Hello everyone.
After my newest 445 diode fried within 10 seconds using the micro-flex-drive instead of a 'home-made' driver (which have always served me well until I over current the buggers on purpose and suffer the consequences). I realised (and this shows the psychology of lasers on the functioning brain and I have five science degrees, two post grad- no four post grad degrees and a doctorate so you'd think I'd be up there in the annals of critical thinking) that a LD costs around £35, plus the driver around £15 and then the casing which I make on a lathe, although I get the Al bar for free it must be around £15 plus the time it takes(£65 + tme). So why not buy a ready made for £75 which is guaranteed to work? I found a 1W 447 nm ready made at Dino_Direct (Honk Kong) which is now part of main land China, much to Lord Patten's chagrin.
Any how Dino Direct phoned me at midnight two days after the order was placed to tell me there would be a slight delay in delivery (I thought this was strange but a nice customer care advantage so I wouldn't give negative feedback). It then took a week for me to get the confirmation e-mail that it had been dispatched. I was worrying up till then about whether I'd been scammed. This is what lasers do to our brains. Why? They are just a process of the photo-electric effect and we suspend all rational thought about them at some level. Why do we buy them? I use them in my teaching (I am a physics lecturer and the teaching laser is a large 1 mW 653 HeNe laser) so I use them in the Michelson interferometer, the spectrometer and the speed of light measurement as well as demonstrating the photelectric effect. Well that is my excuse. Anyhow the laser arrived on Friday (I wasn't in) so I picked it up Saturday morning. It came with a charger I wasn't expecting that(?) but it needed an AC adaptor (a shaving plug worked well and cost £1 that same morning from the electrical supply shop). By the way, have I won the prize for the most usage of parentheses? So I was quite chuffed with the new 'tailor-made' laser I suppose I have been vanquished from the laser forums. I also paid for a haircut that same morning and I look like an old twat. I am writing this as I am watching 'Threads' (Dir Mike Jackson[him of Lord of the Rings fame]) about a nuclear war and what happens afterwards- very depressing. It is folks like us guys and gals who have skills which would be useful in a post apocalyptic world. So making lasers is a guarantee of our future. Stay focused people.
After my newest 445 diode fried within 10 seconds using the micro-flex-drive instead of a 'home-made' driver (which have always served me well until I over current the buggers on purpose and suffer the consequences). I realised (and this shows the psychology of lasers on the functioning brain and I have five science degrees, two post grad- no four post grad degrees and a doctorate so you'd think I'd be up there in the annals of critical thinking) that a LD costs around £35, plus the driver around £15 and then the casing which I make on a lathe, although I get the Al bar for free it must be around £15 plus the time it takes(£65 + tme). So why not buy a ready made for £75 which is guaranteed to work? I found a 1W 447 nm ready made at Dino_Direct (Honk Kong) which is now part of main land China, much to Lord Patten's chagrin.
Any how Dino Direct phoned me at midnight two days after the order was placed to tell me there would be a slight delay in delivery (I thought this was strange but a nice customer care advantage so I wouldn't give negative feedback). It then took a week for me to get the confirmation e-mail that it had been dispatched. I was worrying up till then about whether I'd been scammed. This is what lasers do to our brains. Why? They are just a process of the photo-electric effect and we suspend all rational thought about them at some level. Why do we buy them? I use them in my teaching (I am a physics lecturer and the teaching laser is a large 1 mW 653 HeNe laser) so I use them in the Michelson interferometer, the spectrometer and the speed of light measurement as well as demonstrating the photelectric effect. Well that is my excuse. Anyhow the laser arrived on Friday (I wasn't in) so I picked it up Saturday morning. It came with a charger I wasn't expecting that(?) but it needed an AC adaptor (a shaving plug worked well and cost £1 that same morning from the electrical supply shop). By the way, have I won the prize for the most usage of parentheses? So I was quite chuffed with the new 'tailor-made' laser I suppose I have been vanquished from the laser forums. I also paid for a haircut that same morning and I look like an old twat. I am writing this as I am watching 'Threads' (Dir Mike Jackson[him of Lord of the Rings fame]) about a nuclear war and what happens afterwards- very depressing. It is folks like us guys and gals who have skills which would be useful in a post apocalyptic world. So making lasers is a guarantee of our future. Stay focused people.
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