Personal laser lab

[usakicksass]

I wonder how much it would cost and what would be needed to set up a basic laser lab. I.E., soldering iron, multimeter,????

 

[JLSE]

"One million dollars..."

 

[Switch]

"One million dollars..."

LOL Good one!
No but really, you can buy them pretty cheap, of course it depends on what type you want.You can get a red module for $17 at DX or you can get a highpowered blue DPSS for $2000.....
If you want to build them, the same thing.... you can dril a hole in a CPU heatsink and shove an aixiz module or you can buy crystals , diodes, and stuffs off ebay.....

 

[Things]

I think he means stuff to use to make/solder/test lasers etc. Soldering iron = $10-100, Multimeter = $15-$400, Solder = $1-6 Light (hopefully you have one of these already ;D ;D). Now, you will need something to power your stuff from, this could be a lab PSU, or even just a few batteries. Batteries you will eventually have to replace, and buy them for different voltages, lab PSU, you never have to replace (hopefully), + you can select voltage/current depending on what one you bought.

 

[Switch]

Oooh!..."laser lab", not "lab laser" .....duh.... Don't forget the laser power meter You can also go to the extent of buying an expensive optics bench and expensive mounts.Or build your own less profesional ones out of easily obtainable items.Depends what you wanna do with your "laser lab".Just be able to build DIY reds, or you want to make laser experiments, like combining beams and stuff that require optics? :-/

 

[Things]

Yeah good point, if you want a whole big setup, optics bench and all, i'd highly recommend the lab PSU. Power meters are good if you need to know whats going on, but i guess if its just for general experimenting you dont _need_ one. It's nice to have one on hand though.