I cant believe I found this thread. I've been searching for days for something like this, with no luck. I was even going to start a new thread for "Dirty" ways to ballpark output without a power meter using benchmarks and such, then one miracle happened. Completely by accident, I was doing a search for how to turn on HTML for the posts (still no idea), and on page 3, this popped up.:bowdown:
A while back I got a "100mw" green laser through Amazon for like $40. I knew from the reviews that it was likely not going to be that high, but for $40 I figured it was still more powerful than my 5mW, WTF. Its a lot brighter and more coherent (almost no scatter), but it will barely weld two layers of black garbage bag together. Needless to say it aint no 100mW.:gun: (the label says <100mW class IIIa?)
I've been on temporary disability (back injury) for about a month and have spent most of it in front of my computer rekindling my decades long fascination with lasers. After a lot of research, and the realization that I can't import IIIb lasers, I decided to build one. I'm getting a Jayrob Side button kit @ 190mA (tomorrow!) and a "250mW" rated Blu-Ray diode module of unknown origin.
This leaves me with two lasers of unknown power. If I were building them to sell I would want as accurate a measure as possible, as it is it's really just about curiosity and having a number to tell people when I show it to them. I would think for most users $200+ is way too much to satisfy that desire, but $20 to find out +/-7.5% is perfectly acceptable. In fact I'm hitting the hardware store this weekend, and right after I build my new laser, I'm building one of these.
I was terribly disappointed to see that Warske left. I Was hoping to thank him for the post and maybe get more input and/or clarifications. It's ashame he didn't feel appreciated enough to override one persons harrassment of him. I for one appreciate him, and I wish him well.:thanks:
Oh, for those in Europe I found this:
DealExtreme: $24.74 Mini Digital InfraRed Thermometer with Laser Sight (-50'~260'C/-58'F~500'F)
They had a couple of others for less than $30 US.
Sorry I've been so verbose. This is only my 2nd post (after thanking Jay for my new kit). I guess I had a lot to say.
Happy Lasing
P.S. I think this should be a sticky too.
IR thermometer, it looks like a piece of crap (plastic, runs on button batteries, really small) and it seems to take readings within about 10%. I'll build this later on...
