New member in Utah. Hello, and merry christmas.

[bballin]

Hello! I have been lurking the site for a month or two and finally decided to join. I live here in utah and I'm 30 years old. I've always loved small electronics since i was little and got into hobby grade RC cars and trucks. Today I still drive several RC cars and trucks(Gas and electric) as a hobby, and fly RC planes and Quadcopters. I would like to think I am proficient in Soldering and low voltage electronics.

Anyway I stumbled upon the site a few months ago looking for some christmas gifts for my brothers. I did some shopping around for some cheap laser pointers for gifts and ended up settling on some very cheap ones from Banggood and Gearbest. I got 3 sets of 3 colors (green, red , violet) for each of my brothers.

So now I've got the itch so to speak. lol

Also Looking for some beginner lasers as of right now.. I have been looking at the Sanwu site. they have some Pointers that are fairly cheap and was guessing those would be good starter lasers. Link.

I was looking at the 3 laser set, 100mW each. Would this be a good choice??? I have seen many 303 lasers on ebay and such, but am skeptical of quality and power.

Long term I would really like to get involved in the hobby and hopefully build some high powered stuff. Like I said i am confident in my soldering skills, even on a magnifying glass level.

This post is getting rather long, but I am excited to be a member. And thank you all for the Information I've already learned !

 

[hakzaw1]

Welcome and thanks for the great intro... more newcomers should do as you did.

In some cases (like ebay) sellers put 5mW but that is because of ebay rules.

SOME of the '300' series are pretty crappy but others are not made in the same place and are fairly good.

A big plus is the 18650 batts these use,, I harvest all I need and many times more from discarded Laptop batt packs.
I have a bunch so I never worry too much how long they work.. power-wise most 300s are plenty good for most uses.



The 405 nm 'violets' can burn objects when focused==the 405 MAY look weak and harmless BUT of the three, the 405s are the most consistent higher power often around 100mW and can be very dangerous because they do not 'look' powerful -- the beam profile is awesome-- very tight and thus powerful spot as it is concentrated. They also can be run longer w/o rest than any pen pointer. (duty/rest cycles).
some come with tailcap key.... a good idea if there is ANY possible chance a child or an adult that is clueless can 'fire' these lasers.

'Pen pointers' (cheap) are fixed focus -- the 300s have can be focused (most). If you use a pen pointer very often you WILL be buying primary batts.
Only 'high end' pointers use rechargeable li-ons.

about 'brightness'.......our eyes see some 'colors' much better that others.. so there is not much need for a high power green IF you want to have a set that is 'matched'. For 'most' humans 555mW is the 'brightest' perceived laser wavelength.. AND to 'match ' just 50mW of green it can take ~200 mW or more of most blue lasers and even more mW for a 'matching' red.
AND as you learn more you will see that even the 'same colors' can vary a LOT.. 650 and 660 reds are weak,,while 640- 638 and 635 are a LOT brighter.


BUY , when you can, from forum members..don't even look at Alibaba--ChinaDept Store, Wicked Lasers.,Laser pointerstore,
and a few more.. do a search here at LPF-- put in 'boblaser' and there is plenty and NONE is good.
Getting the major parts from members and 'finishing' the build yourself can be very gratifying. And they are here to stay.
Lots to pick from==(in no'order') DTR, flaminpyo , jayrob, Lifetime, RickTrent and others,

While from China..only two are highly recommended.
Jetlasers and Sanwu.

While owning a LPM is great.. anything you get from the above will NOT have exaggerated specs. and very often--MOST will be overspec.
enjoy the forum I hope another member can get with you as we always meter any other member's lasers any time and free.
AND we are eager to gather--share-swap buy and sell. These 'events' are mostly closed to the public due to liability. And all 'attendees' sign a waiver. The laser projectors are not set up like they would be for a paying gig. lots of danger at any LEM --- but we are careful and hopefully know what we are doing.. it is somewhat like being a lasershow roadie (including the hard work part)for a weekend or one night.

WE have 'All Access'. So wonderful photo op == I hear first-timers at SELEM saying 'SELEM was a life changing event' -- I know ... as that is what happened to me at SELEM 2010.
NEVER miss a chance to attend ANY LEM.. My 'Texas bros' & I are VERY OK with the 17hr drive to Newton NC (SELEM).

I cannot think of any other way for me to have actually 'met' >100 other members and their friends/family that attends SELEM and TEXLEM.
and...... you never hear at any LEM 'what good are lasers anyway?? why do you need more than one'
You would be welcome to bring a quad to SELEM .. get some great video.. Many forum members are also RC 'drone people'.

myb we see you at SELEM 13 --in mid Aug.. now grown to >5 days long woot!

hak now that ^^^^ is a long post..

 

[Immo1282]

Nothing I was gonna say that Hak didn't

Welcome to the forums - hope you have fun, learn a lot and most of all stay safe! Careful with lasers and eyeballs. They don't mix so well...

 

[GSS]

Welcome
For $5 to $8 each a 301, 302, 303 style is a perfect starter. $8 usually gets you a cheap charger cheap and battery, but good enough to get you going.
Like it's been posted many times I would get 2 or 3 of the 532's in one shipping as they vary from 40mw to 80mw.
You will be surprised how nice the host is for the money..
The red 650nm 301 can do 150mw to 200mw and the 405nm violets can do 50mw to 100mw.
They all are focusable.
This will get you into needing laser safety glasses and the one's that come in a kit with glasses option are only ok and better than nothing catagory.
If you have more money to spend, then it opens a whole lot of options.
We all seemed to start and were impressed by just lighting a match at first but.............you know where i'm going

 

[RedCowboy]

Greetings of the season, stay safe and enjoy.

 

[bballin]

Thank you for the responses!

I think I will go with the Sanwu sites 300 series "3 pack." It seems like Sanwu is very trusted among members here. 3 colors at only $40 for all three sounds good to me. This will just be something to start with.

A big plus is the 18650 batts these use,, I harvest all I need and many times more from discarded Laptop batt packs.

Yes Many Laptop batteries have been sacraficed in my house.

We all seemed to start and were impressed by just lighting a match at first but.............you know where i'm going

Yes, when I get interested in something I tend to over-do it, at least that's what my wife says. I Understand there are some risks involved with this hobby, so I will try to pace myself, lol.

Looks like I will be in the market for safety glasses as well.

Eventually I would like to Get into some DIY type stuff. There is some awesome threads on here of custom hosts, and great write ups.

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
Welcome to LPF its great place to start learning. Be safe and Merry X Mas
Rich

 

[paul1598419]

Welcome to the LPF. I looked at your link for the $18 Sanwu lasers and those are the very same lasers you can buy on eBay for $5.00 each. Sanwu does not build them. They only resell them. To me, it is better to get 3 of these 303 green lasers from eBay than to pay $18 for the exact same laser. But, that is up to you. Sanwu will tell you that they measure the power of these lasers and send out higher power ones, but that is just their justification for charging so very much more for the same laser.

 

[bballin]

Thank you, I'll reconsider my options.

Been busy with family so I haven't ordered anything yet. But maybe a good looking ebay version may save some money.

Thanks.

I've also been looking at some RGB white lasers on ebay, and youtubers controlling them with arduinos and ppm signals. That interests me very much lol. I've been browsing a few threads on here about it.

Anything special to look for on those RGB units? Sounds like glass alignment is key, so adjustment points are a plus.

I also peeked at a few galvo scanners. This may be a project several months down the road however.