How old where you when..

How old where you when you bought or made your first laser?
How many lasers do you own now?

I was 12
I only own 3 lasers right now

Edit: I now own more than I can count.

13. Last October I bought an X100. I've used a few of those dollar store-pointers before, but I've never actually bought one.

When i was about 14 i bought a red bullet shaped pointer. That came in a case with about five different pattern caps, like a star and ...can't remember the rest??? That was 20 years ago

I was 12. I built a ruby laser as a science fair project. That was my intro to lasers. I always thought it was 14 but when I do the math I was only 12 because I was living on a U.S. Air Force base and it required approval from the officer in charge of the environmental health office at the base. At 14 I wasn't living there anymore.

I own probably 15-20 lasers now.

I've had little red cat toys as far back as I can remember I got my first REAL laser at 15. It was a 114mW 532nm CNI pen that I bought from Mr. Carter Haines ;D

$120 5mW 650nm laser pointer  in 1994 when I was 12. I had one at 630nm for $110 a couple years later, and a couple more around that time.  I feel out of the hobby for a few years in & out of high school, but then got back in it when I got my first 5mW green pointer for $100 about 4-5 years ago.   I own about 10 diode lasers now.

You should specify which kind of laser. As HumanSymphony said, I'm sure all of us have owned little 1mW/5mW red lasers from the dollar store when we were young.
I got my first green laser only a month or so before my 16th birthday.

FrothyChimp said:

I was 12. I built a ruby laser as a science fair project. That was my intro to lasers. I always thought it was 14 but when I do the math I was only 12 because I was living on a U.S. Air Force base and it required approval from the officer in charge of the environmental health office at the base. At 14 I wasn't living there anymore.

I own probably 15-20 lasers now.

Click to expand...

Holy CRAP!

How much did that cost, and what was the power of it?

-Mark

first made mine like 6 months ago? and i'm still 23.....

rocketparrotlet said:

[quote author=FrothyChimp link=1234469022/0#3 date=1234515561]I was 12. I built a ruby laser as a science fair project. That was my intro to lasers. I always thought it was 14 but when I do the math I was only 12 because I was living on a U.S. Air Force base and it required approval from the officer in charge of the environmental health office at the base. At 14 I wasn't living there anymore.

I own probably 15-20 lasers now.

Click to expand...

Holy CRAP!

How much did that cost, and what was the power of it?

-Mark[/quote]

I have no clue what the actual output power of the laser was but it was almost 1 Gillette in relative terms. The most expensive thing was the flashlamp. I got the ruby rod on loan from the manufacturer because it was a science fair project (provided it was returned in one piece.) The pulse forming network (I didn't know that was what it was called until years later) was very straight forward. My cavity reflector was a hairspray can I cut and polished on the inside.

I bought a 1mW red pointer when i was maybe 10 or 11, but I built (and subsequently broke) my first violet and red lasers last year - age 14 - and built my "surviving" Dorcy build just before my 15th birthday.

One of my old teachers built a tabletop dye laser out of mostly household parts at university level (probably in his early 20's) but he was an absolute genius (and madman!).

Mohrenberg said:

first made mine like 6 months ago? and i'm still 23.....

Click to expand...

Shoot, I made my first one about a month ago! and Yes I am 23 as well!

HumanSymphony said:

I've had little red cat toys as far back as I can remember I got  my first REAL laser at 15. It was a 114mW 532nm CNI pen that I bought from Mr. Carter Haines ;D

Click to expand...

Anyone hear of Carter lately?
He still owes me a RPl/Prometheus Adjustable output tailcap, :O
He hasn't replied to my messages, :\

vcw said:

[quote author=HumanSymphony link=1234469022/0#4 date=1234519703]I've had little red cat toys as far back as I can remember I got  my first REAL laser at 15. It was a 114mW 532nm CNI pen that I bought from Mr. Carter Haines ;D

Click to expand...

Anyone hear of Carter lately?
He still owes me a RPl/Prometheus Adjustable output tailcap, :O
He hasn't replied to my messages, :\[/quote]
All I know is that he has been very busy lately, When I bought my 170mW CNI from him last year there were some communication problems because he was so busy, but he made up for them.

Also, if your deal was over paypal file a dispute to get his attention. How are you contacting him? If it is through LPF PMs, he might not be getting your messages, try sending messages to his actual email address.

I go on Gtalk and talk to him from there, and I've also sent him a couple emails, no luck. :\
This transaction was on August, but I don't want to bring up a mess opening a dispute.

Damn... i can't imagine some of you spending >$100 on a laser being only 12+ years old. Am I the only cheap one on this site? My first was a True Green 30mW from DX last year (I was 15). Since then, I tried building LPC and PHR lasers and I broke 4 diodes (2 each). Within these past two weeks, I managed to make my first two working pointers (one PHR set at 125mA and one red set at 420mA. I used DDL type circuit and a washer heatsink for one, no heatsink for the other - as I said, I'm cheap. I even used crap hosts - just a plastic box for one and a rusted old metal bar for the other because I'm too cheap to buy some nice hosts + heatsinks). At least they finally work!! Now all I need are some goggles. I know I'm an idiot, but I've been shining all my lasers indoors w/o goggles. I even burned a few matches + electrical tape w/o goggles - I know, I don't know WHAT i was thinking at the time. I was too anxious. Now, I'm gonna try to only shine outside at night, at least until I save up for some goggles.

Edit: BTW, does anyone know the cheapest place for some decent goggles? I haven't seen anything in the GB section these days. I was thinking about getting these zonestealth ones but I don't know if they're any good or not. I.E. http://www.laser2go.com/MW.htm and http://www.laser2go.com/650g.htm . And another question, do these goggles basically just not let light through? If so, then whats the point of the laser if you are just gonna wear goggles and not actually see anything? I mean, I have one pair of goggles which came w/ a cheap $10 red laser leveler. Ironically it doesn't block red lasers but it does block my green 30mW one greatly. I wasn't sure if thats how goggles work or not, but if so, I don't see what the point is then of lasers.