The questions I've amassed

I was surfing the cheap lasers on DX and clicked through to a video demo of one. From that video I watched many more (as often happens with youtube). One of them was of a modded 100mW green laser that was much brighter (looking back, it was probably a simple potsmod) another one was from styropyro, his older one about making a laser. I thought making a DIY high power laser was an awesome idea. So I followed the link in the video and came to this forum.

From a few hours of post surfing, I've found some questions to ask;

1. As far as I can tell, the only difference between a 'dot' laser and a 'beam' laser is the mW's and how clear the air is...right?
2. A green laser comes from a green LD, right? just the diode determines the color of the beam?
3. can someone assemble a list of all the parts you need to make a laser? I know the LD,host,driver,heatsync,battery,clicker....anything I missed?
4. If I have a heatsync do I need an aixiz module? I'm almost sure the module fits in the heatsync, but haven't found definite proof.
5. is the kryton v2 offer still going ? and where's the new ordering page? kemon took the link out of his sig.

I'm sure I'll think of another as soon as I hit post.

I want to make my own laser (if I did buy one it'd only be a cheapy 30 mW green from DX...I'm in college after all and even then I'd be spending $15 for the canadian member forward shipping). The side-button hosts look cool, but I think the bottom button ones are easier to make/more plentiful/not prone to as many accidental turn-ons. I really want a green laser but the lower power and IR stuff and hard to find diodes put me off from the idea :-(

From there I'd like to try a blueray LD one, and failing that a simple red.

Cost is a big issue here, so if someone could recommend a decent parts list that's easy to assemble and hard to screw up I'd appreciate it.

PS: Hi to digitial_blue, admin of another great forum.

Not sure what you mean by a "dot" and "beam" laser.... :-? whether or not you see the beam depends on the color, the power, and the atmospheric conditions (i.e. fog, smoke, humidity, etc in the air). Just because you can easily see the beam in some videos doesn't mean those lasers are necessarily more powerful than ones where you can't.

Green lasers are DPSS - diode pumped solid state - lasers. If you google that phrase you'll get lots of pages and sites that explain the process. "Blu-ray" and reds (and some types of near-IR) are diode lasers, where the diode alone is making the beam that you see. Blue pointers are also DPSS.

you really don't need to start a new thread asking how to make a laser, there are threads already up all over the forums explaining how to do it, look under tutorials and help, experiments and modification, even some threads under the buy,sell,&trade section have how-to's on the product they're selling. you really should look around the forums first

thanks  Schrecken_Licht for the speedy response! By 'dot' laser I meant a laser that only has a visible dot, you can't see the full beam. I've only used the cheap 2-5 mW lasers before and wasn't sure if the visible beam was a feature or just a property of a strong laser, thanks for clearing that up.

as for the other two replies, the first thing I did here was to read the FAQ thread....how I learned basic nomenclature and the issues with green lasers.

Liberty1992 said:

you really don't need to start a new thread asking how to make a laser, there are threads already up all over the forums explaining how to do it, look under tutorials and help, experiments and modification, even some threads under the buy,sell,&trade section have how-to's on the product they're selling.  you really should look around the forums first

Click to expand...

Liberty1992.....I reread my post and can't see where I asked someone to tell me how to make a laser.
I did ask if my parts list was missing anything, or what some good, cheap beginner parts were.........but I honestly don't see where you got that from.

Jayrob's side-button MXDL build is excellent. You can find it here:

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1217045236

And if you're having trouble with it, you can see my massive struggle thread that answers a lot of questions you may have.

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1224988343

-Mark

Just so you know, that one video of the "modded" 100mW laser is fake, he just filled the room with a little fog.

rocketparrotlet said:

Jayrob's side-button MXDL build is excellent.  You can find it here:

-link1-

And if you're having trouble with it, you can see my massive struggle thread that answers a lot of questions you may have.

-link2-

-Mark

Click to expand...

Wow rocketparrotlet, thanks for the links! I read jayrob's tutorial and skimmed your thread and both look very helpful. You've answered a ton of questions and I'll be making one with those parts (MXDL host,blu-ray LD,flexdrive, etc). I'll read your thread this weekend and find some money to order parts. Hopefully I'll have some pics to show you guys in a few weeks.

styropyro said:

Just so you know, that one video of the "modded" 100mW laser is fake, he just filled the room with a little fog.

Click to expand...

ok

DayZiro said:

Wow rocketparrotlet, thanks for the links! I read jayrob's tutorial and skimmed your thread and both look very helpful. You've answered a ton of questions and I'll be making one with those parts (MXDL host,blu-ray LD,flexdrive, etc). I'll read your thread this weekend and find some money to order parts. Hopefully I'll have some pics to show you guys in a few weeks.

Click to expand...

Glad I could help!  If you have any questions, contact me and I can try my best to answer them.  If I'm not able to clear things up, jayrob is one of the most helpful and friendly members on the entire forum (and it's also his build), so I'm sure he could be of assistance.

-Mark

I would answer your questions but Chad already has.

http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?virboard=b_blurays;num=1206843997

--hydro15