New to forum, used to be into He Ne lasers back in the day, now diodes are incredible!

[Laserbran]

Hiya everyone a long time ago I built a Helium Neon 5mw laser in 7th grade. Cost over 500 dollars of my hard earned farm money(that was the early 90s). Well fast forward many years and I out of the blue searched for lasers on YouTube of course and was absolutely blown away by the power of modern diode lasers that can now be hand held. I quickly ordered your typical 1W 445 blue gatling style laser from ebay and have since built a 1.2w445nm and a 5w445nm(but only reads 3.5 on my meter). I made the housings myself on the lathe using 7071 aluminium, easy and fun project. I rescently ordered a 7w striker from Sanwu since the diode itself cost 200dollars! Its on the way. Anyway I've dived head first into the modern laser world and am happy to be here.