Need Suggestions - Cheap Burning Laser

grammar, spelling, and typos. A rule i have is when anyone reports to that they've already lost and know it.

Red is generally better at burning as it will burn anything from yellow to shorter. To clarify that point but not to over state it's importance in a rough guidance kinda way it was first given. If it was ambiguous to me i would have asked for it to be cleared up. Not assumed it was wrong.

My objection to your science is less than my objection to your patronising assumption of superiority. Like i say i have an MPhys Oxon, yet you continue to challenge me on basic physics, either you think i'm lying or despite that you believe you still might know more than me. Either way, you are mistaken.

I have no wish to continue this. So lets apologise to the OP for ruining his thread and not post here anymore.

this thread isn't ruined at all. multiple people have a different opinions on what is a better burner. this forum is about discussion. but in the hand held hobby and the materials we commonly burn... violet is the best burner at lower powers!!! that is a fact. real world use is not the same as a scientific study.


michael

How about just buying a cheapie Dilda? They are focusable, affordable and most people seem to enjoy them. There is a member selling two of them right now who lives in the US. I probably wouldn't pay his full asking price, but maybe you can work out a lower rate with him.

(not green though)

You could build a red or have one built that is of such better quality then those cheapo chinas. Figure and LOC is $10 and another $12 for a rkcstr and a $3 aixiz module, then grab a dorcy jr. You will have more than 200mW.
I have tested my red LOC w/ rkcstr set to 434mA at 305mW w/ jayrob 650 G-1
The quality is far superior to any cheap china laser, and is all user friendly, so when something blows, just take it apart, find your problem, and fix your laser

kingdave2357 said:

You could build a red or have one built that is of such better quality then those cheapo chinas. Figure and LOC is $10 and another $12 for a rkcstr and a $3 aixiz module, then grab a dorcy jr. You will have more than 200mW.
I have tested my red LOC w/ rkcstr set to 434mA at 305mW w/ jayrob 650 G-1
The quality is far superior to any cheap china laser, and is all user friendly, so when something blows, just take it apart, find your problem, and fix your laser

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You cannot use a Rkcstr in a Dorcy. You have to use a micro-flex or a micro-boost. There is only room for a single CR123 in a Dorcy. So the driver will cost $25. Also, he would still need a heat sink. If he cannot fabricate his own, he would have to add another $15 for the heat sink.

Diode = $10
Driver = $25
Module = $3
Heat sink = $15
Dorcy = $15
Battery = $2
Charger = $10 (if needed)

Total $70 (or $80)

If someone else builds it for him then there is also now postage and packaging to pay for.

I absolutely agree that the Dorcy build will be both superior to AND be more powerful than the dilda, but it is more costly than the impression you have left with your post.

Peace,
dave

Oops, sorry about that, I have never built a dorcy so I did not know, I was just trying to provide a better alternative, but I should have checked to insure the info I provided was correct. But if another host is used to accomodate a rkcstr, it would save some money.
But would still be more than the dilda, especially if a custom machined heatsink is needed.
I guess I just dont trust the china cheapos...

acclaim said:

Hey guys, I'm extremely new to the laser scene.

I recently bought a 50mW laser from ledshoppe, hoping it would pop balloons or something, but I was disappointed

So now I'm looking for another one, maybe around 100mW. I looked at Rayfoss, and idk if theirs is good quaility.

Can anyone point me toward a cheap (~$100 or less), reliable laser that's capable of at least popping balloons and lighting matches? I also need it to be ableto be shipped into the US.

Thanks a ton!

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Does it have to be green?Red burners are inexpensive and it seems like many here like the o-like and rayfoss red burners.A custom built red from one of the members might be cool too, you would have something built by a friend which is nice.
I saw o-like had a 100mw blu-ray in your price range too.That should burn like mad.Remember to get and use googles for the wavelength you end up with, and good luck.
I hope this helped you out.

I guarantee your 50mw ledshoppe laser will pop a balloon. This is my 30mw, but I used a sharpie.

Yes^^^ 50mW will pop balloons no problem, however there could be other factors involved. If he got a 'bad apple' it could be underspec, or just have such poor divergence that it cant burn or pop anything, a good way to check would be to try and focus the dot with an external magnifying glass to get it as small as possible, if it still wont burn than its way underspec.
@op- if your curious enough to see if your laser is up to spec, I would be willing to test it on my LPM free of charge, PM if interested, though I MAY want a dollar or two to help with shipping charges. Just a friendly offer, pay it no mind if your not interested, I dont want you to feel obligated or pressured into doing it.

kingdave2357 said:

Yes^^^ 50mW will pop balloons no problem, however there could be other factors involved. If he got a 'bad apple' it could be underspec, or just have such poor divergence that it cant burn or pop anything, a good way to check would be to try and focus the dot with an external magnifying glass to get it as small as possible, if it still wont burn than its way underspec.
@op- if your curious enough to see if your laser is up to spec, I would be willing to test it on my LPM free of charge, PM if interested, though I MAY want a dollar or two to help with shipping charges. Just a friendly offer, pay it no mind if your not interested, I dont want you to feel obligated or pressured into doing it.

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I just watched a video on this site that showed a guy popping a balloon at 20 feet with 30mw.In the video, the dot looked huge.I don't know if that is accurate or an artifact of the camera.But this much I know:if you want to burn, it works just like a magnifying glass on a sunny day.The smaller the dot, the better.Also, the bigger the lense(IEower) the better.
A combination of lower than spec power + poor collimation=poor burning capability.It does not mean the laser he has is not fun to play with, it just may be a poor burner for a combination or one of those reasons.My guess would be some of both.
I hope he gets a laser he really enjoys!

lol That's my video. I just posted it here. Ledshoppe lasers have huge beam diameters. Mines about 3mm, so that means close up burning sucks, but it has amazing divergence(.8mrad) so it can pop balloons from really far away. Btw the actual dot was only about 6 or 7mm on the balloon.

The camera gets 'blinded' by the laser because it is so bright, and will distort the image, sometimes it shows a huge dot, sometimes a blurry one, or other effects. Here use this pic as reference, the dots in person are small pinpoints but to the camera it looks like a giant blob of light.


EDIT: The more powerfull the laser, the more the pic will be distored(in close range), notice the blue dot looks smaller than the yellow, that is because the yellow is alot brighter due to power and wavelength.

You just like showin' off your awesome lasers

kevinmassey said:

lol That's my video. I just posted it here. Ledshoppe lasers have huge beam diameters. Mines about 3mm, so that means close up burning sucks, but it has amazing divergence(.8mrad) so it can pop balloons from really far away. Btw the actual dot was only about 6 or 7mm on the balloon.

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Wow.That is a big dot, yet total balloon defeat ensued!I have an Evo Pro in 40mw with a ridiculous .7 mm or so beam.The burning tricks it does just amaze me.(see my thread on Evo silliness)Mine pops them really fast...due largely to the tiny beam size.I enjoyed your video, and I am amazed you killed the balloon with that size beam.I am going to guess it is overspec in power....but as I am a novice when it comes to burning, I could be totally wrong.
20 feet is epic however, very cool!
I want to also thank you for the beam diameter information.That is really important to me.Aside from my new Evo Pro 40mw, I have not purchased a high power laser since the 90's.I have zero experience with the stuff that is out there today.
In the hoary past, I bought quite a few lasers.Only my Casix pointers(absolutely cutting edge at the time) and my 650nm 20mw maglight build have survived to the present day.The early greens were really bad in terms of sudden total failure and ridiculously high sensitivity to temperature.Not to mention the total FAIL of operating a laser that needs more than half an ampere from AAA cells.
I note that stupidity/size tradeoff continues.
My experiences were so bad, I decided to wait until greens were "cheap" to try again.Imagine my horror when everyone said WL was evil and my order was already placed for the Evo!
But the Evo 2 is Epic.AA power(thank God) and other factors lead me to say simply"it rocks".

Imagine spending 650 for a 5mw cw green.Imagine over 1000 for a cw 10mw green.That would be me.

I have waited a long time...and it was worth it.The problems I encountered in the 90's are still present in the ultra inexpensive greens of today.But if you spend a bit more....WOW total epicness!
You are lucky in other words....you can buy power levels that would have been thousands in the past, for very little.In that context, a big dot does not seem bad at all.And I wager it looks good on the clouds too!!!!

kevinmassey said:

You just like showin' off your awesome lasers

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Lol Yep! Ive been posting pics of my new twins any chance I get. So wanting to show them off, and this is the only place I can really do that, none of my friends or coworkers understand or appriciate what I show them.
I love LPF!
:beer:

EDIT: I am going to have to take a video of me popping some balloons with my yellow 589nm

Yeah, I think that laser is overspec. I've popped one from like 25ft with my PHR.