yeri63
0
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2013
- Messages
- 2
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Greeting fellow laser enthusiasts!
I stumbled across this site after doing many hours of online laser research into copies of the Firedragon-III(™) style laser found on the DHgate.com marketplace, some for as low as $143 for a 1W 450mW blue laser. What attracted me so much to this style, was the construction and multiple safety features, something I valued from having worked on and off with lasers in the past. This was definitely something I wanted, especially with the increased hazards working with laser light at these power levels. These features include...
The final push to rethink my purchase was reading a review of someone who had purchased one of these models, and was lamenting that it worked for only a brief time, and was looking into either attempting a repair or resell for parts. Further evidence into the low manufacturing quality was evident when pictures were uploaded of the unit disassembled. As this was probably a knock-off copy, that does not imply that Firedragon-III(™) has these same shortcomings. But again, that unit is priced what I believe far higher than necessary, considering the current marketplace.
Here's a brief description of my background…
I'm a Computer Engineer by day, and Amateur Scientist by night and weekends. Granted, that's very little with a 2 1/2 year old and 12 hour work day. My interests, time permitting, include building Electrostatic Machines (Whimshurst/Van de Graaff), 100KV+ High Voltage Generators (Marx/ZVS Flyback Driver), Tesla Coils (SGTC/SSTC using IGBT), Acrobatic Electric R/C pilot (foam/balsa/kit construction), and more recently lasers.
Tinkering with lasers has only been a recent interest, after a long hiatus back to my childhood days. In grade school I fantasized about them after discovering the original flash tube pumped Ruby rod version in an encyclopedia. I quickly drew up a crude model that consisted nothing more than a drawing of a box with a 4-digit LED readout, and small button switch to fire a pulse from the unit. I had recently discovered digital electronics and so believed everything needed a digital counting display. The design of the actual laser construction was beyond my capacity at the time, although for many years I kept an eye out for coiled flash tubes and potential sources of already mirrored synthetic ruby rods.
A few years after high school, and having achieved some financial means to pursue hobbies, I learned of a nearby shop specializing in all things laser, ie. power supplies, and HeNe tubes, lenses, mirrors, etc. Armed with the schematic from Gordon McComb's "Gadgeteer's Goldmine: 55 Space-Age Projects" I set out to build my very own laser pistol. It contained a glass HeNe tube, 12 to 2,200v circuit powered by 8 AA's in clear plexiglass. Unfortunately, the circuit design was rather inefficient, drawing over 1A, quickly consuming the batteries if left on for more than a few seconds. The core unit, containing the laser and power supply was latter gutted and refitted into a simple plexiglass tube with 12v power adapter at the rear, making a rather bulky, albeit interesting to look at laser pointer. By luck I still have to this day as part of my memorabilia collection.
I had some mixed success with a TEA Nitrogen Laser. After duplicating the construction based on the old article from Scientific American on the topic, even building the power supply and testing the circuit, I never powered the unit up. Since I could not easily locate a source of pure Nitrogen gas, I didn't believe it would run lacking this critical ingredient. I never considered testing it in open air, as many of the simpler versions on YouTube attest, and ended up giving the device away to a local science teacher to add to his collection of scientific goodies.
For a few years I was the proud owner of a Spectra Physics HeNe model, with at least one of the safety features I mentioned earlier, namely the aperture switch to block the beam output. As an added feature, it also had a phono-plug at the rear, for modulating an audio signal on the beam for voice transmission. With this laser I generated lissajous figures, creating impromptu Laser Light Shows on a nearby projection screen I had purchased for this purpose. The device doing this magic was a another project, consisting of a small plastic enclosure containing 3 motors with small square front surfaced mirrors, a basic 3 potentiometer speed control circuit, with motor direction switches for added effects. Later I purchased a pair of XY mirrors, thinking someday I would build a much more sophisticated Laser System, drawing animated 3D images. Unfortunately, that project never came to fruition.
So that's my laser background, granted a bit dated. I am very interested with the recent developments and new colors now available in this field, using laser diodes and passing this energy through various substrates to produce different wavelengths. I find the ever increasing power levels remarkable to what was available in the past. I hope to purchase some and build others, and definitely think this place is a great information source in both areas, from reviews and recommendations, to write-ups of various builds and kits available for the DIY crowd.
Oh, and yes, I will be picking up Safety Goggles! That's a no brainer.
I stumbled across this site after doing many hours of online laser research into copies of the Firedragon-III(™) style laser found on the DHgate.com marketplace, some for as low as $143 for a 1W 450mW blue laser. What attracted me so much to this style, was the construction and multiple safety features, something I valued from having worked on and off with lasers in the past. This was definitely something I wanted, especially with the increased hazards working with laser light at these power levels. These features include...
- laser beam aperture
- key switch
- power light indicating laser is on
- constant on/off switch
- delayed start time
- large heat sink for 100% duty cycle
The final push to rethink my purchase was reading a review of someone who had purchased one of these models, and was lamenting that it worked for only a brief time, and was looking into either attempting a repair or resell for parts. Further evidence into the low manufacturing quality was evident when pictures were uploaded of the unit disassembled. As this was probably a knock-off copy, that does not imply that Firedragon-III(™) has these same shortcomings. But again, that unit is priced what I believe far higher than necessary, considering the current marketplace.
Here's a brief description of my background…
I'm a Computer Engineer by day, and Amateur Scientist by night and weekends. Granted, that's very little with a 2 1/2 year old and 12 hour work day. My interests, time permitting, include building Electrostatic Machines (Whimshurst/Van de Graaff), 100KV+ High Voltage Generators (Marx/ZVS Flyback Driver), Tesla Coils (SGTC/SSTC using IGBT), Acrobatic Electric R/C pilot (foam/balsa/kit construction), and more recently lasers.
Tinkering with lasers has only been a recent interest, after a long hiatus back to my childhood days. In grade school I fantasized about them after discovering the original flash tube pumped Ruby rod version in an encyclopedia. I quickly drew up a crude model that consisted nothing more than a drawing of a box with a 4-digit LED readout, and small button switch to fire a pulse from the unit. I had recently discovered digital electronics and so believed everything needed a digital counting display. The design of the actual laser construction was beyond my capacity at the time, although for many years I kept an eye out for coiled flash tubes and potential sources of already mirrored synthetic ruby rods.
A few years after high school, and having achieved some financial means to pursue hobbies, I learned of a nearby shop specializing in all things laser, ie. power supplies, and HeNe tubes, lenses, mirrors, etc. Armed with the schematic from Gordon McComb's "Gadgeteer's Goldmine: 55 Space-Age Projects" I set out to build my very own laser pistol. It contained a glass HeNe tube, 12 to 2,200v circuit powered by 8 AA's in clear plexiglass. Unfortunately, the circuit design was rather inefficient, drawing over 1A, quickly consuming the batteries if left on for more than a few seconds. The core unit, containing the laser and power supply was latter gutted and refitted into a simple plexiglass tube with 12v power adapter at the rear, making a rather bulky, albeit interesting to look at laser pointer. By luck I still have to this day as part of my memorabilia collection.
I had some mixed success with a TEA Nitrogen Laser. After duplicating the construction based on the old article from Scientific American on the topic, even building the power supply and testing the circuit, I never powered the unit up. Since I could not easily locate a source of pure Nitrogen gas, I didn't believe it would run lacking this critical ingredient. I never considered testing it in open air, as many of the simpler versions on YouTube attest, and ended up giving the device away to a local science teacher to add to his collection of scientific goodies.
For a few years I was the proud owner of a Spectra Physics HeNe model, with at least one of the safety features I mentioned earlier, namely the aperture switch to block the beam output. As an added feature, it also had a phono-plug at the rear, for modulating an audio signal on the beam for voice transmission. With this laser I generated lissajous figures, creating impromptu Laser Light Shows on a nearby projection screen I had purchased for this purpose. The device doing this magic was a another project, consisting of a small plastic enclosure containing 3 motors with small square front surfaced mirrors, a basic 3 potentiometer speed control circuit, with motor direction switches for added effects. Later I purchased a pair of XY mirrors, thinking someday I would build a much more sophisticated Laser System, drawing animated 3D images. Unfortunately, that project never came to fruition.
So that's my laser background, granted a bit dated. I am very interested with the recent developments and new colors now available in this field, using laser diodes and passing this energy through various substrates to produce different wavelengths. I find the ever increasing power levels remarkable to what was available in the past. I hope to purchase some and build others, and definitely think this place is a great information source in both areas, from reviews and recommendations, to write-ups of various builds and kits available for the DIY crowd.
Oh, and yes, I will be picking up Safety Goggles! That's a no brainer.
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