Need Suggestions - Cheap Burning Laser

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!

Can't go wrong with Rayfoss. Go for the FLX model here-> www.rayfoss.com But if you want matches you might want to go for a 150mW just to be sure. If you want cheap price without the cheap quality(They are still not the best) and wrong specs go with Rayfoss.

If you don't need it to be green . . . . . .

http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/daguins-epic-sale-48162.html#post655398

THE RED BURNER IS STILL AVAILABLE
Number 10 is a red burner. It has an LCC diode. The driver is set at 420mA. It is putting out 250mW with the stock acrylic lens (supplied). If you get one of Jayrob's 605-G-1 lenses, it puts out 295mW!
Number 10 is $85




Peace,
dave

it's probably worth mentioning that a green laser will really only burst red balloons, and they need to be optically quite dark.

similarly a red laser will burst blue or green balloons.

flagpole said:

it's probably worth mentioning that a green laser will really only burst red balloons, and they need to be optically quite dark.

similarly a red laser will burst blue or green balloons.

Click to expand...

Black Balloons FTW!

100 PC 12INCH Latex black Balloons & Balloon for Party - eBay (item 250521984707 end time May-27-10 10:52:10 PDT)

Peace,
dave

flagpole said:

it's probably worth mentioning that a green laser will really only burst red balloons, and they need to be optically quite dark.

similarly a red laser will burst blue or green balloons.

Click to expand...

i have a red that is 180mw it pops almost all colors. it wont do red, white or orange.

and my 50mw ledshoppe is putting out 100mw it pops a lot of colors also, although only within 1foot range :yabbem:

michael

red is at one end of the spectrum so is generally better at burning. anything from yellow upwards. as in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet

green is in the middle so will struggle to pop anything from orange to indigo. just leaving red balloons really.

it's not a hard and fast rule, just a guide, obviously if you have a 532nm megawatt weaponized laser it will burst a green balloon. i'm just saying for the OP that if he can't burst a balloon it may be the colour of the balloon.

actually violet is the best burner around these parts. some members have successfully lit matches with only 30mw and a steady hand. you wont find that with red.

chipdouglas said:

actually violet is the best burner around these parts. some members have successfully lit matches with only 30mw and a steady hand. you wont find that with red.

Click to expand...

Yeah the story is much the same. violet being at the other end of the spectrum. and match heads often have a little red in them.

flagpole said:

red is at one end of the spectrum so is generally better at burning. anything from yellow upwards. as in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet

green is in the middle so will struggle to pop anything from orange to indigo. just leaving red balloons really.

it's not a hard and fast rule, just a guide, obviously if you have a 532nm megawatt weaponized laser it will burst a green balloon. i'm just saying for the OP that if he can't burst a balloon it may be the colour of the balloon.

Click to expand...

:wtf:
Please be sure the information you are posting is accurate, which in this case it is not. Black is the easiest to pop, and the SHORTER wavelengths have the most energy per photon, meaning violet is the best burner, then blue, green, yellow/orange, red, and finally IR. There is a technical explanation about this, and different surfaces abosrbing different wavelengths better than others, but you should not post blanket facts like that unless you have some type of reference to back it up.

kingdave2357 said:

:wtf:
Please be sure the information you are posting is accurate, which in this case it is not. Black is the easiest to pop, and the SHORTER wavelengths have the most energy per photon, meaning violet is the best burner, then blue, green, yellow/orange, red, and finally IR. There is a technical explanation about this, and different surfaces abosrbing different wavelengths better than others, but you should not post blanket facts like that unless you have some type of reference to back it up.

Click to expand...

Would my masters degree in physics from oxford be sufficient citation?

Lets be clear, the only point i was trying to make was that the colour of the balloon may be the OP's problem. I tried to offer a brief explanation of the background whilst making it clear that this was not exhaustive. i was very aware as i did this that, as a forum newbie, i was opening myself up for some 'forum expert' to come along and confuse my brevity for ignorance.

as for un cited facts, if you have any evidence to suggest that a red balloon absorbs less in the green than a black balloon i'd love to hear it. though as no scientific evidence for this exists i expect it will not be forthcoming. from a pragmatic sense it is very easy to believe that an optically dense deep red balloon will show higher absorption @ 532nm than a black balloon.

As for the fact that shorter wavelengths have higher energy per photon. as a fact this is obviously true, but since lighting a match or bursting a balloon are entirely un-quantised macro effects it is exclusively dependant incident radiation flux and the absorption coefficient. in short a 50mW beam contains 50mW's of energy flux regardless of the photon energy. if the photon energy is higher there are simply less photons.

I'm a pragmatist. colour is only relevant for burning in any real sense other than the way that it relates to absorption. I say red is good simply because it leaves more of the visible available, like i said anything shorter than orange. practically you can get a couple of hundred mW of of good red lasing far more easily than in the violet. and you never know what reflects or even floresces in the violet until you try... do phosphorus salts in a match head? dyes in balloons? i don't know, do you?

You should not post blanket facts like that unless you have some type of reference to back it up.

I'm just trying to help the OP. i have nothing to prove.

And more generally it is unwise to assume you are intellectually superior to anyone you don't know.

kingdave vs. flagpole
I love intellectual battles. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT. lol jk
I see your new flagpole. Welcome and do you have any lasers? I'm getting a 50mw one from LEDShoppe. Its coming in the mail.

yeah i have a few. There is a thread near the top of the green page about my shiny new cheap 200mW.

Like a say, i have nothing to prove. I'm not interested in arguing. I joined this forum today to be helpful. I'm not a great fan of being patronised, i don't think it's an appropriate way to treat people on a forum, especially when they've been a member for 12 hours. I don't like bullies. Fortunately i can look after myself.

I'll tell you a story about it if i have to.

No thanks. I'm here to learn about lasers and find out where to get the best lasers. People have asked me why do I think lasers are so cool. I have no idea why. I just seem to like it. Why do you like lasers?

i guess i like things that light up? Same reason i pay the fruities.

I studied condensed matter physics relatively recently, well 10 years ago and we couldn't make blue leds, or laser pointers, green laser pointers were just about available. I guess i'm amazed a bit by what has happened since. That having been said none of my former colleagues are that bothered.

flagpole said:

it's probably worth mentioning that a green laser will really only burst red balloons, and they need to be optically quite dark.

similarly a red laser will burst blue or green balloons.

Click to expand...

flagpole said:

red is at one end of the spectrum so is generally better at burning. anything from yellow upwards. as in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet
green is in the middle so will struggle to pop anything from orange to indigo. just leaving red balloons really.

it's not a hard and fast rule, just a guide, obviously if you have a 532nm megawatt weaponized laser it will burst a green balloon. i'm just saying for the OP that if he can't burst a balloon it may be the colour of the balloon.

Click to expand...

As far as this, Im not sure what im looking at, that period at the end the word burning, is it ment to be there, or a typo? Either way, it would be inaccurate, are you saying red is better at burning because its at the end of the spetrumPERIOD, or that 'red is better at burning anything from yellow up', where you mention RED as well as other colors?
Those Highlighted quotes is what I had an issue with, whether I read it wrong or not is irrelavent, I own several highpowerd red lasers and the LAST colored surface it will burn is RED, why??? Because it reflects the light, a surface needs to absorb the light to burn best, especially in this end of the spectrum.
Violet will burn white paper red will not.

Do you have any cited evidence that a 532nm laser will 'really only pop red balloons'? Im not saying it wont pop reds, just that it pops black ALOT easier.

In short, I as well have no desire in having long winded online arguments, and are a waste of my time, im simply making sure that the advice given is accurate.

EDIT: I do NOT feel superior to anyone on this forum, even the morons(i dont mean you so dont take offense), there alot more people on here that know more about these topics than I ever could. I just pass along what I have learned in my time here.

I do not wish to junk up the OP's thread with this, if you wish to continue the discussion, do so through PMs.