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Greetings from the Soggy State

gregma

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Nov 18, 2015
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Greetings all!

A newbie here, and wanted to introduce myself. I'm from WA state, near the Seattle area. I'm familiar with electronics, and have always been fascinated with lasers, but never really did anything with that fascination until now. I've ordered 6 lasers from various sources (mainly ebay) and have started getting them in. They are a lot of fun, and I'm learning a lot. I also have two sets of safety glasses. One for green, and one for red.
My next step will be to do a semi DYI. I'd like to start with a kit. Get something that will burn. And for less than $100 (probably impossible, but who knows).
I'm really thinking of the L2P for a host. No idea about wavelength. Maybe 1000mW range?
Anyway, I've devoured this site, trying to learn all I can. There are some great threads! Although it seems like a lot of them are quite old.
Hope to learn a lot more, and start building my own!

-Greg
 





BowtieGuy

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Welcome to LPF, gregma. :beer:
Looks like you'll fit right in here; glad to see you've already got some eye protection!

You can definitely do a DIY laser that will burn in that price range.
Check out Budgetbeams for hosts/heatsinks, and DTR's Laser Shop for diodes and drivers; both are veteren members here.

Edit: greg, you may want to add your location to your user profile. :)
 
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gregma

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Thank you Bowtie! I'm going to check both of them out. There is a lot more to this hobby than I ever imagined! I'm looking forward to getting involved.

Location added!
 

BowtieGuy

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Great! It really helps when offering assistance to members, to know generally where they're located!

It's really refreshing to see a new member who has done some reading and searching before posting with all kinds of questions!

Here's some green to get you started, +rep!
 
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Joined
Jan 26, 2015
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Hi gregma :wave:
Welcome to the forum.
Be sure to use the white search bar at the bottom of the page as there is a wealth of information to see here.
Enjoy, have fun and most importantly be safe.
 

gregma

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Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Messages
51
Points
8
Great! It really helps when offering assistance to members, to know generally where they're located!

It's really refreshing to see a new member who has done some reading and searching before posting with all kinds of questions!

Here's some green to get you started, +rep!

Thank you so much! It's much appreciated. I've gotten into a lot of hobbies, and I know that you always start by reading. Really learned that when I decided to learn to fly and get my Private Pilots License. LOL
 

gregma

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Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Messages
51
Points
8
Hi gregma :wave:
Welcome to the forum.
Be sure to use the white search bar at the bottom of the page as there is a wealth of information to see here.
Enjoy, have fun and most importantly be safe.

Thank you ma'am! I've used the search soooo much already, it's the only way to really learn things as you progress.
 
Joined
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Welcome to the forum gregma!

Try not to double and triple post, instead use the edit button in the bottom right corner of your post. :)

Have fun and stay safe!
 

gregma

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Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Messages
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Welcome to the forum gregma!

Try not to double and triple post, instead use the edit button in the bottom right corner of your post. :)

Have fun and stay safe!

Thank you kindly! Hopefully I've been in enough forums to not double post. :)
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2008
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Thank you ma'am! I've used the search soooo much already, it's the only way to really learn things as you progress.

Greetings!

Just to make absolutely sure, there's an actual google search bar on the bottom of the page, the build-in search from the top toolbar isn't as useful.

Check out the blue line in my signature, and stay safe :)
 

gregma

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Joined
Nov 18, 2015
Messages
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Greetings!

Just to make absolutely sure, there's an actual google search bar on the bottom of the page, the build-in search from the top toolbar isn't as useful.

Check out the blue line in my signature, and stay safe :)

Oooohhhhh. I'm glad you specified that, I never made it to the complete bottom of the page, and didn't even see the google search. Thank you so much! And Thank you for being available for personal questions. I promise not to flood you with them :)
 
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Hello Greg, welcome to LPF. Good to see someone from "The Evergreen State", I think there are only 5 of us that are active members, you would be number 6, there have been some others too but they haven't posted in a very long time. I lived in Seattle for a few years long ago on Queen Ann hill.

Alan
 
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Nov 4, 2014
Messages
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Welcome Greg. I'm from the less soggy state just below you. You can definitely make a nice burner with an m140 blue diode and host for 100$. Check out Ultimatekaisers sales thread. He has some 501b host ready to go just add the diode you can buy from DTR for about 60$ with a driver. That would be a nice first build. With a 3 element lens you would get a nicer beam but still burn.
 
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