Hello from Florida!

[Elyk456]

Hello to all. So I just recently discovered this whole big laser hobby and this forum community, and me being the big star wars fan that I am, I have to say I am pretty impressed. Iv just read of a bunch of FaQs on this site and I still have some questions that would be much appreciated being answered. First of all, your patience is <3ed because Im sure you guys' get tons of these kinds of threads everyday so Im trying my best not to spam.. Anyways after judging from what Iv read Im pretty sure I want add this whole "laser community" to a hobby of mine(right next to guitar) and I have decided that I want to build one > buying one. I decided I want to build one before I ever buy one because I like knowing how things work and thats what I plan to do. Furtherrr moreee here are some of my questions.
Scince Im pretty sure I want to build one could someone post a link to a thread that shows me how to make a "burning" laser?

What is the main difference between green and red lasers besides the price?

CAN I MAKE A LIGHTSABER?!?! ( Jk : P )

How much will this hurt my wallet when making a burning laser?

How do I know if I want a red or green one ?

Like I said above, sorry for the questions that I asked that you probably get alot, they are just the ones that I couldn't find an answer for on the FaQs.
Thanks to all that help me and thanks for making this site!

 

[hevnsnt]

Hey

Real quick I will try to answer //

Red - Higher Power, easy to burn
Green - Easiest to see, hard to burn
BluRay (violet) - Easy to burn, easy to build, HARD TO SEE!

check out http://www.i-hacked.com/laser for my walkthrough build of a blu-ray. I was able to build mine for about $90 all told

 

[Elyk456]

This looks like a very nice guide. So is a blu-ray laser my best bet for my first laser or are there other options? I am kind of scared of throwing 90$ away because of me just not knowing what Im doing.

Also, Could I use this guide to make any kind of laser and just use a different diode?
Is it really worth spending the 23$ on the Dorcy Jr Flashlight just to get the spring out of it ?(Edit- I just realized how this works, your using the flashlight as the "host" and keeping the original spring ---> batterys setup that came with it, right?)
How exactly do you adjust the "mA" of the driver, and how do you know to what amount you adjusted it to?
Do people often tend to just buy their drivers over making one / what is the best to do ?
Lastly, I didn't fully understand on what kind of batterys to use for this kind of thing...does it come with the flashlight?
Your help is very much appreciated : )

 

[hevnsnt]

This looks like a very nice guide. So is a blu-ray laser my best bet for my first laser or are there other options? I am kind of scared of throwing 90$ away because of me just not knowing what Im doing.

Also, Could I use this guide to make any kind of laser and just use a different diode?

This build basically covers Blu-Ray & Red. Both can use the Aixiz module, and both can be driven by the flexdrive.

Is it really worth spending the 23$ on the Dorcy Jr Flashlight just to get the spring out of it ?(Edit- I just realized how this works, your using the flashlight as the "host" and keeping the original spring ---> batterys setup that came with it, right?)

Correct, you will use the Dorcy Jr. as the host.. There are PLENTY of hosts out there, I chose that one because it was easy to order the heatsink from Dark-Horse. If you want to use another "host" you would need to figure out another heatsink method. Search around these forums, there are a lot of different ideas, and a lot of people who can design custom heatsinks for you to fit pretty much any host.

How exactly do you adjust the "mA" of the driver, and how do you know to what amount you adjusted it to?

There is a variable "Pot" on the LavaDrive. You can have Dr. Lava preset the mA of the driver, or you can solder a "dummy" load to it, and adjust it yourself.

Do people often tend to just buy their drivers over making one / what is the best to do ?

Completely up to you, buying the driver is the easiest, and you really cant do much better than the LavaDrive in my opinion. However you would learn a LOT more about electronics if you built it yourself, and it would be A LOOOOOOT cheaper!

Lastly, I didn't fully understand on what kind of batterys to use for this kind of thing...does it come with the flashlight?

It uses a CR123 battery, and it comes with one.

Your help is very much appreciated : )

You are welcome.. Even though my guide will walk you step by step through the build process, I suggest you do A LOT more reading on this forum before you start your build. That way you know EXACTLY what you are doing before you outlay the $100

 

[Elyk456]

Iv been doing lots of reading scince I came across this site, but I plan on doing much more. Im gunna need to get a set of goggles even though it's blu-ray right? ...I feel like such a noob  :-[

Sorry for asking so many questions but I just like to double check things. So let me see if I got this right, on what everything is doing here.
Aixiz Laser Module- Holds the Diode, has a lens to allow you to focus the diode into a beam, this one made to fit the blu-ray diode.
Driver- Controls how much current is going into the diode so you don't burn it out. Also has the positive connection for the battery-----> the diode. The negative connection is the host itself.
Dark Horse Aluminum Heat Sink- Houses the diode / module to protect it and keeps it from overheating. The darkhorse in the link is custom made for the dorcy so it slides right into the head.
405nm PHR-803T Blu Ray Laser Diode- The thing that is actually creating the light for the laser. This specific one is blu-ray and should only be run up to 150mw maximum without burning out. It comes out of an xbox-360 and the "450nm" is the wavelength output of it ?

After reading around alot I still can't seem to find an answer to this one. What is the difference between "mW" and "mA" ? Also, on the
Hightechdealz site, I couldn't find where to put in the code "i-hacked" for the 10% discount, where is it lol.
Also, is it better to have a high wavelength or low?
Please correct me if Im wrong and by the way scince I don't know when you will be reading this, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays  

 

[hevnsnt]

* mW is the output of the laser, mA is the power (battery) input.
* I think the code place is right during check-out

It sounds like you have everything pretty much straight! I say go for it!

 

[Elyk456]

That was quick ! LOL

Im definetly going to. I can't wait. I have to wait till Christmas to get a debit card so I can buy stuffs online

You should post more pictures / video(s) of the final product for me ;D

Pretty siked!