Rigo13
New member
- Joined
- May 7, 2021
- Messages
- 7
- Points
- 3
Hello everyone, Rigo13 here, currently based in Oxford, United Kingdom.
I got my first pen-style green laser pointer when I was 13 (probably 50-80mw) and immediately became fascinated with lasers and how they work. I started watching YouTube videos of what I considered crazy powerful (200-300mw) green lasers and pestered my parents to buy me one for Christmas. Of course nobody back then really knew about laser safety since you could buy the pen style ones for $5 in any fishing shop, and the 303 style pointers for around $40. When I got my ~200mw green I started burning everything around the house, etching plastics and experimenting with distance focusing. Back then, I stumbled upon styropyro's videos who always emphasised safety and started realising how lucky I was to still have my eyeballs intact. I got a bit frightened and started reading all the scary posts about laser accidents on this forum and learned a bunch about laser safety. Since you couldn't really find good safety glasses in my country, and good IR-filtered lasers were crazy expensive at that point, I decided to put my hobby to 'sleep', which is arguable a pretty mature decision for a 14yo. I also went and saw an eye doctor who confirmed that there were no signs of damage and resorted to admiring lasers on YouTube and on this forum.
Fast forward now, I'm 22 and just graduated from University, moving away from Oxford to London to complete a 1 year MSc course. Since this is the first summer I'll be completely free and with cash to spare, I decided to restart my beloved hobby. I'm both terrified and amazed at how laser tech evolved and how affordable some lasers have become. I've spent the past few months reading a bunch of stuff about safety and lasers in general, both on this forum and externally. I ordered a few pairs of safety glasses from SL as well as a 1.4W semi-build. I plan on using the next 5 months to learn as much as possible about lasers and hopefully make some exciting builds of my own.
I hope to be able to share with you how my hobby progresses and I hope to learn as much as possible from all of you!
P.S I'd appreciate if any of you know where to buy this style of laser (green ~200mw), for old times' sake .
I got my first pen-style green laser pointer when I was 13 (probably 50-80mw) and immediately became fascinated with lasers and how they work. I started watching YouTube videos of what I considered crazy powerful (200-300mw) green lasers and pestered my parents to buy me one for Christmas. Of course nobody back then really knew about laser safety since you could buy the pen style ones for $5 in any fishing shop, and the 303 style pointers for around $40. When I got my ~200mw green I started burning everything around the house, etching plastics and experimenting with distance focusing. Back then, I stumbled upon styropyro's videos who always emphasised safety and started realising how lucky I was to still have my eyeballs intact. I got a bit frightened and started reading all the scary posts about laser accidents on this forum and learned a bunch about laser safety. Since you couldn't really find good safety glasses in my country, and good IR-filtered lasers were crazy expensive at that point, I decided to put my hobby to 'sleep', which is arguable a pretty mature decision for a 14yo. I also went and saw an eye doctor who confirmed that there were no signs of damage and resorted to admiring lasers on YouTube and on this forum.
Fast forward now, I'm 22 and just graduated from University, moving away from Oxford to London to complete a 1 year MSc course. Since this is the first summer I'll be completely free and with cash to spare, I decided to restart my beloved hobby. I'm both terrified and amazed at how laser tech evolved and how affordable some lasers have become. I've spent the past few months reading a bunch of stuff about safety and lasers in general, both on this forum and externally. I ordered a few pairs of safety glasses from SL as well as a 1.4W semi-build. I plan on using the next 5 months to learn as much as possible about lasers and hopefully make some exciting builds of my own.
I hope to be able to share with you how my hobby progresses and I hope to learn as much as possible from all of you!
P.S I'd appreciate if any of you know where to buy this style of laser (green ~200mw), for old times' sake .