Favorite Laser Pointer Uses

[julianthedragon]

I have a very simple question. No this is not an attempt to troll, I am genuinely curious

What are your favorite practical uses for your handheld lasers?

I'm not talking about specialized scientific uses that are inaccessible to the average hobbyist. Of course lasers have many uses and applications in fields like medicine, optics, etc and that's great but I'm interested to see if anyone has a neat everyday use that is lesser known?
These things are very powerful and unique devices that relatively few people own, so I believe naturally they should have some untapped potential to be practical in creative ways (besides balloon popping, astonomy pointing, presentations, common youtube video stuff).

Here are some ideas to get the thread started:
1. I've used my 200mw 405nm to manually serate plastic packages in the house that are hard to open. By quickly burning a line in the plastic but leaving it intact, it's now easy to rip open the packages without looking around for a pair of scissors.
2. I saw somebody on this forum say that they used a multiwatt laser to weld a small plastic toy back together for their kid. I forgot exactly which thread this was in but it was super interesting to me because it represents a way for lasers to be used to create rather than burn/destroy like usual.
3. Using a 405 to excite glow in the dark objects and a powerful red laser to erase them

Hopefully we can discover some clever everyday uses from each other

 

[Encap]

See:
https://laserpointerforums.com/threads/practical-uses-for-lasers.85749/

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/what-do-you-use-your-lasers-61918.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/what-do-you-use-your-laser-s-80828.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/all-possible-uses-lasers-56669.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/first-post-first-question-what-do-you-use-your-lasers-76409.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f40/what-s-different-use-different-colors-laser-pointers-74483.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/practical-uses-cool-science-stuff-77300.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/fun-impractical-uses-lasers-29977.html

http://laserpointerforums.com/f44/weird-uses-lasers-50286.html

 

[julianthedragon]

See:

Yeahh you've probably seen similar questions a million times in 10 years. I understand. Thanks for those threads to read up on though. Was hoping for some simple life-hack type uses that aren't answered in those threads. I'll try to be more original in the future

 

[gazer101]

Here's a use I doubt has been mentioned before: a scar-free prodding tool to keep you awake when you have to stay up all night but have no coffee left

 

[Unown (WILD)]

A nice focused 405 can be fun to write with on wood. I just recently bought a spool of glow in the dark filament for my 3d printer. I plan on printing out a few things and lighting them up with my 405. I haven't been into lasers recently but I'm feeling the bug again. Got a lot of projects on my list so I want to start a few

 

[skijohn]

I have a very simple question. No this is not an attempt to troll, I am genuinely curious and a long time laser enthusiant myself.

What are your favorite practical uses for your handheld lasers?

I'm not talking about specialized scientific uses or uses that are outside the scope of the hobbyist. Of course lasers have many uses and applications in fields like medicine, optics, etc and that's great but I'm interested to see if anyone has a neat everyday use that is lesser known?
These things are very powerful and unique gadgets that relatively few people own, so I believe naturally they should have some untapped potential to be practical in creative ways (besides balloon popping, astonomy pointing, presentations, common youtube video stuff).

Here are some ideas to get the thread started:
1. I've used my 200mw 405nm to manually serate plastic packages in the house that are hard to open. By quickly burning a line in the plastic but leaving it intact, it's now easy to rip open the packages without looking around for a pair of scissors.
2. I saw somebody on this forum say that they used a multiwatt laser to weld a small plastic toy back together for their kid. I forgot exactly which thread this was in but it was super interesting to me because it represents a way for lasers to be used to create rather than burn/destroy like usual.
3. Using a 405 to excite glow in the dark objects and a powerful red laser to erase them. Styropyro has made a video explaining the latter.

Hopefully we can discover some clever uses from each other and make owning these things just a little more justified.
(First post so be nice? please?)

I get it, being fairly new here you would like to start some topics of conversation of your own in order for members to get to know you better, but it is hard to find something completely original since most everything about lasers has been discussed here at one time or another so you're trying to find an offshoot of some kind, don't sweat it...

 

[405nanoMatt]

I use a couple of mine as pipe lighters because there is no fuel taste to foul the flavor .

 

[Mattronium]

I've used lasers to try reflow soldering. Not ideal, but might have a purpose where normal reflow/soldering can't be used.

I'll throw in a cool experiment idea.
You can use a higher power single mode laser, I've used my~200mW ML101U29, to make perform optical trapping/levitation/optical tweezers. I've used sharpie pens, but diamond powder is easily the best. Styropyro did a video on it I think. It's quite cool to see a particle levitate using only light.
Of course adequate safety glasses are mandatory for an experiment like this.

 

[RedCowboy]

Wood burning art, safely and always with the use of proper laser safety glasses.

 

[skijohn]

Wood burning art, safely and always with the use of proper laser safety glasses.

I've done some of that, you can do things that you can't do with a wood-burning iron with any kind of tips!

 

[RedCowboy]

Yes and if you want to challenge yourself you can work at a distance.

 

[KayEm]

I use one of my lasers to heat up the charcoal for my hookah. It can be pretty annoying to do it with lighter, because that way sparks can hit your hand. But with laser you can do it safely from distance.

 

[skijohn]

I use one of my lasers to heat up the charcoal for my hookah. It can be pretty annoying to do it with lighter, because that way sparks can hit your hand. But with laser you can do it safely from distance.

So there really are laser hookahs?!?

 

[405nanoMatt]

Yes and if you want to challenge yourself you can work at a distance.

I just pictured a guy with a telescopic beam expander drawing an elephant on the side of a pencil from across my back yard.lol

 

[405nanoMatt]

I use one of my lasers to heat up the charcoal for my hookah. It can be pretty annoying to do it with lighter, because that way sparks can hit your hand. But with laser you can do it safely from distance.

And without melting the plastic that holds the flint striking wheel .

 

[Commander J. Bloodmaker]

I have a very simple question. No this is not an attempt to troll, I am genuinely curious and a long time laser enthusiant myself.

What are your favorite practical uses for your handheld lasers?

I'm not talking about specialized scientific uses or uses that are outside the scope of the hobbyist. Of course lasers have many uses and applications in fields like medicine, optics, etc and that's great but I'm interested to see if anyone has a neat everyday use that is lesser known?
These things are very powerful and unique gadgets that relatively few people own, so I believe naturally they should have some untapped potential to be practical in creative ways (besides balloon popping, astonomy pointing, presentations, common youtube video stuff).

Here are some ideas to get the thread started:
1. I've used my 200mw 405nm to manually serate plastic packages in the house that are hard to open. By quickly burning a line in the plastic but leaving it intact, it's now easy to rip open the packages without looking around for a pair of scissors.
2. I saw somebody on this forum say that they used a multiwatt laser to weld a small plastic toy back together for their kid. I forgot exactly which thread this was in but it was super interesting to me because it represents a way for lasers to be used to create rather than burn/destroy like usual.
3. Using a 405 to excite glow in the dark objects and a powerful red laser to erase them. Styropyro has made a video explaining the latter.

Hopefully we can discover some clever uses from each other and make owning these things just a little more justified.
(First post so be nice? please?)

Well I'll probably get in trouble for posting this, but here goes anyway. I use a handheld and one I plug into the wall. I built both with the intentions of cutting my pet pigs nails. I needed something quiet, and gentle. I just didn't realize the smell to follow, lmfao. Anyway, I tuck him into bed, he's such a baby. When he falls asleep, I make sure only his little cloven toe's are hangin' out. I make sure his face is totally protected, he's my baby booper. Then I proceed to drawing lines on his nails. Now before you get all nuts on me about using a laser to cut pig nails. Have any of you ever tried to cut a 250lb pigs 1" plus thick nails before? Let me just say, pig have really big mouths, and teeth, not to mention he has tusk. Which oddly enough he likes me trimming. Weird, I know. When he see's those toe nail clippers ( they are like 2 feet long), he goes nuts. Its just not happening. I just goggle up and get the fan in the window, and draw lines, until I can Just snap it off in one clean swoop. He sleeps through the whole 2 or 3 hours it takes to get one foot. lol. It's about 1.5w of 445nm. Not so powerful that if he moves it will burn right away, but good enough to slowly and gently remove the nail. The smell is something horrible, but better than slashed open wounds and missing chunks, or purple bruises from bite marks. Works really well and leaves him completely confused when he takes a few steps. He knows I cut his nails, just can't figure out when or how, lol. Pigs are super smart, but enough about my pig. This is a laser forum. lol.