What do you guys use your lasers for?

[DJNY]

I use them for testing them on my laserpowermeter and I don´t think that there are other possibilities of using.

 

[Trevor]

If you gotta ask; you don't get it......................

Prettymuch sums it up.

Lasers just fascinate me.

-Trevor

 

[Eidetic]

How do you use a laser to collimate your scope? I have always used a pin-hole adapter in the eye piece, but am interested in possibly using one of my lasers for said task.

Google "laser collimator". A bit of digging and you'll find simple instructions on how to mount a pen type pointer for the application.:beer:

 

[styropyro]

I use lasers to show the "unenlightened" how cool high powered lasers are on YouTube. Other than that I don't really have a good use for them besides enjoying the beam and building stronger lasers. It's hard to explain, the hobby just attracts people for some unknown reason. Kaiser's post pretty much sums it up.

 

[Eidetic]

Another thing I've done with my laser beam is to use it as a remote switch for the street lights in the area. Mount a red laser to the house, hit the detector on top of the streetlight with the beam (be aware of what's beyond the target when you do this!), and bolt it in place. It takes a very little amount of laser light to make the streetlight think it's high noon! Some of us like it dark at night.

 

[Trevor]

Another thing I've done with my laser beam is to use it as a remote switch for the street lights in the area. Mount a red laser to the house, hit the detector on top of the streetlight with the beam (be aware of what's beyond the target when you do this!), and bolt it in place. It takes a very little amount of laser light to make the streetlight think it's high noon! Some of us like it dark at night.

If the sensors pick up IR (or near IR... hopefully 780nm or 808nm would work), this would be a very unobtrusive (if not evil) way to keep streetlights from coming on, if the laser is cycled properly.

Would be nice to use if a streetlight was ruining your outdoor beamshots.

-Trevor

 

[Eidetic]

If the sensors pick up IR (or near IR... hopefully 780nm or 808nm would work), this would be a very unobtrusive (if not evil) way to keep streetlights from coming on, if the laser is cycled properly.

Would be nice to use if a streetlight was ruining your outdoor beamshots.

-Trevor

Works best with IR.

 

[Eidetic]

So, I jumped on the WL S3 band wagon as soon as I laid eyes on it. This will be my first high powered laser if/when WL ever gets around to shipping. I've always wanted a burning laser, so it wasn't a hard choice. I knew I wanted to own it, but am not really sure what I will use it for. Of course popping balloons and cutting trash bags is fun, but I could see that getting boring fast. What do you guys use your lasers for? Is it just for fun or what?

Thanks!

Lot's of suggestions here have nothing to do with 445nm or high power. Read the safety section sticky. A person with no experience handling 20mW should not be in control of 200mW, much less 800. It's your responsibility to be the exception to the rule.

 

[TriGun5312]

I understand that 445nm is going to be dangerous and I have been doing as much research into safety as possible. This really seems like a neat hobby that I have been meaning to get into since I failed to make a laser pointer out of a DVD burner back in college (never got around to finishing after exams). Cut to many years later and the WL S3 and it all came flooding back. I understand that many people on the forums are pissed that newbs like me are buying this laser without experience, but I do plan on using this responsibly and I think it makes a great starting point in the hobby. Since learning about this forum I have already made plans to start building a DIY laser and seriously getting into the hobby. I was just wondering if there were any cool uses for lasers that I hadn't thought of. I also wanted to hopefully justify playing with lasers to the wife... I'd love to be able to say, "but baby, its for SCIENCE!", but I doubt she'd buy it.

 

[hakzaw1]

Its one thing to read that the laser is now considered by many to be a more significant invention than the lightbulb--but quite another to own such a marvelous invention.

Believe it or not-- I was asked yesterday(in person) by an employee at AixiZ after expainling the Casio projector deal---'then what do you do with the laser after you build it?' So I said 'you get another laser' and told him some of us are nm collectors--not happy til we own them all!!!!!

Two other employees there are not, apparently, 'into' lasers either. Just a job to them, I guess. I am applying for a job there. I am INTO lasers.

Plz do not ask me WHY!!

hakzaw

 

[Eidetic]

If it wasn't laser beams, it would be flashlight beams and the "big dogs" would be using searchlights. Same attraction to me. I think it started in my grandfathers dusty old barn/garage near the Cedar Rapids airport, with sunbeams piercing the roof. Magical! I think appreciation of rainbows is part of the same thing. Is it Mothism?

Set up a small heliostat and shoot a sunbeam into the garage, or through a basement window. Hit a grating or big prism with it. Read about the history of experimentation with light. Burn things with lenses and mirrors!

 

[hakzaw1]

Speaking about AixiZ go to my thread here and look at post #18--http://laserpointerforums.com/f65/new-update-aixiz-ft-405-445nm-glass-lenses-hak-51985.html

I saw a show on TV about traffic gridlock-- And as I KNEW all along-- the idiots that tailgate and zip from lane to lane, in order to get 'somewhere' quicker than the rest of us actually cause gridlock and ironically make all of us get 'there' later and put us into extremely dangerous situations. These fools need an intervention by friends and family as it is no secret that they are like that and thier road rage is a mental illness.
OFF topic but important like the above linkage.

Len

 

[Exerd]

Is it Mothism?

Monotheism?

I'm guessing that's what you mean.

I saw a show on TV about traffic gridlock-- And as I KNEW all along-- the idiots that tailgate and zip from lane to lane, in order to get 'somewhere' quicker than the rest of us actually cause gridlock and ironically make all of us get 'there' later and put us into extremely dangerous situations.

What about those grannies that sit in the left lane and ignore the 23 cars behind her that cannot pass? Isn't that where road rage actually begins?

I have to admit that I cannot handle people that just do dumb shit on the road. I was just driving through town. One lady cuts me off, just to get in an open lane, and then go 5mph slower than I was going, and had no reason to be in that lane.

Another lady cuts me off, I lay on my horn as she was going to scrape paint on my car, and she proceeds just to back me off so that she can get into my lane and take the turn which she didn't prepare for.

The other night at Tacobell, the lady at the microphone decides to put it into reverse, and backs right into me with her new Buick. I asked her if she ever manages to look behind her when she backs up, and she told me that it wasn't her fault, because it was a new car, and she isn't used to people sitting so close behind her. It was a drive through!

IDIOTS!!!

...And they don't have to drive fast to be one, that's for sure.

Maybe a "laser fan" that I wave across these peoples' mirrors would help alert them that someone is there. Or it would make them crash, one of the two. :evil:

 

[Eidetic]

Monotheism?

I'm guessing that's what you mean.

No, I meant Mothism ... as in a theology of moths. I may have just started a religion.:angel::undecided:

 

[PornoSatan]

I still haven't got over the simple amazement of how far you can throw a laser dot on something. My life will be complete when I can manage to hit something say 10 miles away without having an 12 foot divergance or whatever. Don't really care for burning stuff.

 

[millirad]

Then you should change you screen name to milliradian or divergence. LOL