4 ms·

If you are more of a video person, here is 5 minute video from styropyro of him explaining and building one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1psxE4NlECQ https:/

If you are more of a video person, here is 5 minute video from styropyro of him explaining and building one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1psxE4NlECQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1psxE4NlECQ

non-entity 6y ago
I found his videos just yesterday! I was watching a video about an extremely high powered laser he ended up burning stuff with, and was incredibly tempted to get my hands on one till he noted how they try to keep that stuff away from hobbyists lol.
- blincoln 6y ago
  It's not that hard to get ahold of reasonably high-powered lasers. IIRC, one of the ones he used was ordered direct from China, sold as a tattoo remover. If you decide to experiment with them, please be very careful, and buy proper eye protection from a reputable supplier. There are a lot of garbage goggles out there that don't actually filter out the parts of the spectrum that they claim to. I've seen this myself with some alleged UV goggles that were the same shade of green as my actual UV goggles, but didn't filter UV light. IIRC, in the tattoo remover video, he finds the same thing with the useless "safety" goggles that that laser included. If you have proper laser safety goggles for the type of beam you're working with, you probably won't be able to see the beam, which takes some of the fun out of it. Years ago, I saw a video of a folded-optic welding helmet that put HDR imagery on displays inside the helmet, so the eyes weren't even exposed. That would be an ideal approach for lasers, IMO, but I can't even find the video now, let alone DIY plans or an inexpensive commercial product. It's the 21st century, but you still can't get the replacement eyes that 80s cyberpunk novels promised us. It's very easy to lose some or all of one's sight when experimenting with lasers. Back around 2010, I was about 3/4 of the way through building a laser pistol out of a DVD writer diode and some custom electronics when I realized that even in the best case scenario, it wasn't worth risking my eyesight, so I abandoned it before going from the breadboard phase to the "fits into a pistol form factor" version.

If you are more of a video person, here is 5 minute video from styropyro of him explaining and building one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1psxE4NlECQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1psxE4NlECQ

non-entity 6y ago

I found his videos just yesterday! I was watching a video about an extremely high powered laser he ended up burning stuff with, and was incredibly tempted to get my hands on one till he noted how they try to keep that stuff away from hobbyists lol.

blincoln 6y ago
It's not that hard to get ahold of reasonably high-powered lasers. IIRC, one of the ones he used was ordered direct from China, sold as a tattoo remover. If you decide to experiment with them, please be very careful, and buy proper eye protection from a reputable supplier. There are a lot of garbage goggles out there that don't actually filter out the parts of the spectrum that they claim to. I've seen this myself with some alleged UV goggles that were the same shade of green as my actual UV goggles, but didn't filter UV light. IIRC, in the tattoo remover video, he finds the same thing with the useless "safety" goggles that that laser included. If you have proper laser safety goggles for the type of beam you're working with, you probably won't be able to see the beam, which takes some of the fun out of it. Years ago, I saw a video of a folded-optic welding helmet that put HDR imagery on displays inside the helmet, so the eyes weren't even exposed. That would be an ideal approach for lasers, IMO, but I can't even find the video now, let alone DIY plans or an inexpensive commercial product. It's the 21st century, but you still can't get the replacement eyes that 80s cyberpunk novels promised us. It's very easy to lose some or all of one's sight when experimenting with lasers. Back around 2010, I was about 3/4 of the way through building a laser pistol out of a DVD writer diode and some custom electronics when I realized that even in the best case scenario, it wasn't worth risking my eyesight, so I abandoned it before going from the breadboard phase to the "fits into a pistol form factor" version.