Post your vintage pointers (weather you still have it or not)

[Dusty_Lenses]

Thought i'd post a pic of my very first pointer that got me hooked on this rewarding hobby. I personally have learned so much which I otherwise may have not.
So this thread is for those who remember that very expensive 1-5mW you could never put down.

Heres mine, got the pic from a really interesting website which has many entries in chronological order dating back decades.

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"1994 Radio Shack
Model 63-1040
Diode Laser Pointer

This is a really nice old pointer from the venerable Radio Shack. It features a plastic body and "on" indicator LED, and has an output of about a milliwatt at 670nm. Three N-cells power it. there are two of these pointers in the archive here. One includes the box and instruction sheet."

 

[CurtisOliver]

Can it be any old laser, even if not a pointer?

 

[Dusty_Lenses]

Can it be any old laser, even if not a pointer?

Sure, why not... Maybe bonus points if it is a pointer

 

[CurtisOliver]

1986 NEC HeNe Integrated Power Supply 1mW 632.8nm Gas LAB/OEM

• CurtisOliver
• Apr 22, 2019
• 3

1986 integrated HeNe

 

[Dusty_Lenses]

My first diy portable was a he\ne. Thing was a monster, and 1mW

 

[CurtisOliver]

My first diy portable was a he\ne. Thing was a monster, and 1mW

That is pretty cool actually. I think I’ve seen a portable HeNe build before.

 

[Dusty_Lenses]

mine was a two hander and used 3x 12v 7ah wetcells to make that 1mW. It really was quite ridiculous. But it worked!! lol

 

[Mattronium]

Great topic.
My first laser was a cheapo pointer <1 mw 660nm with 2 standard 5mm leds run from coin cell, I'll see if I can find it. Probably got it around 2006 maybe?

My first DIY laser pointer was really janky setup using 660nm dvd diode ran to 30mW or so. Setup from two freight flashlights strapped together.

My oldest working laser is my recently acquired Spectra physics 155 HeNe made in September 1976. For a while I've had some fun trying to find the oldest working laser I could find, so I'm happy I found these, its hard to find HeNe's before 80's.

I'll see if I can get some pictures to throw up here in a bit.....

 

[julianthedragon]

My first pointer was a cheap ~650nm 1mw reading light/laser combo from probably 2009. The next was a 5mw 532nm pointer from RadioShack in 2010 and it was so exotic to me lol

 

[CurtisOliver]

My first pointer was a 1mw 532nm from Maplin. It was perfect, because I found a tutorial on LPF that allowed me to bypass the limiter on it. So once I got used to Class 2, I could then get used to low level Class 3B before working up to Class 4's. But its not vintage of such so no need to post it on this thread.

 

[Eidetical]

Here's the first laser pointer that used a diode laser, the Holospectra HSD1 "Spot", introduced in 1988. Kodak and DO Industries followed soon after with commercial pointers that got much larger distribution.

 

[Unown (WILD)]

Wow I didn't know these kinds of lasers existed. I was around 7-8 years old at that time

 

[icecruncher]

In 1978 I was taking an electronics class in High School and some magazines were selling laser diodes but super expensive. I desperately wanted to build a laser but it was out of my skill level and price range.

In 1985 I started working for an electronics company and we sold "laser pointers" a few years after I started. I got to play with them at times and take them home on occasion. They required charging the battery, but they were portable HeNe lasers, the LR-10 from Laseronix - this was also 1988/89

 

[Unown (WILD)]

Gonna stick this thread because of the historic information provided

 

[Sowee7]

Wow I didn't know these kinds of lasers existed. I was around 7-8 years old at that time

I used to have one of those old hene laser handhelds

 

[Unown (WILD)]

I used to have one of those old hene laser handhelds

That's cool man. These are the kinds of topics I really like. I get to see the past and what was available back then.