Hobbyist or Jock

[JimBo]

I was wondering what the normal member profile is. Is it purely hobbyist that have been amazed at the way they can build and manipulate lasers in true Heath Robinson style, or are there loads of dj's or laserist's out there that use ready built lasers from eBay etc...

I'm a DJ and electronic engineer that came across this forum because I was searching for info about lasers.

I have 3, a CIR super 1s 100mW green with ILDA and DMX, a SIK S-69 60mW green and 150mW red graphics laser with DMX, and finally a Big Dipper F01 2x150mW red and 50mW green with DMX.

So what do you lot do?

Jim

[liteglow]

Hi and welcome to this forum

I`m 25 years old
Laser is my hobby (for the last 3 years)

It did start with green leadlight pen.
And now I have one RGB fullcolour homebuilt projector.
200mW BLUE, 400mW red and 180mW green

And I have one 240mW green dpss that I plan to use as a single green beamshow projector maybe

All this is for hobby uses


Filip

Norway

[buffo]

Hiya JimBo;

I'll soon be 40, and I'm still a hobbyist. Been fascinated with lasers since - oh, about the 7th grade I guess. But it's only been in the last 10 years or so that I've been able to afford to buy the toys that I love to play with.

I've got 3 single-line argons - all low-power air cooled units. I've got about 30 HeNe heads of various sizes, and probably enough power supplies to light at least 20 of them. I've got two 100 mw dpss green units, plus a hot green pointer. (11 mw)

I've got boxes and boxes full of mirrors, optics, gratings, diodes (mostly 650-670nm reds), galvos, steppers, solenoids, and other assorted junk. I've got a few lissajous generators, though at the moment only of them is 100% assembled and functional.

My only DAC is the Alphalite XC Pro, which I have in a small projector housing with one of my 100 mw green DPSS units and a set of the Dragon Tiger DT-40 closed-loop galvos. (My only working set of closed-loop galvos.) I also own two fog machines.

I recently purchased an HGM 5 argon, but the tube is dead. I'm looking for a cheap replacement so I can get some more power. (Hoping to stick to air-cooled solutions, but would like to get upwards of 700 mw of multi-line argon so I can do brighter effects in my backyard.)

I've done a few demos for school science classes, and I've done several "shows" (if you could call them that) in my living room for family and friends. Nothing remotely as cool as what you could find in a nightclub though, not to mention what you'd see at a professional laser show. But I have fun... (See the gallery for some idea of what this looks like!)

I've got no intention of doing shows commercially - at least not for a LONG time. Too much hassle, and too little money.

I think I'm typical of the average member here on Photon Lexicon (well - maybe just a little older), though there are several members here that are doing shows professionally on one level or another. Also, more than a few members have access to some *serious* hardware. (Pangolin pro w/ multiple scan heads and several multi-watt water-cooled whitelights, for example...) Not sure how many DJ's we have, though I know there are at least a few...

Plenty of members are outside the USA as well. (Which is really cool, in my opinion!) Lots of good info here, and just about everyone is willing to help you out if you've got a problem.

Anyway, welcome to the group! I'm sure you'll like it here. (I know I do!)

Adam