New Laser Addiction

[kaeus]

Well, thanks to YouTube's random videos and my discovery of this forum, I'm now addicted to lasers. I've already purchased 4 axiz housings (should be on the way) and bought 3 diodes that are also on the way.

I only have a few questions.

A) What would be a good recommendation for my first flashlight mod. I'm looking for a flashlight that I can get from a store and that has decent room.

B) How necessary is a driver for the flashlight mods. Are there any flashlight that have enough regulation to prevent a surge from blowing the diode and dont require a custom driver (or at least has one I can easily modify)

Any answers would be greatly appreciated.

Edit: Also, where is a good place to get a decent pair of protective glasses. I really dont want to mess my eyes up...so I should probably invest in that at least,

 

[marianne]

welcome kaeus! hope you enjoy it here if you search around the forum, you should find plenty of advice already here for those sorts of mods. as for goggles, wicked lasers seem to have the only decently priced goggles for red lasers i've seen, which is a shame.

 

[kaeus]

Yeah, I've read so much negative stuff on them I don't even want to buy glasses from them. I might not have an option...

 

[marianne]

hence why i said it's a shame - i don't like to give companies like that any money on principle. hence why i've never given microsoft a penny in my entire life (which i'm real proud of!) hehehe..

 

[kaeus]

I'll be posting pictures as soon as I get the ability to of a new flashlight I havn't seen modded. Its nothing special, but how I got it is.

 

[toked323]

experiments and mods for driver or dorcy mini at target all you need to do is change the resistor ;D

 

[kaeus]

Yah, I'm thinking about getting something that I can just pop a better resistor on until I actually learn how to make the drivers. Just want an easy one to play with while I experiment with other methods.