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How did you all stumble upon lasers?
- Thread starter bhwollen
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It was Dark at My house and I tripped over an Arctic end of story!
Lol what?
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That's how I stumbled....
Seriously I've been involved with Lasers off and on since the early 80's
Seriously I've been involved with Lasers off and on since the early 80's
hakzaw1
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Long time ago(really long) I went to a after the party party for those of us not ready (or able) to call it a night another guy there brought in a 1mW red mini HeNe- he plugged into the stereo a speaker he brought with a simple mirror attached to the voice coil- everybody just laid on the floor all lights out music driving that red laser on the ceiling we listened to several albums Pink Flloyd was one- and when the sun came up I was totally hooked on lasers.-1981. ish IIRC.
hak
hak
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I have always had a thirst to understand to forces around me but you never get to observe monochromatic light in nature, that plus the the little beams flashing off dust is better than ranger tv
rhd
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About 15 years ago when I was a wee little kid, I went to the "junk shop" with my dad one weekend.
The "junk shop" for any of you familiar with Toronto, was our name for Active Surplus....(orange triangle, gorilla man... hell if you've been to Toronto, and you're someone who reads these forums, you know what I'm talking about).
Anyway, about 15 years ago, at their old location, they had hanging on their ceiling a little tiny red laser diode for $75. In retrospect, this thing was actually pretty phenomenal. It obviously had the lens and driver built in, because we didn't have to deal with either of those things. Yet it was about half the size (or less) of an Aixiz module. On top of that, it was pretty damn resilient. I threw 5V and 4.5V and 3V at it over the years, and it just always worked. Pretty amazing little thing.
Nobody - literally, not another single human being I knew owned a laser. "pointers" weren't a thing then. I used to mist bottles of spray water so that I could see the beam for a split second.
Anyway, I had that thing for 5 or 6 years before it died. I still sometimes wonder what it actually was. Surely it was only a mW or two. But the fact that it had a driver built into what was about the size of a large gel cap pill, is pretty amazing.
(or maybe it didn't have a driver, and was just a really hearty diode, who knows...)
The "junk shop" for any of you familiar with Toronto, was our name for Active Surplus....(orange triangle, gorilla man... hell if you've been to Toronto, and you're someone who reads these forums, you know what I'm talking about).
Anyway, about 15 years ago, at their old location, they had hanging on their ceiling a little tiny red laser diode for $75. In retrospect, this thing was actually pretty phenomenal. It obviously had the lens and driver built in, because we didn't have to deal with either of those things. Yet it was about half the size (or less) of an Aixiz module. On top of that, it was pretty damn resilient. I threw 5V and 4.5V and 3V at it over the years, and it just always worked. Pretty amazing little thing.
Nobody - literally, not another single human being I knew owned a laser. "pointers" weren't a thing then. I used to mist bottles of spray water so that I could see the beam for a split second.
Anyway, I had that thing for 5 or 6 years before it died. I still sometimes wonder what it actually was. Surely it was only a mW or two. But the fact that it had a driver built into what was about the size of a large gel cap pill, is pretty amazing.
(or maybe it didn't have a driver, and was just a really hearty diode, who knows...)
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I saw a kit for a ruby laser in a magazine when I was young, but my mom was smart enough not to buy it for me. Kind of forgot about it till I saw my first laser show. I then started experimenting in homemade light shows using LEDs. Then I saw high power lasers on DX and that they dont ship to the US. Well, tell me I cant have something...
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OK you can't have that !
I saw a kit for a ruby laser in a magazine when I was young, but my mom was smart enough not to buy it for me. Kind of forgot about it till I saw my first laser show. I then started experimenting in homemade light shows using LEDs. Then I saw high power lasers on DX and that they dont ship to the US. Well, tell me I cant have something...
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LaZeRz
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LOL^ T_J you are a legend!
i bought a 5mw red a few years ago and then bought 2 30mw greens from overseas.... then i watched a kipkay video, did my research on laserdiodes and ovbiously drivers
and im here now 
i bought a 5mw red a few years ago and then bought 2 30mw greens from overseas.... then i watched a kipkay video, did my research on laserdiodes and ovbiously drivers
and im here now
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jakeGT
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I was tripping on acid, and saw a pink floyd lasershow on youtube and was so amazed and infatuated by it, and got to thinking wow, why have I never thought about buying some kind of laser? If they have laser shows like that where you can actually see the beam, I want that. I watched that youtube video at least 10 times that night, and the next day started googling, and was directed right to this site
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I was hired by a company to R&D a new product using 5mW HeNe
Lasers for the Pulp and Paper Industry in the very late 80s....
That was the 1st time I had seen a real Laser up close... It was mind
boggling to see that thin straight red beam...
Been hooked ever since....:eg:
Jerry
Lasers for the Pulp and Paper Industry in the very late 80s....
That was the 1st time I had seen a real Laser up close... It was mind
boggling to see that thin straight red beam...
Been hooked ever since....:eg:
Jerry
Morbid1
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Ever since I saw the movie Real Genius (about 10 years ago), that laser hooked me, and i immediately wanted to BE Val Kilmer... I wanted to be the one to build something that powerful/awesome!....
And then 10 years go by and I'm sitting in AFG, searching the internet for stupid things to spend the oodles of deployment money i have in my acct, and i stumble on this ad for a GREEN laser!!!!!
I never really researched the actual application of lasers after i watched the movie.. i never really saw them in real life (unless you count those weenie lil red pen lasers people used to use to "bust a gut" while making they're cats flip out over it), so i guess i forgot about possibilities (regretfully :cryyy .
So after i discovered that the application and advances of lasers appeared to have BLOW UP since i last thought about them, i started reading....and reading... and reading... Mostly on this forum, trying to learn as much as i could about (what felt like) my long lost hobby, a hobby i never actually started, or even knew existed.
It feels like i was always "into" lasers... but in reality... I'm just a noob:crackup: but its cool, learning all this shoit is part of the fun. :yh:
damn, that was longer than i intended ..... :wtf:
And then 10 years go by and I'm sitting in AFG, searching the internet for stupid things to spend the oodles of deployment money i have in my acct, and i stumble on this ad for a GREEN laser!!!!!
I never really researched the actual application of lasers after i watched the movie.. i never really saw them in real life (unless you count those weenie lil red pen lasers people used to use to "bust a gut" while making they're cats flip out over it), so i guess i forgot about possibilities (regretfully :cryyy
. So after i discovered that the application and advances of lasers appeared to have BLOW UP since i last thought about them, i started reading....and reading... and reading... Mostly on this forum, trying to learn as much as i could about (what felt like) my long lost hobby, a hobby i never actually started, or even knew existed.
It feels like i was always "into" lasers... but in reality... I'm just a noob:crackup: but its cool, learning all this shoit is part of the fun. :yh:
damn, that was longer than i intended ..... :wtf:
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Long story short...
Youtube, Then I was hooked :beer:
Youtube, Then I was hooked :beer:
GBD
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My school had a multi-watt argon ion and I was pretty good friends with the teacher.
Nothing gets you addicted like setting things on fire with a bright ass laser.
EDIT: well.. more like this:
Play with argon > built a HeNe > some misc diodes and tubes > 2-3 year space of laserlessness (HV and power electronics) > built a 1W+ 445 > ... this place ...
Nothing gets you addicted like setting things on fire with a bright ass laser.
EDIT: well.. more like this:
Play with argon > built a HeNe > some misc diodes and tubes > 2-3 year space of laserlessness (HV and power electronics) > built a 1W+ 445 > ... this place ...
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