The thing about lasers is that they are expensive.
When they get broken, it is a trajedy.
These are those stories... of despair, of sucess, and of funny accidents.
I'll start with mine...
In my opinion every Boy Scout needs a laser. I bought my first 5mW greenie a while back. Of course, when you have a laser, you mean to show it off. But take this advice: showing off does not involve letting OTHER people touch it. Here's why: the first person I let hold the laser, after a careful warning and threats of violent retribution if he dropped it, DROPS IT. I turn it on... nothing but a green flashlight that makes a pattern that isn't even interesting. The months that followed were agonizing. I only got less than half of the value of the laser back from the guy that DROPPED IT (and back then, for me $90 was an immense amount).
Some months later, I bought a replacement, exactly the same kind. VERY few people even see that warning sticker anymore (especially because of the cushiony cover I made).
So there I am, with two lithium powered lasers, one utterly broken. What to do? Obviously, I took apart the useless laser and learned how it worked. After much research on the net about how these things work, I was able to completely disasemble what was left of my laser and put it back together. When I turned it back on, IT WORKED! Well, at about 1/5 of the original power. But there it was, a coherent dot!
I have fixed a laser.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
When they get broken, it is a trajedy.
These are those stories... of despair, of sucess, and of funny accidents.
I'll start with mine...
In my opinion every Boy Scout needs a laser. I bought my first 5mW greenie a while back. Of course, when you have a laser, you mean to show it off. But take this advice: showing off does not involve letting OTHER people touch it. Here's why: the first person I let hold the laser, after a careful warning and threats of violent retribution if he dropped it, DROPS IT. I turn it on... nothing but a green flashlight that makes a pattern that isn't even interesting. The months that followed were agonizing. I only got less than half of the value of the laser back from the guy that DROPPED IT (and back then, for me $90 was an immense amount).
Some months later, I bought a replacement, exactly the same kind. VERY few people even see that warning sticker anymore (especially because of the cushiony cover I made).
So there I am, with two lithium powered lasers, one utterly broken. What to do? Obviously, I took apart the useless laser and learned how it worked. After much research on the net about how these things work, I was able to completely disasemble what was left of my laser and put it back together. When I turned it back on, IT WORKED! Well, at about 1/5 of the original power. But there it was, a coherent dot!
I have fixed a laser.
HOW ABOUT YOU?
