- Joined
- Nov 22, 2008
- Messages
- 179
- Points
- 0
chaylz,
This is a hobby enthusiast forum and like most enthusiast communities, it's mostly made up of amateurs, albeit talented ones, that have regular 9 to 5 jobs, families, bills and responsibilities outside of lasers. Though we enjoy them, for most of us, they are a luxury we have to save up for, just to buy the parts and then build the rest ourselves.
While information is shared generously, hardware is dear.
It's not just the cost, it's the fact that most people here have been where you are and have eventually been able to acquire or build what they needed on their own -and having done it themselves, are not very receptive to someone coming in and asking for a freebie.
You would find the same reception if you entered a fly fishing forum and requested a free fly rod or a car forum asking for a free set of rims.
All that having been said...
The best chance of getting anything "donated" to your cause, is to ask an entity that
1. has a lot of what you want, so much that there's a good chance they'll have surplus and
2. has no emotional attachment to these items. (which totally rules out LaserPointerForums)
For you, this means large corporations that either make or use lasers in their business.
Do a little Google homework to find these companies and write them a donation request letter.
Don't lie and say you're going to use it to cure cancer. A simple request for any surplus laser hardware for general edification and research is all you need to say. -You might be surprised by what gets mailed back to you.
Many companies have surplus/hardware donation request forms on their websites.
Here's one to get you started: [url]http://www.opticsplanet.net/donation-request.html [/url]
Now, stop trolling for freebies here and get to work.
~SK
This is a hobby enthusiast forum and like most enthusiast communities, it's mostly made up of amateurs, albeit talented ones, that have regular 9 to 5 jobs, families, bills and responsibilities outside of lasers. Though we enjoy them, for most of us, they are a luxury we have to save up for, just to buy the parts and then build the rest ourselves.
While information is shared generously, hardware is dear.
It's not just the cost, it's the fact that most people here have been where you are and have eventually been able to acquire or build what they needed on their own -and having done it themselves, are not very receptive to someone coming in and asking for a freebie.
You would find the same reception if you entered a fly fishing forum and requested a free fly rod or a car forum asking for a free set of rims.
All that having been said...
The best chance of getting anything "donated" to your cause, is to ask an entity that
1. has a lot of what you want, so much that there's a good chance they'll have surplus and
2. has no emotional attachment to these items. (which totally rules out LaserPointerForums)
For you, this means large corporations that either make or use lasers in their business.
Do a little Google homework to find these companies and write them a donation request letter.
Don't lie and say you're going to use it to cure cancer. A simple request for any surplus laser hardware for general edification and research is all you need to say. -You might be surprised by what gets mailed back to you.
Many companies have surplus/hardware donation request forms on their websites.
Here's one to get you started: [url]http://www.opticsplanet.net/donation-request.html [/url]
Now, stop trolling for freebies here and get to work.
~SK
