New Years comin'...

[FireMyLaser]

So I made a laser lighter! In like an hour LOL! EVERY year I use a gas lighter but no matter WHAT they always fail during the evening whether it runs out of gas, blows out, breaks, or just totally SUCK!

I made it from an old engraving tool, the diode is a LPC-815 780nm @ 350mA. It is probably over-driven so I gave it a socket so I can replace it with ease (You should not do this with a serious build!!! Beware!). The diode has no heat sinking expect from the module, but it is always cold out this time of year, and it will only be used a couple of second at a time. It is very easy to use, thanks to the LED which lets me find the fuse and light it instantly. I predict the output to be ~200mW.



Video and pictures:

Incandescence, nice!

It was a fun build!

 

[blue lasers]

nice!what color do you see that wavelength in real life?like orange-brown?

 

[denton808]

nice!what color do you see that wavelength in real life?like orange-brown?

since it is 780 nm i believe it's IR, red ends at 700 i think. u might still see some what of a reddish like dot if the power is high enough and since the wavelength is still near the red portion of the spectrum.

to the OP i think that's cool. i have a few burning lasers myself and i wanted to sample lighting fire works with them. it'd be good in those times when it's too windy for a lighter. plus either way even if it's not windy it's still cool. i asume those things u were lighting that flew all over the place were fuses. yours lights them pretty fast, hope mine does as well.

 

[blue lasers]

780 nm isn't IR, is near IR.it looks light brown on the pictures.

 

[denton808]

Infrared - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia .7 micro meters/700nm-300 micrometers/300,000 nm is infrared. red is typically 650 or so. i dunno exact number. there can't be any colors "below red"(at a longer wavelength) because red is at the bottom. from red you go to infraRED. that's kind of how you remember the electromagnetic spectrum. just like UV is right after violet which is the last color of the rainbow. if there is some sort of "color" i dunno what it is, but i'm pretty sure there is no color after red as far as visible light spectrum goes.

 

[FireMyLaser]

Yes, this is near infra-red.

nice!what color do you see that wavelength in real life?like orange-brown?

It is deep cherry red, about as visible as a <1mW 650nm laser. When burning it makes incandescent light which is far more intense.

i asume those things u were lighting that flew all over the place were fuses.

Yep.

 

[HumanSymphony]

w00t! swell. I still have one 25g flash powder bomb leftover from the 4th I saved specifically for new years

 

[Nefarious]

Very nice... But you'll need an extension cord

I wonder what happened to the guy who was looking for a laser to light fireworks for new years in europe....

 

[billg519]

Many lasers will light common green fireworks fuse. I have used my dilda, my IR handhelds, and blurays for this very task. You've come up with a nice project for the formerly useless IR diode in these sleds. As far as the color goes, this is near IR, so it appears as a dull cherry red in person. Be careful, this "dull-looking" dim radiation is still an eye hazard if there is a bad reflection. I like your host and the use of an aiming laser, is this one of those tiny red DX 5mW modules? That little 6-pack of nicads or nimh's should light a few fireworks for you!

 

[FireMyLaser]

The 780nm is visible enough to aim and find the focal point without any trouble, but I try not to stare at it too much. I have some sketches of a more sophisticated design using a total of 4 lasers (2x NIR for burning and 2x low power red for aiming), but I don't have the material to make it right now. I made this instead of using any of my other good lasers because I don't want to put them at risk when lighting the fuse, I don't mind if this gets hurt.

Very nice... But you'll need an extension cord

I don't mind it one bit

 

[nikokapo]

How more awesome can FML get?

 

[FireMyLaser]

I dunno, lol.