be involved will help your cause. Good luck.

Orr3 said:

Haha my parents didn't want me to buy a laser because they thought it was like one of those lasers from movies. They said they where scared that I would burn up the curtains or other fabrics.

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In all honesty, i actually shot a hole in a curtain when tinkering with a DIY red... but then again, they are my curtains to smolder anyways ;p

[quote author=Benm]
In all honesty, i actually shot a hole in a curtain when tinkering with a DIY red... but then again, they are my curtains to smolder anyways ;p
[/quote]

I have done this as well playing with my frankenstien labby and it sat warming up pointed at my thick winter curtains while I set up the video camera and balloons etc. Was a funny moment - housemate said "woah the curtains are on fire" when it was just a little stream of smoke much like that that comes off electrical tape / cd cases when you burn them.

I now stick a black adonised heatsink in front of the beam while its warming up as a beamstop.

holy s**t you have a f_king shot gun under your bed?!?! If I had a shotgun under my bed I would freaking get in soooooooo much troubble. but then again, fun for when a robber pops in hehehe...

You should get into "science projects". I have a little sister and a baby sister, and I knew my dad would be totally against me running around with a 100+mW laser when my baby sister or sister around. Thats why I put like 5 extra flip switches on my case thing for safety. all of them have to be up for it to turn on. He doesnt think im gonna go burn pplz eyes out, but if I didnt have the safety he woulda never let me buy a diode.
NEVER LIE TO YOUR PARENTS. ONLY A DUMB A__ LIES TO SMART PARENTS, IF I LIED TO MY PARENTS... Parent: me: DEAD

btw im 14, and moone has said theyre 14 so ha im special.
If your parents dont let u have a laser, dig up a hole, put like 8 m-80's in there, tie the fuses, put dirt on the M-80's, light the fireworks, BANG, your parents pissed at crater in ground, then buying a laser will seem like buying a toy

NOTE NOTE NOTE:
buy a star wars laser from radio shack. then when ur rents used to that buy a hella powerful laser HEHEHE ;D

You cannot purchase m-80s.

This is how I see it, if you can type using proper grammar and spelling in a forum, you are intelligent enough to own a laser.

i don't know any more 13 year olds??? so i'm special too!

spyrorocks said:

You cannot purchase m-80s.

This is how I see it, if you can type using proper grammar and spelling in a forum, you are intelligent enough to own a laser.

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Hmmmmm....well, my typing and spelling SCUK !

do what i did " i need them for electronics class at skool" it worked ;D

quiet honestly, my parents don't care. im a couple months from turning 18. my parents let me do almost anything, ie build go-karts, steel air cannons, hydrogen cannons, bb guns, paint ball guns, flammable things, ect. i love my parents. when i first wanted to order a 5 mw laser, they thought it was a waste of money, but ordered it for me a year ago. once my dad saw how bright is was, by pointing it at mall about half a mile away, he was impressed. i ordered my x-65 online using my moms credit card, but using my own money i earned over the summer reroofing my house. most people my age would get themselves thrown in jail with a IIIB laser, but i know the power of it and have something called common sense which has kept me from blowing my hands off with m80's and blinding my self or others with high powered lasers.

thanks for reading. , now i have a NASCAR truck race to finist watching.

My folks let me buy an argon laser, mainly because I was building the power supply for electronics class, and a Ar+ supply isnt much chop without a laser head to drive. It spent most of its life in the science lab that year until school broke up, at which point I brought it home and set it up in the workshop along with my hene's and diodes.

Strangely when I moved to sydney, none of my gas lasers came with me - they are all still down in tasmania, except the argon, which got pinched out of a nightclub whos owner I knew and loaned the laser too

It's all about responsibility...learn EVERYTHING about lasers and show your parents that you are mature.

Hell build a laser that would impress them, i had a 5mw red, took a dvd burner apart and now i have a pretty powerful red, must be around 100mw not sure : Motto: If its too expensive, make it yourself!!! Good luck with your parents, mine just think its a phase, its been a looooong phase 4 years

My parents thought that it was like one of the lasers from movies, and that I could burn down my house with it, I had a lot of trouble getting my parents' permission, I earned their trust by telling them that I was going to make a school project with it.

When I got it, it broke after a few weeks of use, I RMA'd it and got another one, after that, they no longer cared whether I had lasers or not.

spyrorocks said:

This is how I see it, if you can type using proper grammar and spelling in a forum, you are intelligent enough to own a laser.

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Bad spelling/grammar is accepted in chat, but this is not chat, this is a forum, in most cases, mature/intelligent people tend to have good spelling/grammar in forums, I say from experience, this holds true specially in gaming forums, not too much on laser forums though.

Things are different if English isn't your native language though.

One of the major things I have noticed is the cost factor, the fact your paying $200+ for a little light that burns stuff.