Lasers Workshops – Tuesday, 12th July, 2011

My goal here is to help people feel more comfortable ripping gear apart, learning about what makes a laser diode work, how to get a cheap powerful laser under your control, and how to be safe doing this in a responsible way.

I’ll start with safety talks, follow with “what is a solid state laser”, then we’ll get into it and rip some apart. Followed by the safety talk again ;) and a chat about use, projects etc.

I will try to bring down my last project, and set it up firing out the window into the lane if it’s appropriate.

I will provide hardware to take apart, costing from 2-8$ per laser, feel free to bring your own (must be a burner, not just a reader) and older is always better ;)

Laser Hack night.

• First my disclaimer
• Second Safety

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Disclaimer

Hi! I’m Jim. ( A more frequently visiting lurker)

I’m not a scientist, nor do I have a physics background, I just have passion and lots of curiosity about most things in life, science being a big part of that. And I like to hack things.  So with that in mind, I don’t claim to EVER be a “know it all” and am always happy for input/corrections , that’s what learning is about ;)

Safety

I cannot stress enough about laser safety.  The cross between the public thought of toy/weapon makes this a BIG issue.

I will talk about the OBVIOUS safety issues and my experience with the NON obvious issues, which there are apparently MANY with both kids and adults alike. Also I will cover some of my knowledge of the legalities of laser acquisition and use in Canada/US.

Send questions to the list

Looking forward to July 12^th

-Jim