Where is a good source to but blue LED laser pointer - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: raspberrypi
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2017, 04:17:14 pm
content: Have you ever seen the one in Codys lab on youtube? I want to buy one of those but there are so may junk ones where they lie about the power output on ebay. Whats a normal price 150$?

author: Kleinstein
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2017, 05:41:06 pm
content: There is not much use of a blue laser pointer: the blue lasers at 405 nm are not very visible to the eye. Thus they are rather dark for the power. So if you stay below the safe limits, it is very dark, hardly visible.The only blue laser pointer I saw was kind of scary: not very bright when pointed at normal materials, but really bright when pointing at a fluorescent paper. The scary part came when the person using it showed the performance curve of the laser diode is probably used. The graph went up all the way to over 100 mW. The purpose of the pointer was not as a useful tool it was more presenting one of the first blue laser diodes (well before you could buy them).AFAIK the blue laser diodes are usually quite powerful, but might need good cooling. So not sure there is much wrong with the quoted power - they are just not very visible to the eye. As they are low quantity units, the price can vary a lot. They may even be illegal (without a special permit) in some countries.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2017, 05:48:01 pm
content: I built one a few years ago with one of those 1W+ 445nm diodes from Casio projectors. I'm hesitant to suggest anyone do such a thing though as a pointer that powerful is illegal and quite dangerous. It will easily set paper on fire from across the room and getting hit in the eye is likely going to cause instantaneous and permanent injury.You can get lower power blue diodes now in several wavelengths though, much more interesting than the 405nm bluray diodes which are more violet than blue.

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2017, 05:57:10 pm
content: Quote from: raspberrypi on March 16, 2017, 04:17:14 pmThe laser Cody has is not a laser pointer, it is a VERY DANGEROUS HIGH POWER LASER. It would not be safe or advisable to own such a thing without knowing how to use it safely. Such a laser can easily cause permanent blindness to you or someone else. Even if I knew where to obtain one I would not feel comfortable sharing that information.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2017, 06:36:08 pm
content: Quote from: Kleinstein on March 16, 2017, 05:41:06 pmYes, that's not blue but violet, bordering on UV, so no wonder it's dim.Don't they sell blue laser pointers with a more sensible wavelength such as 440nm?

author: PedroDaGr8
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 16, 2017, 06:52:46 pm
content: Quote from: Hero999 on March 16, 2017, 06:36:08 pmThey do, but the diodes are not commodity (unlike 405nm which are used in blue-ray players) as a result they are quite expensive.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 02:50:31 am
content: I've had a long time interest in lasers, but there has always been one criteria that I have had, should I ever get one - at ANY power level ... and that is that ismustbeclearly VISIBLE. This sort of thing up at the blue-violet-UV end would be something I would not want around - even at 1mW.The burning risk I can deal with. The vision risk is bad enough in the red to green range, but in the blue to UV range...... Let's just say I have a deep respect for the risk.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 03:13:38 am
content: I have a 405nm laser from a HD-DVD drive I acquired shortly after that format died. It's not as if you can't see the spot, in fact many surfaces fluoresce bright blue. Otherwise it's a bit boring, but not invisible.You'd have to try pretty hard to hurt yourself with 1mW. It would require staring directly into the thing for a prolonged period and that won't feel good. Modern laser diodes are readily available that can produce truly dangerous power levels though. Another thing you have to watch out for is green DPSS lasers, most of the cheap ones have no IR filter so you can have a totally invisible IR beam that is an order of magnitude more powerful than the one you can see.

author: yuzuha
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 07:32:28 am
content: Quote from: Hero999 on March 16, 2017, 06:36:08 pmI've seen wicked lasers has a 445nm blue laser at 3.5 watts. Very dangerous and expensive at $200. Also have a 405nm at 0.5 watt for the same price. I'm wondering if anyone has laser diodes that emit down in the 265nm short wave UV region.

author: dmills
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 11:23:28 am
content: I don't know of any diodes down there, the bandgap required becomes a bit silly.For hard UV the usual approaches are pulsed N2 gas (Very easy to build, **very** high power but the pulses are measured in single digit feet in length and PRF is usually low), Argon ion (Energy HOG, inefficient), or third/fourth harmonic YAG (Available in solid state, but don't ask the price).Another pulsed option is Excimer laser, a high power pulsed gas laser using improbable chemistry with things like xenon fluoride (Yes you can make that if you kick one of the electrons in the xenon to a higher orbital first, the energy release when it comes apart is sufficient to produce a hard UV photon).Nothing so far as I am aware doing with conventional diode based approaches.If you are going to play with class 4 kit, get appropriate eyewear and do it where no light can escape to injure others, there is no excuse for a handheld class 4 laser, on a lab bench maybe, but the optical chain should be bolted down....

author: raspberrypi
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 04:41:06 pm
content: Quote from: IanB on March 16, 2017, 05:57:10 pmIm not an idiot.The purpose of it is to use it like he does in codys lab to remotely heat things. I need some thing to ignite things at a distance, its not a toy to play with. It would be used to ignite/heat small quantities of chemicals in sealed glass beakers under different atmospheres.

author: tpowell1830
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 05:09:00 pm
content: Quote from: raspberrypi on March 17, 2017, 04:41:06 pmI don't know what wattage Cody's is but I guess you could PM him on his channel and ask him. Amazon sells various laser diodes of varying wattage.https://www.amazon.com/445-450nm-1600mw-Module-w18x45mm-6-7-7-5V/dp/B01N2VB8S0/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_4?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1489770502&sr=8-4-fkmr2&keywords=450+nanometer+laser+diode

author: IanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 05:15:15 pm
content: Quote from: tpowell1830 on March 17, 2017, 05:09:00 pmCody has talked about his laser in one of his videos and has mentioned where he obtained it. However, I seem to recall he was reluctant to provide too many details given the dangers to people untrained in how to handle such an item.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 06:08:40 pm
content: It's not hard to build one, if you search for 445nm laser diode on ebay you can get the diodes, Aixiz is where I got the high quality glass collimating lenses, and for my lab laser I built a simple constant current driver using an L317. The whole project was fairly simple.I cannot overstate the safety issues here though, even reflected radiation can cause eye damage. The spot on a wall is painful to look at.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 08:50:07 pm
content: This guy built one:He's nuts...

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2017, 11:09:44 pm
content: Quote from: james_s on March 17, 2017, 06:08:40 pmLike this?http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/252667859784?lpid=122&chn=ps&adgroupid=40208335658&rlsatarget=pla-277438289453&adtype=pla&poi=&googleloc=9046203&device=c&campaignid=738217568&crdt=0Is 1W the input or output power? Can it be under-driven to a safe power level or will it be below the lasing threshold?

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 18, 2017, 12:02:26 am
content: 1W is the output power, IIRC that's with around 1A drive. They can be run at lower power but I've never tried to see where the lasing threshold is. There are lower power diodes available, more recently 515nm has appeared which is an unusual color.

author: raspberrypi
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 18, 2017, 12:11:38 am
content: Quote from: tpowell1830 on March 17, 2017, 05:09:00 pmI think thats my best bet and put it in a tube, seems like most sellers wont ship to the US. If I was cody I wouldnt tell people because some dumb kid will point it at his friends, blind one, and then it will be on the news the gov will freak out and ban them.I have one of those green ones that will light matches if you focus it which is safe IF you dont get it or a reflection in your eyes. I always wear red iridium oakleys when I use it. Amazing how far you can see the beam at night. You can see the cloud bottoms. I did some math once and figured out it goes 1- 1/4 miles. The blue one might be brighter assuming the eye can pick it up at night with low clouds.I actually just bought this and paid the 30 shipping so if it sucks I can cancel it within 30 days. Regular shipping wouldn't have it here until may. By may I will be into a totally new hobby and not want it anymore. That 30 hurts though, like shipping from ada fruit.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 18, 2017, 05:08:50 am
content: I'm sure that's one of the same Nichia diodes used in the XJ-A140 projectors. That housing looks identical to the one I used in my build. You can push them to 1.6W or more at the expense of somewhat reduced lifespan but they will last a long time doing 1W-1.2W. A good quality glass lens with AR coating for blue light makes a significant difference over the plain acrylic lens that comes with a lot of modules.

author: MrBungle
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 18, 2017, 06:07:18 am
content: Quote from: raspberrypi on March 18, 2017, 12:11:38 amIf you can see the beam, then those glasses are totally useless. Sure, you're waving the beam around in clear air or onto clouds but if you get a direct hit or even specular reflection with that 1.6W blue, those glasses are going to do absolutely nothing for you.If you're going to play with 1.6Watts get yourself a proper pair of laser safety glasses, ratedat least*OD3+ at 445nm and good quality, not some random cheap $30 ebay crap.Eagle Pair would be the cheapest I would recommend.The cheapest laser glasses I own cost $150, andthatis cheap.My eyes are worth more than $150 to me.* OD is optical density, OD3 is 10^3 = 1,000So, for 1.6 Watts, 1600mW/1,000 = 1.6mW will make it through the glasses.OD2 would pass 16mW and OD4 would pass 0.16mW (160nW) etc etc.If you value your eyesight, it would be worth doing some research on laser safety glasses/goggles.Have a good look at these threads andread every postand make sure you take notice of Xoul's profile picture... it should make your eyes water, for good reason.1 Watt:http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/hit-eye-1000mw-445nm-blue-laser-69469.htmlonly 5mW (!!):http://laserpointerforums.com/f53/laser-eye-damage-83085.html

author: yuzuha
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2017, 08:18:42 am
content: Good warning.... lasers are pretty hazardous.

author: raspberrypi
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2017, 05:04:58 am
content: That laser rifle is crazy, but you notice hes wearing proper safety gear. There's no reason to be afraid of things when you take safety precautions.I have a set of laser goggles on the way, since this is a class 4 laser I bought. It would be interesting to focus it and see how fast it burns things.If you do buy one of these things don't tell the people on this forum, they will lecture you to death like you are some type of child.So if you live in the US AU NZ or UK, you cant buy one of these, you have to buy it off amazon or ebay from china as just the laser and the driver. Then you have to make it into a laser pointer.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 26, 2017, 07:50:39 am
content: raspberrypi: Didn't your last thread of identical nature get locked because of your troll-ish questions?

author: TerraHertz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2017, 11:11:35 am
content: @Halcyon. Yes it did. Now I'm waiting for him to start discussing what he wants to set fire to at a distance, and whether explosives are involved.Darwin's a bit slow sometimes.

author: raspberrypi
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 30, 2017, 12:38:34 am
content: Quote from: TerraHertz on March 27, 2017, 11:11:35 amI used to make shaped charges with HE when I was younger and we never had an incident. One mistake with that stuff and your vaporized.