Sorry but I have to go along with Trevor on this one. Not saying that 802Laser is anything other than what he claims but it is a bit strange for a “journalist” to have such a short deadline and to come into a user community forum asking for such hand-holding to do something that he is supposed to write a tutorial about and (don’t forget) can cause injury if not done with proper respect for the results.
His purpose may be perfectly legitimate but without spending the time to review this forum and other information sites on the use, background, and construction of lasers, you are potentially handing a loaded gun to a kid. A proper laser construction article would require at least a couple of weeks of research and some basic electronic skills, along with acquiring the necessary components. If all you need to do is “construct” a laser, there are plenty of kits available as sites like o-like. Now, if instead my purpose was to shine a bright light on a possibly dangerous and unregulated hobby that could cause injury to myself and others, coming to a laser forum and pushing that helpful community for some quick “assistance” in building a burning laser, that would be a great way to end my article.
Not that my experience is typical but before even assembling my first laser (so far just the parts, no host, my DX order finally came in today) I read through a number of the beginner articles referenced on this site and others, read through a couple of weeks of posts in the safety, build, red and general forums and purchased some safety equipment. That would be the way to go about writing an article on how to build a laser…
