Greetings from Rural Ohio

[FuzzyPancake]

After reading hundreds of posts (yes, including numerous safety and etiquette stickies) and generally being nosey for the last few weeks, I've finally decided to join this excellent forum. Coming from the cesspool that is most Reddit forums, I appreciate how passionate, knowledgeable, and helpful the majority of the members here are.

My history with lasers

Back in the late 2000's as middle schooler I bought a my first laser - a $25 "5mw" 520nm green laser from Amazon. I was that idiot fucking kid with a laser. I shined it at cars, airplanes, people, my cats, my neighbors windows, girl's behinds... It's really a miracle I never did any serious harm to anything (that I know of ) or got in any trouble with it beyond getting it temporarily taken by a teacher while shining it at my classmates during class. Bare witness to this instrument of once great annoyance.



Fast forward over a decade to February 14th, 2020

Very early in the AM, I decided it was, at long last, time to indulge in a high powered laser from none other than LPF revered Jetlasers.org. I ordered the "last laser I'll ever need" (we'll see how that goes) - the PL-E Pro 1.6W 445nm.

Jetlaser's website said it should arrive from China in 5-6 days. Well turns out this COVID-19 virus thingy is actually a big deal and Mr. Gray of Jetlasers customer service informed me that because of it my most anticipated purchase of the last 6 years is going to be delayed an unknown number of weeks.

When it arrives I plan to write as thorough a review as I can complete with pictures (and possibly video - I do not have a proper camera) from the perspective of a first time high powered laser purchaser.

I'm hoping that tinkering with and sharing this laser is going to encourage me to learn and understand more about the science of lasers and electronics in general - with the help of this forum.

Thanks for reading!

 

[Snecho]

Welcome man! I too share a somewhat mischievous past way back with lasers. And I also spent a great deal of time just reading the stickies. It really does gets you a good feeling of the site and you already then know pretty much all the basics so you don't have to ask.

Good luck with your PL-E Pro, a fine laser as a first "true" laser. One on the best. I'm sure that you know it is very important to get proper safety goggles as 1.6W is nothing to sniff at.

Reddit is definitely it's own beast, but these forums are the home for everything laset related. Word of advice though, folks around here tend to frown upon cursing to try to keep things more organized

Hope your JL gets here soon!

 

[FuzzyPancake]

Welcome man! I too share a somewhat mischievous past way back with lasers. And I also spent a great deal of time just reading the stickies. It really does gets you a good feeling of the site and you already then know pretty much all the basics so you don't have to ask.

Good luck with your PL-E Pro, a fine laser as a first "true" laser. One on the best. I'm sure that you know it is very important to get proper safety goggles as 1.6W is nothing to sniff at.

Reddit is definitely it's own beast, but these forums are the home for everything laset related. Word of advice though, folks around here tend to frown upon cursing to try to keep things more organized

Hope your JL gets here soon!

I did fail to mention that I also ordered protective goggles from JL along with the laser. Their customer service says the goggles selected from the laser's store page (the only goggles option on the store page) is OD3, and is OD3 for all wattages available for the PL-E Pro which is a little concerning for those that order the 5W model. From my math this means if I look directly into the laser beam coming from my 1.6W model with my goggles on my retinas will be exposed to just 1.6mw of light which means that as long as I blink and promptly move I will be at very minimal risk of permanent vision damage, but I'd like some assurance on that as I have notoriously poor math skills.

Regarding vulgar language, maybe I'm a dirty heathen and it really doesn't need to be said explicitly, but nobody made any comments about it in the etiquettes I've read, so I'm going to assume it's okay long as I only use vulgar language when I really want to be emphatic about something. I'll keep it to a minimum since it is apparent some people here prefer not to see it.

 

[hakzaw1]

welcome fellow buckeye--we have some outstanding
members there.. I was raised at Lake Cable--(Canton)
We do have a few younger members and a very few ladies
so try to set a good example by not dropping many F bombs.

I am the forum rep for Gray-- awesome guy-- he has reached out to many members having personal probs and often helps them--but never mentions that-- I have a feeler going at BS&T for Group Buy #11,-- it may be some time before I call for the funding. ( the min. order for it is 10 or more lasers and yes we have no control about the virus but in the past we always got great service and near overnight shipping.
I meter and closely inspect each laser then reship to the buyers,] SO instead of the usual $38 JL charges --each buyer pays only what it costs me to reship== I add some nice free exters
and so far zero problems--also Very rarely I am loading a box to go to Gray and any GB member or just a buyer can send to me & I will add their stuff to the box no charge--of course you will still have to pay $38 to get your item back-- The express used , of course for the fast delivery but more important always unopened. Gray has a DHL agent there who seals our boxes and they never get opened ever. btw never get batteries with a laser if it is crossing borders-- you do not really want ANYONE add power and doing 'who knows what' -- within borders this is not an issue and batteries w/o a laser are no prob most of the time which is great coz li-ions and not allowed to be shipped w/o special packing, with the exception of only a few shippers and NOT by the USPS..

Members who demand the best only from JL and Sanwu.
The JLs are the last ones sold from collectors when a member moves on.
Often the get into laser projectors and THAT is where all the REAL fun begins.

I have asked JL to give us a $15 off coupon only good at our GB-- we shall see- things have changed--Trump is no friend of hobby level laserists..

welcome- feel free to send PMs to any vet hear if you are not sure to post in open forum.

lastly-- your green pens pointer was/is 532 nm DPSS-- the diode greens came later-- AFAIK

about the eye protection QS-- 5W of blue is crazy overkill.
In some ways it is asking for trouble... Some wear two sets of glasses-- and everybody needs to be super careful where their beams are going-- I mostly use mine when setting up 'bounce mirrors'-- doing divergence measurements and scanner alignment etc. it take lots of time to develop the 6th sense that keeps us safer-- one good practice is never have horizontal beams under 8 feet or above the knees,
Use proper beam stops and be mindful of all reflective sutfaces'
I NEVER do lasers near big cities (at night) and especially within 10 miles of ANY airport- any heli pad-- like hospitals who get lifeflights
as well as any cop-shop that owns a heli--do spend some hours at laserpointersafety.org-- there you will learn a lot and read what happens to idiots with lasers- for some cases it is now a Federal Offence-- which means NO early release and once free you will be banned from owning ANY lasers of any power..ouch! We show the back door to any members we read about at LPS.org as well.
Check out my thread at Tutorials section on the Laser Safety Officer training..

Pat Murphy adds new stuff at LPS.org often..

I can give you an intro to other Ohio members if you want.

(len) aka hak
peace

AND there is very little visible diff from a 1.6W -- save for more wavelengths OR a Laser PJ with ILDA

 

[Anthony P]

What part of Ohio? I live in Port Clinton, and grew up in Columbus.

 

[FuzzyPancake]

welcome fellow buckeye--we have some outstanding
members there.. I was raised at Lake Cable--(Canton)
We do have a few younger members and a very few ladies
so try to set a good example by not dropping many F bombs.

I am the forum rep for Gray-- awesome guy-- he has reached out to many members having personal probs and often helps them--but never mentions that-- I have a feeler going at BS&T for Group Buy #11,-- it may be some time before i

I have been to Canton many many times actually! My mom graduated from East Canton and my dad went to Waynesburg. Not a bad city if you ask me.

And while you're here... what's the latest with Jetlasers getting back to shipping orders? Mr. Gray made it sound like they would get back to it this week or next but I don't really want to bug him about it every five days.

What part of Ohio? I live in Port Clinton, and grew up in Columbus.

I live on the Ohio Indiana border in the middle of the border. I actually was just in Columbus a few weeks ago for my first ever hockey game, and I drove through or just around Port Clinton on my way to Put-In Bay just last summer!

 

[hakzaw1]

While no biggie at most forums... at LPF we frown upon any double posts-- use edit instead==and be careful making posts in a thread that is VERY old- ('necroposting') the OP member may not be here anymore or--worse dead. so read the OP and check the dates of a few of the newest posts--hak

 

[FuzzyPancake]

While no biggie at most forums... at LPF we frown upon any double posts-- use edit instead==and be careful making posts in a thread that is VERY old- ('necroposting') the OP member may not be here anymore or--worse dead. so read the OP and check the dates of a few of the newest posts--hak

Truth be told I didn't know what a double post actually is. I thought it was just posting the same or similar text two times in a row. Nonetheless I appreciate the kind advice and have joined my posts accordingly.

I see you added to your post earlier. I really appreciate the time you took to say so much. GB's really do seem like the most cost effective way to continue with this hobby. However I don't have any experience with peer-to-peer payments and shipping so I hope folks are willing to help me with that.

And if you don't mind can you tell me the tangible differences (if there are any for your standard hobbyist) between diode-pumped solid-state lasers (DPSS) and diode lasers? I am reading some stuff about DPSS output consistency being very temperature dependent, but I don't know to what extent. Otherwise the differences are not worth paying attention to as far I can tell.

 

[paul1598419]

Welcome to the LPF. a DPSS laser is a crystal or crystals pumped by a laser to get a different wavelength out than the pump source. Direct diode lasers are just that. A diode at a certain wavelength that is collimated by a lens. Hope that helps a little. There is far more to it than just that.

 

[FuzzyPancake]

It makes a bit more sense now. In DPSS lasers, IR light emitting diodes, with the help of a crystal lense, convert IR waves to green waves but at the expense of some efficiency versus direct diodes. From what I'm gathering, direct diode lasers also have a more stable but more divergent beam and are not available in all wavelengths, nor are DPSS lasers. Is there much else that is important to know?

 

[paul1598419]

That is only one specific DPSS laser. You pump neodymium doped yttrium aluminum garnet or yttrium orthovanidate with 808nm to achieve 1064nm. Then you use a nonlinear crystal, like potassium titanyl phosphate, KTP to get 532nm. There is a whole lot more to know.

 

[FuzzyPancake]

So some systems require more than one conversion of wavelengths. I did not know that.

I would assume then that DPSS lasers are inherently (due to the wavelength conversion process) less efficient than direct diodes? Is either technology more durable than the other? Is one significantly cheaper than the other (in dollars-per-watt, if you will)? Any other perks? Is it just so much more complicated than I understand?

I apologize if these are common questions. If you can point me to a resource I would appreciate it.

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
Welcome to LPF have fun and be safe always.
Rich

 

[paul1598419]

You will never get a Gaussian beam from a direct diode laser, so in that respect a good DPSS laser is better than a direct diode laser. You can buy a 301 or 303 style 532nm pointer on eBay for ~$6.00 that should give you 50 to 80 mW of optical power. But, once you get into the higher power 532nm lasers they tend to be lab lasers and generally cost more than any of the direct diode lasers.

 

[Snecho]

DPSS lasers have the best beam divergence out there. That is, a single small round dot AKA TEM00. Diode lasers usually have dots that are actually lines or boxes and get bigger much much quicker over distance than DPSS. In higher powers the main dot can be made up of multiple smaller dots or box-like dots.

DPSS would be 00. Picture for reference:


However, DPSS lasers are far less stable. i.e. Temperature changes will cause them to hop modes and/or loose output power.

It's worth mentioning the only real DPSS lasers you can encounter in the hobbyist level are 532nm greens, and by extension, cheap laser 303's. 95% Of all handheld lasers being built and sold nowadays are direct diodes. You could get lucky and find a rare one. JL used to sell a PL-E in 473nm that was DPSS I believe but not anymore.

 

[thanhtrung]

Hello!
Wish you have moments of fun.