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money spent on lasers

3zuli

3zuli

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May 30, 2009
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so guys, can you aproximately tell (me, us etc.), how much money have you TOTALLY spent on lasers, since you're building them? you can also tell, how many bucks have you waste by destroing your lasers?
I already spent about 70$, and now I'm waiting for stuff for about 100$. I blew about 30$ by destroing 2 PHR's
 





Around $1500-$2000 when i actually stop to think about it, me thinks i need more self control :D
 
I would have more but my pets eat up all my money.

My mice alone eat 100 pounds of feed a month, 28 snake cages, 2 lizard cages and the dogs, cat & fish all cost money to keep.

If I cleared out the zoo, I could have that many lasers (or realistically more, I could sell one snake for $500 and get a few lasers with it.)
 
About 3000 dollars.But I started when 5 mw greens were 600 from Casix.I have a 5 and 10mw casix, which both make 8mw.The 5mw spec one has great beam quality, but the cr123 lithium does nothing for power stability.The pump is a 1 watt polaroid 808nm diode.I built a red 20mw pointer out of a module and a 6 D-cell maglight.I machined a surplus pulley into a module heatsink which fits perfectly where the old reflector went.In the case are 2 D cells and a spacer.It is a lot of fun...and the module was 500 but I got a discount to 265.That should tell you how old that is.It is a 650nm and my only red laser with a clearly visible beam without resorting to tricks to see it.My newest addition is a wicked lasers evo pro in 40mw.I am especially pleased that someone finally decided to use AA size cells.As if any AAA cells can even begin to operate a decent pump diode for any length of time!!!!Way cheaper than lithiums too!I found this forum after I had already ordered the unit.So far all I can say is the Evo pro is EPIC.Just fantastic.It is stable, and very powerful.I had dealt with wicked before...I bought a core for a friend.I tested it and was very, very impressed.
I have to say I laugh at the whole "wicked is expensive" stuff I have read here but, in fairness, I am comparing prices to the hoary past.(my 10mw Casix was 985!!!!!!)

I started when laser pointers were first coming out with diodes in them, and the first laser I played with was a HENE.I am amazed at how much power one can get today so cheaply.I am not going any higher in power than the 40mw 532nm I just got....it is more than sufficient for my experiments and general playing around....and I have no interest in burning.If I did, I know a man with a 40 watt argon.You know the laser is too big if just pointing it in the air requires coordination from the FAA!It is a cutting laser that is robotic.Quite cool.

I guess you can run amok today with way less than I have spent.But I don't regret it.And now that I am a married man , toys have to cost less.
 
I forgot...I have not ruined any lasers yet.I have had a few DOA, but they were taiwan greens that were justly notorious for poor quality.I have given all of them away.The cheapest really nice laser I have is a laser salvaged from a digital copier.It is 670nm or so, pretty deep red.I put the laser optic set from a Canon CLC(color laser copier) on it.The beam is fat at 5mm, and oval.But the divergence is hilariously good for a diode.Viewing the beam with a gen-1 nightvision device you can paint targets at ridiculous distances.Lots of fun, it is mounted in an old radio shack project box.It puts out about 7mw.I can't wait for the Blu Ray diodes to get dirt cheap.Hee Hee.
 
About $15.00 - no joke.

The only laser I've ever actually bought was a <1 mW red laser pointer. This was back in 1998, when red laser pointers were considerd "cool."

Wicked Lasers gave me a >200 mW laser in exchange for a product review, and I also have a 35 mW laser that I won in a contest in August 2007. Oh, and I have a bunch of other cheap <1 mW promotional laser pointers.
 
So far I have spent about 600 €, but for a while will be surely more, since I'd like to get some gas lasers (CO2). I'd like very much to know the Daguin's response :D
 
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