"Pman special"

I was trying to think of some things that I've run into that are worth the $.

First of all let me say that everyone should really take some time to look through all the stuff that Fasttech offers and I'm not just talking about laser stuff although their 532nm modules are an absolute steel (actually more like brass I think).
Those single white AAA pens are also a tremendous bargain and fantastic gifts for handing out when you show someone your lasers. Can't even begin to telly you easy it is to stun someone by showing them a tiny 532nm that is anywhere from about 30 to 90mw for $8 bucks and it has a star cap. If you ever buy one and don't care about the plastic case, remember that there's 2 tiny magnets in it you can scavenge.
Part of the big deal with them is you will usually get your stuff in 2 weeks and no matter how little it costs, shipping is free. They take paypal which is a big plus in my book.
Will say though that like all the other Chinese places, they are off now until the 7th.

If you live in the US, you can get a 3 pack 3 color lasers from seller
cjy3271788 shipped free and across country in about 4 days for a very good price and they are Pman approved. I just took a look and thought the price had gone up but then realized it was for 2 sets at $25.60. He used to be a different seller that shipped from China but then came to the states and started having them shipped to him in California. For a short time, his supplier tried to hose him over with an inferior product but I caught it and informed him and he got it straightened out and now they are the same ones that I show in my focusing pen tutorial. I've tried many others but his are the most consistent. I mean, hard to beat 6 pens with great output for under $5 each. You use the 532nm as they are (lots of IR), and turn the 650 and 405 units into fully focusable units so you can do the basic burning and balloon popping tricks with them besides for potential lumia kit stuff.
Haven't bought anything from O-like in some time but they have a very inexpensive nice heavy feeling unit that is fully focusable as is that has dramatic output increases by moving up to using a single 10440 with spacer. I'm taking about the 2 units I had bought at $12 each going from about 125mw with 2 AAA alkalines to 215mw! Holy increase in output batman!!!
100mW 650nm red laser pen/ focusable /Pop balloons.
Right now they only show 594 units in stock


Something I bought from Fasttech that I like a lot is the complete set of 8 ceramic screwdrivers (have to purchase individually). They make it easy to adjust stuff like the tiny pots on boards wthout the risk of shorting anything (trust me, I've done it).

Fasttech also sells "dummy cells" for AAA and AA that are the least expensive I have ever seen. They don't call them that though. They call them "Placeholders" and are located in more than one spot as they have black ones and yellow ones. It's too bad they don't sell other ones BUT they sell a wide variety of adapters to make all kinds of different batteries fit the size of other batteries. Do yourself a favor and take a look. It will surprise you how many crazy adapters they have.

The o-rings that I've sent out were also Fasttech items but will say that annoyingly the small 20 pack ones that say they are glow in the dark aren't. They look like they should be but they don't.

Those MXDL lights that lots of people use for builds (especially the longer ones) are cheaper at Fasttech than anywhere else I have seen. They really do make a nice host although I with they didn't come with the clip attached as it always leaves a scrape mark on the unit and the build will look "cleaner" without it on. $3.21 each.


Too many inexpensive flashlights for builds on Fasttech to mention. Suggest having it show lowest to highest price lights and just start looking through them.

If you are looking to see what a spyro is like and just want something to mess with then something like
Hot Mini Projector R&G DJ Disco Light Stage Xmas Party Laser Lighting Show for about $20 is pretty cool from ebay


Always save the extra pieces/parts from builds you do and try to separate stuff into categories. Never know when you will find something that fits on something else or need an obscure part.

There's so much stuff at Harbor freight in pieces/parts that you can start collecting such as spring kits and grommet kits and copper washer kits and rolls of heat shrink tubing and o-rings and 100 packs of razor blades and $1 epoxy etc...
In every car magazine I get there's always coupons for free stuff such as lights and screwdrivers and multimeter's and 20% off coupons etc. Hey, if the stuff is free it's free so why not. I own very expensive top of the line Fluke meters and you would think why would I care about a cheap free meter. Well, each one of my cars gets to carry one. Will say that you need to be very careful using a cheapo meter as switching through the wrong thing could cause the it to blow apart on you so always select what you want to read and then take the reading. DON'T switch the dial while taking a reading for safety sake
They also have a nice little pack of neo magnets (Fasttech has some nice sizes though).

Sorry I keep coming back to Fasttech but there's just too much good stuff I keep thinking of. If you buy the 10 pack of fart bombs DON'T set one off in your own house Lol. I set one off at our shop on a Monday morning in the mens room and everyone that came into the building was complaining about how terrible the sewer smell was while I was laughing so hard on the inside I had to walk away from everyone.

I have lots of other things I could mention for cool projects but I might step on someones toes and I'm not out to make anyone mad that I released a source for something.

There's some really great Lumia stuff to mess with and you should take a look in the laser shows category thread stuff. My friend Len (Hak) sells kits for Lumia stuff and he's a great guy.

Look around you all the time for interesting things for potential laser builds and you never know what you'll find. Every store I go in I keep my eyes open. Have seen some pretty cool off beat lights in places like auto parts stores.

Try to have fun and keep things in perspective. Remember, lasers are NOT a need and it's easy to get carried away with the spending. That's why when things get tight, have little fun projects you can mess with such as spyro or lumia stuff as there's always something else to try. It's good to have a few inexpensive 532nm modules sitting around as they always impress even at relatively low outputs. It never gets old for me seeing even a 25mw greenie beaming in the dark and you can put them in weird things like an altoids box.

405nm are lots of fun if you have a big glow in the dark piece of paper or wall or something. Krylon sells a spray called "Glowz" that is I think about $7 on Amazon that has gotten some not too great reviews but I actually like it a lot. The main complaint I believe is the glow doesn't last long. The glow when a 405nm hits it is really bright at first and then goes away in a descent enough time to make it fun to keep drawing on it with your laser. I've actually been thinking of trying to spray it on a really big piece of "blackout" cloth that I have that I have that I have on standby in case I wanted to throw up a portable white screen somewhere. It's just a white piece of kind of heavy material that you would find at any fabric store. Usually used to block light at a window. I think maybe you attach it (like sew it) to the back of drapes.
I think the piece I have is at least 5 feet wide by 10 feet long. Can't imagine how cool it would be to have that hung up high above my projection screen and rolled up with a heavy bar/weight on the bottom. Untie a strap and let it open down and it would be covered with the Glowz spray paint for a giant canvas to write 405 on.
Could just take a piece of gypsum board and spray it on that. All I know is that when I sprayed a few coasts on full size sheet of photo paper and showed my daughter she thought it was awesome.

Fog machines are very inexpensive and can be found from party stores to online retailers and a little goes a long way inside a house. Bubble machines are kinda cool too.

Want to get serious about fun and really blow people away, laser projector is the answer. For the price of an expensive handheld or two you can own a laser projector that brings the cool factor up 100 fold. Try one with a little fog in the room and wow. Try one with a little fog in the room and sit in the middle of the receiving end with a card or something held up to sheild eyes from a direct hit and be ready for a surreal in the middle of the action laser trip. I currently own an LK-PD2 that was purchased in GB#3 through Hak and it has built in effects that are awesome. Getting the Quickshow program to create my own shows and stuff this week. The program is expensive but worth every penny once you see how powerful it is. You can get a demo of it to try after submitting your info. to Pangolin. They will give you a "key" to allow you to mess with the program without having a projector. There's also an absolutely fantastic tutorial online broken down into many parts.

I'll add more things as I can think of them if anyone is interested. I am in no way shape or form trying to sell anyone anything. Just sharing some experiences and deals.

Oh yeah Dremel. Highly suggest the 8200-2/28 as it is their most powerful portable and comes with 2 batteries (8200 is the one battery unit). Honestly wish I had 2 of them I like it so much. Have a couple of wired ones as backup but why bother when this one is so good.

Uranium crackled 1" marbles are cool but hard to find.

Recommend a good charger like the intellicharger i2 and i4 as they are MUCH safer than those cheapo ones that come with units and can individually charge a wide variety of different cell types and voltages all at the same time.

Ice cream. I eat ice cream every night

Have lint free clothes around especially when handling any plastic lens as they scratch if you even think about them scratching. Just want to be able to place the lens on something that won't scratch it.

Even if you don't need glasses for seeing close up, those cheap ones you can find everywhere that magnify are great to wear when working on the small stuff that we mess with (hopefully I'm not wrong about that).

K, I'm too tired of typing any more so I'll stop for now.

Some of these things may not seem to directly relate to the "Pman special" but they do relate to the "Pman" Lol

Been seeing those little disco rg pj all over eBay. For twenty buck it seems cool to just rip apart and see whats going on.

Bingo!

Oh yeah, there's also this really inexpensive stuff I think I got at Walmart in the craft section
PLAID "Glo-away" glow in the dark gel that is pretty cool
It glows until you wash it off. Says you can use it on washable fabric and surfaces. Expose with bright light (or 405nm). Remove with soap and water.
Glows pretty good.

I got one of those $20 spyro units and it's like having a red and green starry pens that turn on there own. I opened it up and it's just a red and green module and a motor driven diffraction plate. The first one is driven by a geared motor and the 2nd is glued to the front panel. Don't think I'll tear it apart yet as it is fun to watch.

Pman I can hit a Harbor Freight store with a rock from my back yard. There is so much there. I could spend a day in that place! I got my step drill there for $4.99.
I wish the Fast Tech store was next to it.

Lol 4.99 good old harbor freight . Good for stuff like pman said o rings and such. Pulled some tools out of there that lasted just as long as brand names. But some......not so much..but for the price they are expendable.

Harbor freight has a 5 pack of metal "picks" with different angles/points on them that are extremely handy. Mine say item#01816-4CYA

The tools are a mish-mash of good and bad. Because I use tools everyday, I have moderately expensive stuff (not snap-on stuff) such as Klein and Knipex etc... They are good when you need that once in a while tool so you don't have to spend a fortune. Those spring kits they sell are what gives you the ability to add whatever length you need to a module to take up space to the battery in the host. Just have to make sure the spring isn't going to contact the inside of the host which can be done with shrink tubing and grommets like I show in the tutorial. Plenty of other ways too but since I discovered the grommett thing that's what I use now becuase it's quick and works great.
Those bug zapper rackets they sell are kinda cool but be careful as they kill remote controls!
What drives me crazy about the place is stuff can be just about anywhere and it's way too easy to spend big $ if you aren't careful.
I use to buy some of their off brand dremel stuff but found that it can't compete in quality with the actual dremel bits. You can however buy a really inexpensive dremel type unit there if you need something.
Gave so much stuff away that I could use a few things Lol.
Yeah, too bad Fasttech doesn't exist here. Keep telling people they really need to spend some time on that site to see all they offer.
By the way, the Chinese holiday stuff is til the 7th. I originally wrote the 9th above but just checked and changed it.
Hoping my Pangolin Quickshow software is going to show up today.

I had forgotten about your package Gismo. Looks like everyone got their stuff (hadn't heard any complaints so that's what I am assuming). Considering I don't have any more B68 lights that aren't already built into lasers that's a good thing and tmackbb4 will get his stuff today. Yes, I know he wasn't on the original list but as I've said before, I do as my heart leads and put a bunch of stuff together for him. Kind of funny in a way since I was going to remove Lazerbeak from the list as he is my best friend on here and I send him stuff regardless. Didn't have any hosts left I could send tmack so his package is only the same as far as all the small pieces/parts go. Kinda funny what I threw in the box as I was looking around for things to send. PLEASE no one get jealous of what someone else may receive! It's just me doing my "thing".
My general philosophy on giving is to be able to give without expecting anything in return. Absolutely no strings attached.
I kind of hate to mention this one but you shouldn't completely put your trust in any man as you will be disappointed. Everyone makes mistakes and we all let others down including ourselves so we should know better than to put our faith there.

Those Spyro units (even a cheap single color one) are pretty interesting to play with. The patterns you can make are VERY surprising. Hak told me about the cheapest ones he had seen that had a red laser and I bought 3 and gave them one to each of my kids and one to my daughters future husband. It may have only had one color but it had a demo mode where it would keep changing the pattern on its own as well as a DIY mode where you could change the speeds of 2 motors and also reverse them for quite the show. You can take them apart and rebuild and scavenge parts from them.
Seller is Newbooklots and they are $14 each free shipping out of N.Y. N.Y. Takes 3 AAA not included. I highly recommend this little unit.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pocket-Laser-Light-Show-Portable-Mini-Laser-GREAT-PARTY-FAVOR-/281036184083?pt=US_Other_Stage_Lighting&hash=item416f0fda13#ht_719wt_1141
What's interesting about these also is just how small the laser module is.

I don't have an expensive variable DC power supply. The one I bought was the same one I saw that Blord has and it works just fine for what I use it for. Can't even imagine how many times I've used it in conjunction with my LPM to adjust pots on those Fasttech modules. What I do when I get a bunch of the 532nm modules is to grab one of the ceramic screwdrivers, hook up the module leads to the power supply set at 3.2V allready and adjust the pot CCW until it draws .43amp as I've found that is generally a setting the modules can handle for a large output gain. I've had $5 modules go over 140mw. You can tell the ones that don't like it pretty easily as they will go bright for 1/2 a second and drop dramatically down so I usually set them back to .3amps or so and mess around with the pot. The important thing is to let them cool down for a few minutes before retesting.
The unit is just a YH-305D and in reality is a piece of crap but it works fine for what I use it for. Think it was only about $65 shipped. The little banana plugs with alligator clips that come with it couldn't get much cheaper and they fit the sockets really crappy so I just use my Fluke stuff. If you buy one, I would open it up and make sure everything is "stable" inside (as in secured properly).

Look, I'm not at all expecting anyone to go out and buy all this stuff, it's just me babbling about what I use and what has come in handy.
I use the top of our dryer to solder stuff on and still solder old school style with inexpensive "stick" irons and gigger trigger ones. Really an odd thing that I don't have a nice soldering station..... hmmmm..... nead to go back to work and make some money..... hmmm...

For labelling my units I just have a couple of Brother label makers. You can get lots of colored tapes but I just use a clear that prints black writing, white with black writing and yellow with black writing. Every single unit I own has a label with peak output sticker on it. Many also have warning labels from nick. Best way to put them on is to first clean the area with 91% Isopropyl Alcohol.

Using epoxy requires you to mix it properly. Try to get as even a mix of glue and hardener as you can and always mix more than you need. I premix with something like the end of a brush (stick end) and then take a razor blade and spread it out over itself again and again to get it thoroughly mixed. Then I use a different razor or whatever to actually apply the glue to both halves before pressing together. ALWAYS a good thing to roughen both surfaces first for much more surface area and far better grip than flat surfaces.

I will mention to remember that the copper sheeting I sent has adhesive on the one side and if you are going to use it as a conductor you MUST remove the initial glue where you start to wrap it completely or it's not going to conduct. It's a pain in the butt to do it. If anyone finds an easy way, I would sure like to know. What I do is lay it flat and scrape back and forth with a razor hard unitl I get it off the section that will touch the module. I then also give a quick scraping to the non-adhesive side to make it shiny. You cna helpo flatten it out by draggin something across the copper hard like the outside edge of scissors (non-cutting part) against soething as it likes to get ridges and bumps in it. Be careful with the edge of the copper as it will cut you real easy. Need to wrap it over itself as tightly as you can and then you can also do the little trick I do to take up any space in the wrap. Just cut a thin strip and scrape off all the glue. Cut little pieces and shove them into wherever they will fit between the layers to make everything really tight.

K, think that's enough blah blah blah for now. Not trying to insult anyone by describing things in simple terms. It's just better to do it that way because there's less questions later and how am I supposed to know who knows what.

I'm not the answer man and I'm just trying to be helpful. Just because I am writing all this stuff out doesn't mean I think I'm better than anyone else so no one should take it that way. I get questions all the time about how I do things so why not throw it out here.


In another more important note personally I am feeling a lot better today so far. Passed a stone last night at about 9 and that was what was causing most of my really bad pain after they took the stent out.
Hard to believe that this

Felt like

Hey. My collection. Great to hear Pman. Hope the little bit of relief lasts. Can't wait to get home today! Anticipation! Looking to get a new soldering iron. Any good units come to mind?

I think there's a good thread on soldering irons and recommendations. I need to spend the money on a serious one but that's not going to happen when I'm not back to work yet.
Too many projects, so little time. My brain never stops thinking of stuff top mess with.
I've got one particular project in mind that is a spin off of something jayrob did. Everyone should look at the great stuff he comes up with and buy his kits. I may talk about stores to get stuff from but there are so many great "professional" builders/suppliers on here to check out.
Wannaburnstuff wrote out the list of what people have to offer in a great thread.
I WANT our members here to be supported big time regardless of the places I mention.

Remember all, it's a new month and a donation of ANY size is appreciated. I find it sad that so much money changes hands here and it seems to be so hard for Coldshadow to reach his monthly goal.
For me, this is the only forum I'm active in so it means a lot to me.


By the way, this is my prized "Lazerbeak special" My good friend honored me with the complete module (including the preset driver and G2 lens). I was beyond floored by his generosity and haven't gotten over the shock yet. Looks like the polished aluminum could use a shine.



113mw of beautiful 520nm woohooooooo

520 vs. 532 at about the same power


He also sent me an incredible big custom host that I have wrapped up for something special at some point. Just didn't know what to say so I officially knighted him and he is now Sir Lazerbeak Lol.

There are great members here but the 2 I talk with the most are Lazerbeak and hakzaw. These guys are REAL friends even though I've never met them. This is friendship that has absolutely NOTHING to do with anyone giving me something. It may not be right for me to say this but REP them when you can. These guys understand giving.
Hak is in Texas and LB is in California. Unfortunately I'm in upstate N.Y.

Pman, I know the copper tape I used the glue will peel up and get hard when a torch is passed over it. I don't think most people have torches but a regular lighter might do the trick. I'll give it a go with the copper sheet I got in the baggy to see what happens.
Sounds like it will be easier than the scrape technique.

Man, I've got to go try that. I've got everything from matches to Oxy/Acetylene
I'll try it too and report back. That copper sheeting is really expensive stuff so hopefully you won't mess yours up. I'm starting to get down on the amount I have left. I would have liked to ghave given a lot more of it to you guys but as I said, I'm running low.
Saved all the little extra pieces though so I can try it and not be concerned with losing some.

A butane lighter didn't seem to work too well.
MAPP gas set the glue on fire and made the copper look really crappy and really didn't work that well either

I tried liquid nitrogen and accidently dropped the piece and it shattered.... Just kidding. Man I would love to have a bunch of liquid nitrogen! Don't think Fasttech sells it

Oxy/Acetylene Is probably a bit much. Butane won't melt Cu too readily so that's what I used (you CAN melt it but you really have to be trying, smooth passes won't). Also I saw that you solder on the dryer. If you want a little more freedom, the bottom platter that you see ceramic pots on works wonders! I picked one up from Michael's for a few bucks just because I was already there but I'm sure they can be found else where.

I was sorta koking and not sorta joking about the soldering thing. I've got stuff like that I can solder that I put on top of the drier but not always

Got to take a shower as I decided to try the "Glowz" spray on the blackout cloth idea and it seems like it might work out great. Think I got it at Lowes but I can order it from Amazon if I have too. Don't want to though as I have the cloth now sitting on the garage floor and I would like to put one of the cars back in it.
Maybe I'll just "glowz" one of the cars Lol

Do some glowing hypno wheels! Going to get my powder today in the mail. Going to see if I can hit the grooves on my msssw without ruining it

Yeah, I tried to get some in the grooves of the 520nm above but I really need to redo it better.

Thanks Antharak for the Marble and especially the Trinitite
Did you know that I was a USN (medically retired after 10 years) Nuclear Reactor Operator?
Cool item. At first I thought maybe they might be the worlds largest kidney stones Lol
Besides for being a Nuclear Reactor Operator I was also in charge of shipping radioactive waste from reactors and maintenance, Quality control, and Nuclear maintenance. Received a Navy Achievement Medal for rewriting the Navys Nuclear Maintenance training manual program when I was on board a sub tender about 7 years after being in and operating reactors.
I know that Kap is an ex nuke too. Not sure what type though as there were MM, EM, and ET types (I was an ET).

Just checked and see that tmacks package is out for delivery

Sprayed enough "Glowz" paint in my garage to coat the inside of my lungs and everything in the room (at least it feels that way) even wearing a mask.

Found the "Glowz" paint at Walmart for $5 a can. Shouldn't have opened the garage door to the house, the smell is everywhere now and my wife will be home in a minute....

They deliver around 330 on my street. Once I get home from work I'm diving in. Lol thanks so much PMAN. I can't wait!

That Black-out cloth project with the "Glowz" actually turned out great Still stinks pretty bad though so not completely dry. The piece I painted is 4.5' x 9' so it's pretty big. Thinking about sewing a weight across the bottom and rolling it up back above the screen above where you see the air to air heat exchanger duct (hard to see because it's painted flat black but behind the upper center channels) where you wouldn't see it and then when I want some 405 fun, unroll it.