What got you into lasers?

[JD3]

I want out, and I want my life and money back....

HAHAHAHAHA I feel this way sometimes

[dzodzo]

reading these memories i realize i'm not that old after all

my first laser was a 1mW red pointer from flea market but the obsession really started during raving on big hall techno parties when i was 20 or so

[hitekvoop]

In high school I took astronomy (we had a badass planetarium at the HS courtesy of '50s/'60s era funding). First semester, no prob! Great teacher and I was one of two student planetarium tech's. During the semester break the teacher got a call from JPL (where he remains the education coordinator to this day) and new teach fresh from grad school arrived and started handing out busy-work. Grade plummeted from A to F and the other tech (in the same boat grade-wise) and I decided to build a HeNe, a rudimentary galvo set from some cut-up speaker drivers and put on a Floyd planetarium show in order to salvage our grades. We played "Wish you were here" front to back, the teacher had to leave the room part way through due to nausea (I was really good with a planetary projector).

Oh I passed the class.

When I went off to college I decided that pursuing gas lasers wasn't for me, but I never lost my love of the medium. Fast forward 25 years and when the opportunity to own/run a modern laser system arose, I jumped on it. Had a great mentor in Photonbeam (thanks, Steve!) and the rest is history.

Now, I'd love for Photonbeam to chime in on this thread... I wouldn't be surprised if he were the one running the lasers at some events people have pointed to on THIS thread as their inspirations...

[DZ]

Hmm, I've always had an interest in electronics and astronomy. I joined the local astronomy club when I was 15. I think I had just turned 17 when I went to the local observatory for our weekly hang out. It was raining that night but I went anyway. I remember a guy talking about the local planetarium, someone had retired and another person quit and he was desperately seeking an employee. I jokingly raised my hand. A week later, I was in the theater running my first shows. That night they asked me to stay for the laser shows. I had no idea what it was about but thought it would be fun. I still remember that show, it plays frequently in my head. What a night that was! Loud music, awesome laser show, star projector spinning around and a very active audience. It was a high that's been difficult to experience a second time...

[absolom7691]

It was a high that's been difficult to experience a second time...

That's the way I felt when I got hired at MWK, many years and many Laserium shows later. It was awesome.

For those who are interested in astrophtography, check out DZ's awesome shots: http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/album.php?albumid=7

[DZ]

That's the way I felt when I got hired at MWK, many years and many Laserium shows later. It was awesome.

For those who are interested in astrophtography, check out DZ's awesome shots: http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/album.php?albumid=7

Ha! Thanks Absolom! For every one decent astrophoto I've got a good dozen that didn't turn out well at all. Either that or the 1 hour developer thought there was nothing on the film and threw it out for me...

[telmnstr]

When I was young I saw an outdoor show at a local city event called the Chesapeake (Virginia) Jubilee. It was an argon and Amiga I assume. Past that, Def Leppard's videos for Pour Some Sugar on Me. Also MTV ran the Pink Floyd Delicate Sound of Thunder video once and that was another big one.

Huge music fan as well so that helps :-)

I used to admire MWK ads in the back of magazines and such. There was no internet. Years later I bought a 15mw uniphase single line argon from ebay and did some projects form the laser cookbook. The RC servo modulated to audio stands out. I was always into computers and electronics and such.

Later I would go to NASA auctions looking for large frame ion systems, and trade those for tiny argon systems. I figured I wouldn't have 3 phase or 480v anytime soon and a 60x head would be more useful. I did find various odds and ends on eBay for lasers before the general public realized you could find stuff on there. Things like open loop General Scanning galvos.

Never achieved the PCAOM but did own a working 6 watt argon system for a while. I had this office in Virginia Beach full of servers hooked to the internet via a T1 coming in over a sonet loop and sometimes I'd swap a few breakers and use the 3 phase power to rock the argon system.

I used to follow alt.lasers, and remember hearing about Laser-FX conferences and what not. Things would always come up and I was pretty young to travel to Canada, so I never made it.

Got more into it with the advent of cheap Chinese galvos and diodes. My laser hobby is split among other hobbies and my interest in the hobby tends to roller coaster. Arcades and pinballs, scuba diving, etc compete. Technology has come a long way though. Having gone through Laser Illusions, various open source and hobby level DACs, a huge huge jump to the community was the release of LSX. price point and power of the software is just so good. The price of Pangolin software has also come down at least for the transition from LD2000 to Beyond.

I also recently got my first Pangolin system past the LD1000 on Amiga, a used QM32 based rig that I'm going to condense into a lunchbox rig. I'm also going to pick up Beyond & a FB3 to check that out.

Oh yea:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UIB9Y4OFPs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd_D7aVXApE

[Laser57]

When working on Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, a room mate bought a 200 dollar 20 milliwatt green pointer, thought it was so cool two years later I bought a 175 mw one and then things got out of hand, spending too much on this stuff.

[DrEvil]

That had to of been the early to mid 2000s if he spent that much on a 20mW.

Me, I have no idea for sure. The first pointer that I remember getting was a red powered by two N cells sometime in my teens.

[absolom7691]

My first was a 3mW 670nm diode with the worst beam specs imaginable. I paid $130 for it from a "back of the mag" ad in Pop Sci. I believe it was 1990. Diodes were still pretty new on the scene. I couldn't afford a fogger so I used high pressure misters, incense and dry ice. I think I may even have tried a spray bottle when things were desperate. Ahhh, the good old days of being thirteen, having no money and being in love with lasers.