How We All Started.

[brando132]

:bumpit:
Just cause.

 

[Ash]

I used to work on an assembly line (company called Lyte Optronics: Santa Monica)making 635, 645, and 650-660nm pointers for Radio Shack and Sharper Image in the late 1990's. They were +$100 for only 5mW.
Found z-bolt's green lasers in the mid 2000's, payed way too much for one, and I was blown away with how far the green beam went.
Found this forum early last year and have been collecting and building high-powered lasers ever since.

 

[Flaminpyro]

It all started right here

for me any way in 1989, this is a first edition copy that I bought new in 88-89
It's been this and that one thing or an other then I found LPF Life just hasn't
been the same since

 

[Mohrenberg]

I started when my brother came to my house at midnight saying he has seen a youtube video of a guy burning a component on the pcb board of a cheapie laser pointer and that it turned it into a burning laser. My brother destroyed 5 cheapie pointers that night and then gave up.
So I hopped on google and searched around.....the rest is history.

 

[Cheech]

Short story.KipKay
When I was 12 I bought a red presentation red pointer with a switchable line beam at Radioshack for $40. Was tits until I dropped it in a puddle.
Then Feb. of this year I saw the video. After the video and laserdiy.com ripoff I found LPF.

What I look for in a laser is the " Ohh Sh*t" response from friends. 445 does that nicely. I feel like I have come into this hobby at the perfect time cost wise.

 

[Analogue]

When I was in early grade school we got our first TV set. I saw some science fiction there where people had ray guns. I started trying to design my own at that point. My concept at the time was to start with burning twigs and try to focus the light from the fire with a lens to form a beam. But I knew that would be too weak to be any good, and kept the thought in the back of my mind. A couple of years later, in a second-hand store I bought a copy of the science supplement to Grolier's Encyclopedia for 1971. It had an article about lasers titled, "Fastest Flash in the West". Even more exciting, there was a four page full color insert after the article about lasers. It had beam shots, pictures of holograms, a chart of power outputs for different types of lasers, and diagrams of the internals of ruby lasers! I drew pictures of the designs and dreamed of one day owning a laser. Funny thing: there was this kid named "Marty" who lived down the street who got into an argument with me about lasers. He insisted that "lasers exist, but scientists can't control them". He wouldn't budge and insisted he was right cause his "daddy told him so." LOL!

Flash forward to high school. An older physicist friend was working as an instructor at a local community college. He knew me well and gave me basic training in laser safety, then turned me loose with all of the HeNe lasers in the lab. I spent many days after school playing with them for hours. I was in heaven. This was in '81.

A couple of years later, as a math/physics major, for a fun elective I took the first course in an electro optics technician training program. It had excellent safety/legal training and I had copious fun learning more about and experimenting with lasers. I saw my first high power lasers at that time.

Many years later when cheap red diode lasers started appearing, I bought a bunch and loved them. Those were my first lasers. I remember hunting down a guy hocking them on the street and buying my first. I think it cost about $15.00. Still have it, and others I got shortly thereafter, with the exception of a couple I took apart.

A few years later the 532 greens started appearing. After the prices started coming down a bit, I bought my first for $100.00. Still have it and use it for presentations. It's ~4mw with ~1mw of IR.

The last several years I kept hearing snippets from friends about the prices dropping on diodes, the arrival of the 405 "blue ray" diodes, and I started watching for a good price point to get into the hobby. That time is now.

What part of a laser is most important to me? Tough to say. I guess I like a laser beam's straightness. Nothing else in our world is as straight as a laser beam; it exactly follows the geodesic of our gravity. In a sense, a laser beam is a realization of an idealized line. Seeing a beam and knowing that makes me very happy. It's a kind of obtainable perfection.

 

[scopeguy20]

I was fascinated in the early days, (about 1960's), iirc , they showed a hand held red ruby laser on TV and I knew I had to have a laser. It was about 1973 by the time I built a few gas / metal vapor lasers at Cal State Fullerton, with the help of the glass blower from the lab there... those were a problem, as I diodn't trust my lack of goggles and had too many wl's and too little experience, in the end my physics teacher had me leave the lasers at the school so they were effectively not my own.. and much laterI did also buy a HeNe about 7 mW, (much safer), but what really got me going, was when the green pointers were only $180 for 15 mW back about 2003-4 and that and the following few years getting my first diode >100mW red, then violet, (my 1st violet was about 6mW), and eventually 473nm pointers, yeah, I knew I was hooked! Wallet empty now! LOL! -Glenn

 

[millirad]

First got interested in lasers when Bond almost gets fried up the middle with the Ruby laser. First laser was a 5mw Coherent red hene. After I dropped it and broke it slightly, they replaced it for free even when I told them I dropped it.

 

[brando132]

:bumpit:

 

[magonegro]

It all started for me in the middle 90's when I bought a <1mw red pointer keychain. From then I always have a laser in my pocket. At that time with 1mw and very expensive button cells I couldn't got any interesting results, just little experiments. I did know what a laser was, (even had made practices for my degree with a HeNe IIRC in the late 80's). But at that time you couldn't own almost any serious laser, and they were waaay expensive. I had to surrender till 2002 or so, don't remember exactly when I saw in an astronomy web a 5mw GREEN PEN !! for astronomical use for about $200. That same moment I ordered one for aiming my telescope, huh what a wonder it was!! Noone had seen one of this, and was awesome to show it to friends, It still works. That's where the race started...

edit: almost everything I know about laser DIY belongs to this forum. I kindly thanks all of you guys, always helping, reliable people, you know... you can learn only from people that knows about it. Thanks buddies, you all have helped me a lot. I want to feel this forum like somewhere I belong to. And I actually feel it. I guess there are years for me pending to be able to help someone. You all guys have changed my way of life I spent years reading you before I subscribed, I am a silent guy. THANKS!

BTW @00Giorge: ROTFLMAO That avatar keeps me crazy...

 

[00Giorge]

With me I went to a laserium in SanFrancisco in the 70"s and Pink floyd (Darkside of the Moon) I got hooked. Then again they had a fantastic laser show at the 86 Worlds Fair in Vancouver B.C. (one of the worst hangovers I have ever had) really got me interested and I bought my first laser in the 90's I don't remeber what year exactly, but I have been hooked on lasers for a long time.

 

[Things]

I was 12 in 2006 when I bought a laser spirograph kit from Jaycar for $40. I also bought a little keychain pointer to use with it, and wired it up to an external PSU. I had that goin on my wall for a while, and I discovered green lasers. I bought a "7mW" pointer off eBay, and thought it was really cool. I signed up to LPF in 2007, as I had seen a potmod video on youtube, and wanted to ask some questions about it.

That laser eventually died when I tried to hack into it to get the module out. Then I found DX, and ordered a 20mW and 30mW pen. Had those for a while, then decided I wanted something of more power. At that point, SenKat had begun selling 16x red diodes in his store for around $30 I believe. Stupidly rushing to get it working, I connected it right to a 3V 200mA wall pack, and blew it. I was in a rush to get another one to try (No 405nm diodes even yet), and managed to get my first working high powered red pointer built into a massive box

Then I found scanners, decided going that direction would be more useful, as I could put my hobby into use at shows etc, and it's worked

 

[ped]

Im an electronics engineer, and after i qualified back in 1987 , i was dj ing at the time and the club i worked in. the laser show packed in, so i refurbed it and got it working again.

I was hooked from then.

 

[Pilgor]

hate to say, but kipkay got me into lasers But before I saw his maglite laser "hack" I was always into those cheap 5mW red dollar store lasers.