lasers

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jon_89
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Sun Jan 13, 2008 5:40 pm

From the dvd burner right? Do I have to use it though?
TurboSuper
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Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:16 pm

jon_89 wrote:From the dvd burner right? Do I have to use it though?
If you want to burn stuff yes, if you want a nice red dot, go with the other one.


Does anyone know if the visible beam in the video is because they released dust into the air prior to filming, or because the beam is actually visible. I was just wondering...
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jon_89
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Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:22 pm

Well in the minimag flashlight laser they use the dvd burner and the laser module is this neccesary or is one or the other?
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knappengineering
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Sun Jan 13, 2008 11:32 pm

If I understand your question correctly, they only use the dvd burner diode but they just use the housing from another laser pointer and replace the existing diode with the dvd diode. Hope that helps. I am also curious as to whether the beam is normally visible or not. I really want to try this out soon!
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jon_89
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Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:50 am

so the laser module is not needed then? i hope you can see the beem because that makes it that much better.
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rna_duelers
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Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:33 am

I have a 5mw 532nm green laser pointer and it goes very well at night time,you can see the beam reach off into the distance for what seams for ever.But for burning power you will need atleast around 400mw to burn items like plastic,paper,pop balloons etc.

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jimmy101
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Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:23 am

dewey-1 wrote:
jon_89 wrote:so if i was to buy a laser module which one would be the "hottest"? a 650nm 10mw, 780nm 80mw, or a 980nm 35mw.
All three of these are considered RED laser beams.
Anything of 5mW or more can be considered dangerous if special precautions are not implimented. Especially to the untrained or non-educated about laser safety.

Consider doing some research first before any use of these.
Actually, the visible light spectrum only goes up to about 700nm, so the 780nm and 980nm lasers are in the infrared and are invisible to a human eye.

I would strongly recomend that you not fiddle around with any laser diode that produces infrared since the spot is invisible. Like dewey said, anything over 5mW is hazardous, an 80mW invisible beam is especially hazardous.

If you don't know what mw and nm mean you are not qualified to be hacking lasers capable of producing instantaneous eye damage.
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jimmy101
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Mon Jan 14, 2008 11:29 am

TurboSuper wrote:Does anyone know if the visible beam in the video is because they released dust into the air prior to filming, or because the beam is actually visible. I was just wondering...
Laser beams are always invisible in air unless one of two things are true;

1. Dust or smoke is added to the air to reflect the beam and make it visible. This is often done for photographic reasons. A laser lab would never puprosely add smoke or dust to the air since it'll settle on the optics and screws up whatever it is that the laser is being used for.

2. At VERY high power levels the beam may be visible in air due to the small amount of dust that is always present.
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bigwick
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Fri Jan 18, 2008 3:48 pm

a laser is a gas, such as co2 heated up and amplified by 1000x. the heat/ light is transfered into a focal point and then shot through a even smaller focal point tocut into metal up to one inch thick. the smallest cut ever completed is .004 inches long. copyright modern marvels: things that cut lol
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dewey-1
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Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:12 pm

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Last edited by dewey-1 on Sun Apr 20, 2008 2:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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bigwick
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Fri Jan 18, 2008 4:15 pm

ya well oh well i got all my information from a episode of modern marvels on the history channel a couple of weeeks ago a little tipsy, so the quality of my information may leak untruth. sorry lol
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