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FrozenGate by Avery

New to lasers, hope someone can shed some light on the situation

S

Snowfox

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I'm new to lasers but, I've been casually lurking off and on for a little while now.

It's my understanding that violet lasers can be a bit harder to see at any given time than Red and Green lasers, is the same true for blue?

Outside of visibility is there any real hope of finding a cheap blue laser light that has a good visibility in general?
 





The eye sees light around 560nm the strongest, the farther you get in wavelength from this point the dimmer your eyes perceive it.

That being said the common blues available at around 450nm are relatively bright for how far it is from the vision peak. Part of the reason is because night adapted eyes are more sensitive to blue light than day adapted eyes, and we tend to view lasers in the dark.

By the way, power for power standard reds at 658nm are dimmer than 450nm blues, at least to my eyes.
 
Yes you can find some fairly cheap blue lasers (you get what you pay for). Not sure exactly what you're looking for, do you want a low-powered pointer or a high-powered beast? If you're interested in some comparisons between green and blue lasers, check out THIS video made my styropyro, an LPF member. He also has a video comparing red and blue lasers HERE.

Also, be sure to get some safety goggles if you're dealing with lasers!
 
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Sigurthr said:
The eye sees light around 560nm the strongest, the farther you get in wavelength from this point the dimmer your eyes perceive it.

That being said the common blues available at around 450nm are relatively bright for how far it is from the vision peak. Part of the reason is because night adapted eyes are more sensitive to blue light than day adapted eyes, and we tend to view lasers in the dark.

By the way, power for power standard reds at 658nm are dimmer than 450nm blues, at least to my eyes.
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Interesting. I'll google a color scale and see what that is like tomorrow. I get the impression from what you are telling me though that blue will be more visible than violet.

Gun said:
Yes you can find some fairly cheap blue lasers. Not sure exactly what you're looking for, do you want a low-powered pointer or a high-powered beast? If you're interested in some comparisons between green and blue lasers, check out THIS video made my styropyro, an LPF member. He also has a video comparing red and blue lasers HERE.

Also, be sure to get some safety goggles if you're dealing with lasers!
Click to expand...

I don't really want anything besides a "toy." I was really just looking for a "true blue" if you will laser pointer. Doesn't have to burn stuff, doesn't need to set houses on fire, and I'm not giving anyone surgery with it. (Although if I happen to find something that can perform laser eye surgery for cheap I promise not to complain. :evil:)

If I had skill in engineering I'd try to build the pulse laser I've been reading about. Maybe one day but, for now I just want a simple blue laser light that is easy to see. I'll probably mostly use it at night nd would like to save money where possible.
 
Gun said:
Also, be sure to get some safety goggles if you're dealing with lasers!
Click to expand...
I second that, don't think that its just some light coming out of a pen. The light can harm your eyes and will permanently damage them if your not wearing the right safety gear (laser safety goggles for the correct wavelength). Here is where to get some Safety
 
Snowfox said:
Interesting. I'll google a color scale and see what that is like tomorrow. I get the impression from what you are telling me though that blue will be more visible than violet.



I don't really want anything besides a "toy." I was really just looking for a "true blue" if you will laser pointer. Doesn't have to burn stuff, doesn't need to set houses on fire, and I'm not giving anyone surgery with it. (Although if I happen to find something that can perform laser eye surgery for cheap I promise not to complain. :evil:)

If I had skill in engineering I'd try to build the pulse laser I've been reading about. Maybe one day but, for now I just want a simple blue laser light that is easy to see. I'll probably mostly use it at night nd would like to save money where possible.
Click to expand...

I'm probably not the best person to recommend you stuff since I don't have much experience with companies (I'm a laser NOOB). If you want a cheap 445nm laser pointer then Ebay might be okay, I found THIS thread about a laser bought from Ebay, it sounds okay. As I've said, don't take my word for it. I'm sure there are better, cheaper, more reliable places to buy them :beer:
 
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Laik said:
I second that, don't think that its just some light coming out of a pen. The light can harm your eyes and will permanently damage them if your not wearing the right safety gear (laser safety goggles for the correct wavelength). Here is where to get some Safety
Click to expand...

I have no intention of taking a laser lightly (Sorry bad pun I know.)

Even if it doesn't set things on fire, it can still be hazardous to eyes and believe me I like being able to see.

Gun said:
I'm probably not the best person to recommend you stuff since I don't have much experience with companies (I'm a laser NOOB). If you want a cheap 445nm laser pointer then Ebay might be okay, I found THIS thread about a laser bought from Ebay, it sounds okay. As I've said, don't take my word for it. I'm sure there are better, cheaper, more reliable places to buy them :beer:
Click to expand...

It's a starting point and I appreciate it.
 
Snowfox said:
I have no intention of taking a laser lightly (Sorry bad pun I know.)

Even if it doesn't set things on fire, it can still be hazardous to eyes and believe me I like being able to see.



It's a starting point and I appreciate it.
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Haha, you like puns! Even the thread title is a pun.

No worries, sorry I couldn't help you more :o
 
Actually, I'm not big into puns but, I'm running low on sleep and in a tired state it seems funnier than it probably is.
 
Can you please put your location in your profile, it will help us help you more? :) If your in the US, most cheap ebay pens or way over spec (50-100mW). So i would just get a few of them.
 
Mohrenberg said:
You can build your own for around $90...
Click to expand...

Or you can just do that :D It is way better building your own because you learn so much about lasers and electronics while you are doing it. Although your first build might fail (mine did) you will still get knowledge on what to do next time round.
 
I live in the USA.

I'm not opposd to building one depending on the amount of time/energy/effort required.

I'm willing to spend a Saturday/Sunday afternoon tinkering around if it is going to give me a high quality product.

I however, don't have much in he way of engineering experience. I've assembled the parts to a computer and could do something similar if that's whats needed to build a laser but, I want to keep it cheap and I would prefer to make sure it's something I can do before I start if you will.
 
It's precision fast-paced soldering to very small heat sensitive wires if you start from a bare diode. If you grab one of DTR's ready-made diode/driver/lens modules it isn't really any harder than putting pieces that fit together, together, and then soldering two wires that are not heat sensitive. DTR module goes in front end of host, assemble host, solder the module wires to the battery leads/connections, add battery... done!
 
The dot from violet lasers isn't that hard to see, but it looks a bit unfocused to most people.

For beam visibility your best and cheapest bet are green lasers.
 
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