burnedup69
Member
- Joined
- Apr 7, 2022
- Messages
- 38
- Points
- 8
Since burning myself up in March - ish by using one of those new "safety" USA government mandated plastic gasoline 5 gallon jugs <smfh> and having 6 weeks - ish to lay in bed and heal and think about it. I was finally able to make my idea of igniting a brush fire from a safe distance with a laser.
Some members were quick to ridicule me (and rightly so) - and some members were very, very, reluctant to help me...... and I couldn't understand why. Well, I took the abuse, stood my ground and even fired back once or twice with my own words. Got a warning / 2nd chance to calm down from a great mod who called it "even" / if we both stopped sniping at each other.
Anyway, I persisted with my own my research and I now fully (ish) understand the hesitancy of members willing to help me. It's now 7 to 8 months later and I now have knowledge that would also make me very reluctant to help someone in my shoes.
I got a blue laser (gatling style) off of Amazon with the suitcase and crappy / not safe included glasses + the 5 star caps that are utterly useless to me. I ordered a correct pair of safety glasses (2 in fact) which cost more than the laser.
Anyway, I quickly learned about divergence and learned how to strike a match up close, etc. The usual youtube tricks. Then I wanted to learn how to make the match ignite from a longer distance and I got it in my head that I my laser just wasn't powerful enough to do that so I went down the BE rabbit hole and even managed to score a 10x BE from Jet Lasers for free. - Although I never could get an adaptor to make it fit to my laser head.
So then I went down the rabbit hole of convincing myself I needed a more powerful laser. (WRONG) Spent a few months on that.
It has taken 8 months but I finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together with little hints and lots of research on my own.
I will not go into details (because now I understand the others hesitancy and I share their opinion) - But suffice it to say the two key "A-ha" moments happened when I realized a laser beam takes a few seconds to warm up - so to speak - and my problem with distance wasn't power, it was a steady beam.
Last night I conducted a test. Successfully ignited *something* from a measured distance of 20 feet. And armed with the knowledge to let it warm up a few seconds, I gave it about 10 seconds and walked 20 feet away and put *something* into the beam at the 20 ft distance and it instantly ignited. No more trying to hold steady with my hands, no more getting frustrated because something wouldn't ignite *IMMEDIATELY* upon turning the laser on.
A little patience and a steady beam + a little knowledge = Finally satisfied and successful in my mission. *CONTEXT* > I live way, way out in the country and no one is around me. The other day I raked up a big pile of leaves making sure to leave a 10 ft gap (circle of safety) between the pile of leaves and other forest stuff --- Had a water hose on hand and ready to go. I put about 1/2 gallon of Kerosene on the leaves and used a tiny bit of gasoline near *something* - Turned the laser on - gave it 10 seconds to warm up - had the laser steady and pointed it at the something I won't mention. It ignited instantly > which ignited the gasoline > which ignited the kerosene and pretty soon half the valley was covered in white smoke from semi wet leaves.
Couldn't I have just struck a match? > Sure, but what's the fun in that? I'm finally satisfied with my little project. Now I'm starting to wonder about another test - > how far past 20 feet can I go and still get the same results. IDK yet but I do plan to find out this weekend.
Thanks for the help fellas. I'm happy / goal accomplished / and I still have both my eyeballs. BTW, I made sure *IT WAS NOT WINDY* at all.... it had just rained hard 2 days prior. I want to burn brush piles, not the forest.
My mind has very briefly allowed me to shudder at the thought of IR lasers -- I won't draw it out in crayon. You're smart people but the fact that I know they are out there is quite unsettling. Now I understand the hesitancy to help me and I'm glad this knowledge isn't out there all over social media, youtube, etc.... I mean, it is, but not all the pieces. It's a scary new world.
I'm more afraid of my laser than I am any of my firearms. And they stay loaded. All of them. Now to decide to take it to the next step and try to build my own or be happy and move on to other projects. I'm likely 90% moving on to other things because I now have a system and the system works. Might even work too well...... Safety first always!! It was cool though. <grin>
Some members were quick to ridicule me (and rightly so) - and some members were very, very, reluctant to help me...... and I couldn't understand why. Well, I took the abuse, stood my ground and even fired back once or twice with my own words. Got a warning / 2nd chance to calm down from a great mod who called it "even" / if we both stopped sniping at each other.
Anyway, I persisted with my own my research and I now fully (ish) understand the hesitancy of members willing to help me. It's now 7 to 8 months later and I now have knowledge that would also make me very reluctant to help someone in my shoes.
I got a blue laser (gatling style) off of Amazon with the suitcase and crappy / not safe included glasses + the 5 star caps that are utterly useless to me. I ordered a correct pair of safety glasses (2 in fact) which cost more than the laser.
Anyway, I quickly learned about divergence and learned how to strike a match up close, etc. The usual youtube tricks. Then I wanted to learn how to make the match ignite from a longer distance and I got it in my head that I my laser just wasn't powerful enough to do that so I went down the BE rabbit hole and even managed to score a 10x BE from Jet Lasers for free. - Although I never could get an adaptor to make it fit to my laser head.
So then I went down the rabbit hole of convincing myself I needed a more powerful laser. (WRONG) Spent a few months on that.
It has taken 8 months but I finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together with little hints and lots of research on my own.
I will not go into details (because now I understand the others hesitancy and I share their opinion) - But suffice it to say the two key "A-ha" moments happened when I realized a laser beam takes a few seconds to warm up - so to speak - and my problem with distance wasn't power, it was a steady beam.
Last night I conducted a test. Successfully ignited *something* from a measured distance of 20 feet. And armed with the knowledge to let it warm up a few seconds, I gave it about 10 seconds and walked 20 feet away and put *something* into the beam at the 20 ft distance and it instantly ignited. No more trying to hold steady with my hands, no more getting frustrated because something wouldn't ignite *IMMEDIATELY* upon turning the laser on.
A little patience and a steady beam + a little knowledge = Finally satisfied and successful in my mission. *CONTEXT* > I live way, way out in the country and no one is around me. The other day I raked up a big pile of leaves making sure to leave a 10 ft gap (circle of safety) between the pile of leaves and other forest stuff --- Had a water hose on hand and ready to go. I put about 1/2 gallon of Kerosene on the leaves and used a tiny bit of gasoline near *something* - Turned the laser on - gave it 10 seconds to warm up - had the laser steady and pointed it at the something I won't mention. It ignited instantly > which ignited the gasoline > which ignited the kerosene and pretty soon half the valley was covered in white smoke from semi wet leaves.
Couldn't I have just struck a match? > Sure, but what's the fun in that? I'm finally satisfied with my little project. Now I'm starting to wonder about another test - > how far past 20 feet can I go and still get the same results. IDK yet but I do plan to find out this weekend.
Thanks for the help fellas. I'm happy / goal accomplished / and I still have both my eyeballs. BTW, I made sure *IT WAS NOT WINDY* at all.... it had just rained hard 2 days prior. I want to burn brush piles, not the forest.
My mind has very briefly allowed me to shudder at the thought of IR lasers -- I won't draw it out in crayon. You're smart people but the fact that I know they are out there is quite unsettling. Now I understand the hesitancy to help me and I'm glad this knowledge isn't out there all over social media, youtube, etc.... I mean, it is, but not all the pieces. It's a scary new world.
I'm more afraid of my laser than I am any of my firearms. And they stay loaded. All of them. Now to decide to take it to the next step and try to build my own or be happy and move on to other projects. I'm likely 90% moving on to other things because I now have a system and the system works. Might even work too well...... Safety first always!! It was cool though. <grin>
