UK laser meet

[Robertwstim]

Many thanks for your full and thoughtful reply and apologies to andy_con. I will find my way around and ask the correct questions in the correct places. Not sure how old you are, but I had to build a voltage sensitive capacitor bridge multiplier just to get the thing to start when I had my first laser - keep your fingers clear!

Many thaks

Rob

[robotarmy]

Many thanks for your full and thoughtful reply and apologies to andy_con. I will find my way around and ask the correct questions in the correct places. Not sure how old you are, but I had to build a voltage sensitive capacitor bridge multiplier just to get the thing to start when I had my first laser - keep your fingers clear!

Many thaks

Rob

hahaha voltage multipliers are pretty rad circuits, the last one i came across was in a bus-powered USB audio interface. It had 48v phantom power and it used a voltage multiplier from the 5V usb input to get the 48v out. I managed to tap it to power the op-amps for my correction amp, now i'm using the same audio interface as a laser dac (only two channel tho, not going to last long for my purposes as i just got an AOM)

now back to our regularly scheduled program where the HELL SI TEH LASER PARTAY?? heheheh

[Robertwstim]

Ah, but see here for the proper ones http://www.powerlabs.org/cascade.htm

OK so let's organise a UK meet.

What do we need?

Rob

[robotarmy]

Ah, but see here for the proper ones http://www.powerlabs.org/cascade.htm

OK so let's organise a UK meet.

What do we need?

Rob

Well, there's a pretty decent crew on here that's organized them before, hence UKLEM 5.5 etc, maybe it's better to leave it up to the pros. Essentially the ingredients are pretty basic...

A few days in an accessible venue, with big power, lots of water and dirty bathrooms So far that's the biggest point of contention apparently because everyone (including myself) wants it as close as possible to their gear. The most shouted-about options so far are surfleet and westbury, personally i've never been anywhere near either so i really have no idea!

An organized bunch of geeks with bigass lasers and the associated gear. I've only got an ALC68 and a very basic pair of scanners, but i'm working on getting some red in there and an AOM.

And, a date! I'm going back home to Canada at the end of march, back hopefully in april, so don't have it then pls thx

Also, there was talk of doing it on a weekend and throwing a party wherever we do it, personally i like this idea but there was some good points made, i.e. the public might want something more than a bunch of geeks with lasers in a really dark room, but hey! all points to be discussed

[pelosh]

Lots of food, drinks, lasers, power, heated space with no or covered windows and good date. If all above is right I am going to bring very nice 11W RGB KVANT Spectrum this time.

[robotarmy]

Lots of food, drinks, lasers, power, heated space with no or covered windows and good date. If all above is right I am going to bring very nice 11W RGB KVANT Spectrum this time.

Oh yeah! snacks and a complete lack of windows!!

Also, laser tools... spectrometers, power meters, beam profilers, and other toys are always rad. I'd love to learn more about lasers so those kinds of tools are probably important to get to know. Also, things like fibre launches and weird beam tables are always cool. I'd really like to bring my laser to one to get tips on how to improve it as i'm still a bit scared to clean the optics and align the mirrors so i'd like to have the pros around before i start that, but i don't know if a LEM is the right venue for that sort of thing.

[danielbriggs]

Thanks for the advice. I must be in the wrong place. I thought only intelligent and well minded people resided here.

^ Steady on mate...

As for Cockcroft-Walton generators; they have one of the very first ones, (if not the first) at my work...
It's HUGE.


My view on the meets: Don't fix what ain't broke...

[robotarmy]

My view on the meets: Don't fix what ain't broke...

Word up, if you guys have an established crew that comes out to surfleet, that's alllll good with me. I think it's a cool looking place.

The only reason i can think of switching venues would be to get it somewhere more transport-hub-ish, london, b-ham, you know, a city or whatever, i've never been to any of these meets and i'm brand new, so it's not even close to being my call.

POLL!

[mattydrac]

I can get us a venue in Lichfield Staffordshire subject to availability. There is a direct train that goes from London to Lichfield too. The venue is the size of a small sports hall and has a stage. It would be free to use it but it is in our Church building so there are a few no no's. We can't drink alcohol in the building or on the grounds but there is a pub 2 mins up the road, and a chippy, chinese take away, and a Tesco mini store, and we can't drink tea or coffee. This is because of certain beliefs we have about drinking those things so in respect of those beliefs we can't drink those things in the building. But it does have clean toilets. Anyway it's there as an option. Just let me know if you want me to look into available dates? I may even be able to get us a public audience for the Saturday evening?

[Jem]

I can get us a venue in Lichfield Staffordshire subject to availability. There is a direct train that goes from London to Lichfield too. The venue is the size of a small sports hall and has a stage. It would be free to use it but it is in our Church building so there are a few no no's. We can't drink alcohol in the building or on the grounds but there is a pub 2 mins up the road, and a chippy, chinese take away, and a Tesco mini store, and we can't drink tea or coffee. This is because of certain beliefs we have about drinking those things so in respect of those beliefs we can't drink those things in the building. But it does have clean toilets. Anyway it's there as an option. Just let me know if you want me to look into available dates? I may even be able to get us a public audience for the Saturday evening?

Hmmm.... No alcohol, tea or coffee. Whilst I truly respect your beliefs i'm not too sure that the lack of beverages will go down too well with the majority of our 'members', operating lasers is a thirsty job

On another point, i'm not too sure a 'public audience' is a good idea at all. This is a 'laser enthusiasts' meeting. This by it's very definition means that there will be laser enthusiasts there (read geeks/mad scientist types ). We tend to bring allsorts of gear including many OEM laser modules without safety features etc, some containing very high voltages as well. Allowing the 'general' public in would be an absolute public liability nightmare.

Even as it stands there are potential issues with liability, but we're all mature adults and we all know what we're getting into. I guess as the meets grow in size this will be an issue that has to be addressed.

Sorry to p*ss on your bonfire, but enthusiasm can sometimes obliterate the requirement for sensibility and common sense thinking. Or am I just getting too old

Regards

Jem