Hello from the Sunshine State!!!

[tomcatguy74]

Hey everybody.
My name is Robert And I am hailing from spring hill florida.
I am new to the community of lasers However I do know a lil bit about lasers.
I am a science and technology geek And I like to read up on all kinds of things.
I've been an aircraft mechanic for about 12 years now I have also been in the military and I know all about safety so I am not new there. I have read a bunch of threads that deal with safety of lasers on this forum.
It looks like there are a lot of very experienced people on here that I can ask questions to in case I have a problem or need help with my laser when I buy it. I have had a few lasers in my time However none of them were over 5mw.
As far as I know I believe I'm going to be buying 1 of Yob's lasers.
I have posted a few times on here so I am getting used to the crowd.
The forum is really cool with plenty of entertainment and education.
I am looking forward to meeting alot of you people.

Robert

 

[eytyxhs]

Welcome to LPF Robert!

 

[lasersbee]

to the Forum....
Don't forget to read the FAQs...the Stickies
and the Forum Rules..

If your are planning to buy anything on the
Forum.... PLEASE read this first...

6 Steps To Prevent You From Getting Scammed

and this....

33 Reasons NOT to Buy From Wicked Lasers

Enjoy your stay...


Jerry

 

[eytyxhs]

and this....

33 Reasons NOT to Buy From Wicked Lasers

Hahaha! :crackup:

 

[lasersbee]

Hahaha! :crackup:

New members to the Forum must be made aware
of pitfalls before they too are disappointed....:beer:

Jerry

 

[Wolfman29]

Welcome to the forum, Robert! While buying a laser is great and all, the real excitement from this hobby comes from building your own! Instead of buying any lasers, why not make them all, like I have (with exception of my DPSS lasers, like the green and the 473nm blue)? It makes it that much more exhilarating when you get that <insert wavelength color here>-light shining out of your first laser!

 

[Flaminpyro]

Howdy and welcome to the forum :wave:
Have fun and be Safe

 

[tomcatguy74]

Welcome to the forum, Robert! While buying a laser is great and all, the real excitement from this hobby comes from building your own! Instead of buying any lasers, why not make them all, like I have (with exception of my DPSS lasers, like the green and the 473nm blue)? It makes it that much more exhilarating when you get that <insert wavelength color here>-light shining out of your first laser![/QUOT

Hey wolfman it's funny that you said that because all day today I have been reading about how to build my own laser. I would say that I have almost 0 soldering skills but I have had my fair share of taking things apart and putting them back together such is vcr's or dvd players and stuff. In fact about a week ago I harvested a diode laser out of a dvd player that was in my computer that didn't work anymore. The weird part about it is I have damage to the actual laser but I got something else out of the same dvd player that look like the laser is well. I am not sure what it is but it seems to be another laser inside of a heat sink or something. Is it possible for a dvd player to have two lasers in it?
A good friend of mine is into computers and computer repair he actually owes me a favor and I am thinking about asking him to help me build my first laser. He could
probably teach me the ins and outs of soldering and assembly of the laser driver and stuff.

 

[Wolfman29]

Yup! Most DVD player/writers are also capable of reading/writing CDs, and CDs require a different types of diode - specifically, a 780nm, near-infrared diode. So yes, there should be two - the red one, which is around 660nm, and the near-infrared one, which is 780nm.

Regarding soldering - it's easy! Look it up on youtube, and practice just soldering really small wires together quickly, and you should be fine! Stick with cheap diodes at first though.

 

[Misanthrop]

Hai

 

[tomcatguy74]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I'm just getting into this hobby so its great to see some nice warm welcomes. Looking forward to some interesting and fun times here.

Robert

 

[Misanthrop]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys! I'm just getting into this hobby so its great to see some nice warm welcomes. Looking forward to some interesting and fun times here.

Robert

The element song - YouTube