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What sparked your interest in lasers? Well, for me it was about 10 years ago when I was unemployed (had just quit one horrible job) and I wasn't finding much out there, so I signed on with a temporary agency. Well, this was all just crummy factory work and I wasn't looking forward to it, but eventually I was assigned to work at a laser machining shop.
At that time all I knew about lasers is that they were pretty lights seen at rock concerts and little more.....the first few days I didn't know what the heck was going on at that place, other than that I had to spend the whole shift inspecting welded metal parts. The one day I said to my boss "what is this thing and what does it do?" referring to the 5 kilowatt CO2 laser that I shared my workspace with. I had no idea that lasers could have invisible beams (seen too many Starwars and similar sci-fi movies)!
It got even better when I would see other employees testing the beam characteristics of the various lasers (they had about 10 CO2 lasers, 500 to 8Kw, and three ND:YAGs, all a few hundred watts each). They would do "mode burns" by essentially firing the laser beam (unfocused) at sheets of plastic and plywood (to see the shape and profile of the beam). I swear I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck when they used the 5Kw laser at my work station to ignite a piece of plywood - it just burst into flames instantly! I sure wish I had had a video camera back then.....
Then there's nothing like seeing a 1500 watt laser cut thru 1/8 inch steel like a hot knife thru styrofoam....the world's most boring job (sorting parts) turned into a most fascinating place to work. I worked there for about 9 months when I got a really good job offer in another industry (with much higher pay). But I never forgot the lasers. To this day I have been unendingly fascinated by lasers - both visible and invisible kinds - my first laser was just a 2mw red pointer, but I have since collected quite a few visible light and IR lasers since then.
At that time all I knew about lasers is that they were pretty lights seen at rock concerts and little more.....the first few days I didn't know what the heck was going on at that place, other than that I had to spend the whole shift inspecting welded metal parts. The one day I said to my boss "what is this thing and what does it do?" referring to the 5 kilowatt CO2 laser that I shared my workspace with. I had no idea that lasers could have invisible beams (seen too many Starwars and similar sci-fi movies)!
It got even better when I would see other employees testing the beam characteristics of the various lasers (they had about 10 CO2 lasers, 500 to 8Kw, and three ND:YAGs, all a few hundred watts each). They would do "mode burns" by essentially firing the laser beam (unfocused) at sheets of plastic and plywood (to see the shape and profile of the beam). I swear I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck when they used the 5Kw laser at my work station to ignite a piece of plywood - it just burst into flames instantly! I sure wish I had had a video camera back then.....
Then there's nothing like seeing a 1500 watt laser cut thru 1/8 inch steel like a hot knife thru styrofoam....the world's most boring job (sorting parts) turned into a most fascinating place to work. I worked there for about 9 months when I got a really good job offer in another industry (with much higher pay). But I never forgot the lasers. To this day I have been unendingly fascinated by lasers - both visible and invisible kinds - my first laser was just a 2mw red pointer, but I have since collected quite a few visible light and IR lasers since then.
guess what never turned on anymore then i found this amazing forum :
. That thing lasted over a year, until one day the switch got messed up. Well anyway that's what got me into lasers.
He gave up at 50mW, but I was hooked and kept going. He's a Lumenphile now, collecting awesome flashlights and bike lights. He just showed me a 4-LED light from Hope that puts out 1000 lumens! Between the two of us we have an awesome collection of photon-spewing hardware and my wife has given him hell for encouraging me... 
I also love my RC helicopter, cars, and other electronic gadgets that provide me entertainment. I always loved green lasers, and wanted one back in the early 90's, but went for thousands of dollars. Once I saw a 5mW about 5years ago for $100, I was so ecstatic and bought one immediately. Then I discovered the higher-powered ones, I knew I had to get one. I am very shortly going to buy an RPL....
