- Joined
- Dec 12, 2013
- Messages
- 5
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- 0
Hello LPF, I am FactualOrc!
My story goes like this...
A few days ago I was playing Star Trek Online and I was shooting my phaser about at some Klingons. I thought to myself "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to have something like this in real life" it was only then that some vague memory creeped up on me about something I watched on YouTube ages ago about some kind of "burning laser".
After some googling, I did indeed find dozens of videos on the subject. The first video I watched was of a pot mod where a guy took apart a commercial laser pointer and adjusted the potentiometer to make it stronger, which I didn't find very interesting, but then I found styropyro's video where he does the "hammer" mod and proceeds to build his own laser with a diode and driver. Now I was hooked ;-) So after some more research I was confident enough to make some purchases, but I was wondering if you guys could give me some opinions/advice in case I've made any mistakes.
As I mentioned before I was inspired to make a Star Trek phaser. (Similar to what jayrob did) So my first purchase was a toy phaser off of amazon:
the phaserhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0029BLJMQ/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Now the hunt was on for the laser parts. I actually found this quite intimidating as I was worried about the specifications of the whole thing. I was worried about the driver not outputting the correct voltage for the diode or what the diode would require in the first place. Alas, after a bit more searching, I stumbled across a kit that appeared to have everything I needed :yh:
the kit
Hopefully it will work and it'll actually get to my house in the end. I went for a 300mW diode. I chose this because I wanted quite a powerful laser but I wanted to keep it in the 3B class range.
The last thing I needed, apart from all the fun stuff like balloons, flash paper and smoke machines , were some safety glasses. After some more research, I figured out that a single pair of safety glasses can only protect you from one kind of wavelength. The diode I ordered was 650nm so I picked out these glasses:
the glasses
I haven't actually bought them yet because there has been some confusion over the different prices. Some safety glasses can be over $150 while others can be as cheap as $10. So I'm not sure which ones to buy. If you guys could clarify I would be very appreciative
Anyway that's my story so far. I look forward to getting to know all of you and hopefully we'll get along :yh:
-Live long and prosper
/FactualOrc
My story goes like this...
A few days ago I was playing Star Trek Online and I was shooting my phaser about at some Klingons. I thought to myself "Hey, wouldn't it be cool to have something like this in real life" it was only then that some vague memory creeped up on me about something I watched on YouTube ages ago about some kind of "burning laser".
After some googling, I did indeed find dozens of videos on the subject. The first video I watched was of a pot mod where a guy took apart a commercial laser pointer and adjusted the potentiometer to make it stronger, which I didn't find very interesting, but then I found styropyro's video where he does the "hammer" mod and proceeds to build his own laser with a diode and driver. Now I was hooked ;-) So after some more research I was confident enough to make some purchases, but I was wondering if you guys could give me some opinions/advice in case I've made any mistakes.
As I mentioned before I was inspired to make a Star Trek phaser. (Similar to what jayrob did) So my first purchase was a toy phaser off of amazon:
the phaserhttp://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0029BLJMQ/ref=oh_details_o03_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Now the hunt was on for the laser parts. I actually found this quite intimidating as I was worried about the specifications of the whole thing. I was worried about the driver not outputting the correct voltage for the diode or what the diode would require in the first place. Alas, after a bit more searching, I stumbled across a kit that appeared to have everything I needed :yh:
the kit
Hopefully it will work and it'll actually get to my house in the end. I went for a 300mW diode. I chose this because I wanted quite a powerful laser but I wanted to keep it in the 3B class range.
The last thing I needed, apart from all the fun stuff like balloons, flash paper and smoke machines , were some safety glasses. After some more research, I figured out that a single pair of safety glasses can only protect you from one kind of wavelength. The diode I ordered was 650nm so I picked out these glasses:
the glasses
I haven't actually bought them yet because there has been some confusion over the different prices. Some safety glasses can be over $150 while others can be as cheap as $10. So I'm not sure which ones to buy. If you guys could clarify I would be very appreciative
Anyway that's my story so far. I look forward to getting to know all of you and hopefully we'll get along :yh:
-Live long and prosper
/FactualOrc
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