Word of advice
Damn, another noob, who wants the short way to forum fame...
Look, kid, I'm pointing this one right at you:
I started the same way you did, from scratch, and just two hours ago, I assembled a laser that can score blue duct tape pretty easily, and still has power to spare. All after starting with minimal knowledge of electronics, no knowledge of lasers, and next to no tools to boot (seriously, a 30 years old soldering iron with a blunt tip, and an analog multimeter?
).
I got here by researching, reading, and ASKING DIRECTED QUESTIONS. Not just "tell me what works", but "hey guys, will <this and that, insert generic description of build> work?" Why not do the same? Ask a question that can be answered in an intelligent fashion, and don't attempt to skip the reading, because that won't do you any good.
Cheers,
The ThunderBird