As some of you noticed - I jumped right in over in the Gas Lasers forums... I'm on about 10 forums for various topics all over the 'net so I tend to just jump in.
A little background on myself..
I'm a Mechanical Engineer (Currently doing FEA). Married with kids... and finally decided to spend the time and effort to get the laser I always wanted.
I "built" a 3mW HeNe from an online kit back in college... not really a kit, more like someone had put a tube and power supply together with instructions on making it lase (very poor instructions BTW)... I had wanted an HeNe since I was a kid reading through Edmund Scientific's optics catalog back in the 80's. Along the way I also snagged another 5mW HeNe Melles Griot Head and power supply that is my only laser currently.
I just negotiated a deal with Elektrofreak for his Multi-line Argon setup, and now I'm stoked!!! Just ordered some front surface mirrors and a set of safety goggles from dragon lasers after reading a recommendation here at the forum.
I built an (approx) 18X36 optical table several years ago, but had conflicting hobbies at the time so never really got around to using it. I'll get pics of that up in the near future... Its a pretty nice setup and easy to do if you have the patience (drilling and tapping about 700 holes, 1/4"-20).
I'm primarily interested in XY scanning (light show type stuff) and pretty much any other laser related experiments. I'm looking to learn as much as I can along the way. I have to make up for about 20 years where I didn't have the $$ to get involved in the hobby..
A little background on myself..
I'm a Mechanical Engineer (Currently doing FEA). Married with kids... and finally decided to spend the time and effort to get the laser I always wanted.
I "built" a 3mW HeNe from an online kit back in college... not really a kit, more like someone had put a tube and power supply together with instructions on making it lase (very poor instructions BTW)... I had wanted an HeNe since I was a kid reading through Edmund Scientific's optics catalog back in the 80's. Along the way I also snagged another 5mW HeNe Melles Griot Head and power supply that is my only laser currently.
I just negotiated a deal with Elektrofreak for his Multi-line Argon setup, and now I'm stoked!!! Just ordered some front surface mirrors and a set of safety goggles from dragon lasers after reading a recommendation here at the forum.
I built an (approx) 18X36 optical table several years ago, but had conflicting hobbies at the time so never really got around to using it. I'll get pics of that up in the near future... Its a pretty nice setup and easy to do if you have the patience (drilling and tapping about 700 holes, 1/4"-20).
I'm primarily interested in XY scanning (light show type stuff) and pretty much any other laser related experiments. I'm looking to learn as much as I can along the way. I have to make up for about 20 years where I didn't have the $$ to get involved in the hobby..
Multi-line Argon setups are nice... I hope I get one someday. 
