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Laser Diodes and Gear Best Lasers?

FusionBear

FusionBear

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So I'm new to the Forums and the Laser hobby. I'm looking to build a laser and buy a laser pointer.

For buying I was looking at some Gear Best lasers such as these.
High Power Military Laser 301 532nm Green Light Zoomable Laser Pen Lazer Beam - 1 x 18650 Battery-7.22 and Free Shipping| GearBest.com
Laser 301 5mw 405nm Zoomable Blue Violet Light Laser Pen Pointer for Teaching Astro - observation - 1 x 18650 Battery-7.04 and Free Shipping| GearBest.com

I don't really care for what color the laser is but I want something that can pop balloons and burn matches. I'm told that 5mW lasers won't burn anything but the lasers above say they can and the reviews say they can. So is the 5mW thing not true or are the lasers over speced?

Onto building a laser. I want to make the laser from styropyro's building a burning laser from an old computer video. I have all the parts except the laser diode. I have taken apart 2 DVD RW drives but have broken both the laser diodes but it doesn't matter cause I can't get them out of their metal heatsinks. I don't know what kind of laser diode to get that is okay to power with the PSU and a 3 ohm resister.

Sorry if I'm asking dumb questions but I have searched online and in the forums but couldn't find anything.
 





Well you have come to the right place. Time to do some research here.

As for the lasers you want to buy, in most cases a 5mW laser will come overspec. I can't tell you if those specific ones will be overspec enough to burn anything, but it is conceivable.

If you are interested in a laser that burns/pops balloons etc... you will need at least 100-150mW of power.

As for building your own laser. There are tutorials on this forum, that will tell you how to remove a diode successfully from the sled and heatsink. You may want to look those up. As for the driver, you may be better off with a LM317 type driver rather than just current limiting with a resistor.
 
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Thanks, I have been reading on here for awhile. I have a LM317 driver actually that I plan on using. I don't have the tools for getting the diode out of a heatsink that's why I'm mainly looking to buy a 150nm diode.
 
FusionBear said:
Thanks, I have been reading on here for awhile. I have a LM317 driver actually that I plan on using. I don't have the tools for getting the diode out of a heatsink that's why I'm mainly looking to buy a 150nm diode.
Click to expand...

150nm diode? Wow, can I have some please! :D

-Alex
 
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