Poll of the Day > Does anyone here hobby at all in handheld lasers?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm looking at getting a 100mW at somewhere around 500nm to 400nm, ideally it will be a kit as well so I can spend a good few days setting it up and having fun. I'm just curious if anyone has any experience handling actually dangerous lasers and any sort of recommendations for saftey or websites.
Everything I find online makes this all look super shady.

I'm going to more or less treat it like a gun in terms of storage and using, and get some quality saftey gear for me and my gf.

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What is the purpose of such a laser?
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To burn stuff.
I'm a simple man, I like melting holes through plastic and setting stuff on fire.

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Make sure you get the proper safety glasses before messing with high powered lasers. They *will* wreck your eyes before you know what went wrong if you catch a beam or reflection the wrong way. These things you're looking at are not cat toys or presentation pointers.

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I'm starting to suspect you might really be my son, considering this newfound obsession with acquiring an effective death ray.
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I've wondered about mounting one on a rifle before. Wonder how long of a range you can get use of one. I know they can be suped up beyond levels that you can buy them. I believe they're still legal as well. I'll second the recommendation to get proper goggles though.

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WhiskeyDisk posted...

Make sure you get the proper safety glasses before messing with high powered lasers. They *will* wreck your eyes before you know what went wrong if you catch a beam or reflection the wrong way. These things you're looking at are not cat toys or presentation pointers.

I will be treating it like I would a firearm. Batteries stored in a separate container, never pointed at a person, not pointing at anything reflective, and wearing the correct eye protection at all times.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

I'm starting to suspect you might really be my son, considering this newfound obsession with acquiring an effective death ray.

Honestly it's from this wonderful madman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMVWW-bmKwQ

dragon504 posted...

I've wondered about mounting one on a rifle before. Wonder how long of a range you can get use of one. I know they can be suped up beyond levels that you can buy them. I believe they're still legal as well. I'll second the recommendation to get proper goggles though.

So, from my un-researched ideas, it's legal to get it.
In terms of use for scoping a rifle, you need to remember that lasers aren't perfect cylinders, they do spread over time, and you do have a focus point associated with it. But, it depends on if you just want to see a dot over in some other place or not, or if you want to see a beam.

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Bumpalump

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