What did you mod today?

Nice work on the Maglite Dale, and those are some good old BLF members you mention! I have been here for 6 years only but the turnover of members has been so fast that it feels much longer.

Time flies… look at you Jos! 12,500 posts!

Says the man with 17500 posts. :person_facepalming:

To your 12,200, right? Between the three of us we have posted 42,200 times! OMG! :open_mouth:

(believe me, I know, y’all are contributing worthwhile studies and builds and I’m constantly hammering drivel into the forum…) :stuck_out_tongue:

If I sat here for a week and went back through my post’s and randomly deleted stuff, would it change my post count. lol Who was it did stuff like that a while back? Why does a squirrel come to mind? Who was it that managed to keep his post count the same no matter what he said? Where’sFoy?

Yeah it’s quantity over quality with you guys :laughing:
I’m kiddin, you’re the mainstay of the forum :+1:

20 minutes to 6 in the evening, it’ll likely still be in the 90’s at midnight…

We don’t advise going barefoot… 136.8ºF on the asphalt! And this not even the hot point of the day!

Nice lasers CRX!!!

Are you sure those are just 1.5 MW? I thought with 1.5 MW lasers you couldn’t see the beam unless you put smoke or steam in front. The beams from your lasers are very visible in your pictures. That looks a heck of a light brighter than those little 5 MW cat-toy lasers you buy at the grocery store.

Smoke :wink:

So I calculated them at 400mA current draw * 4.1v cell voltage /1000 = 1.64mW
Does that sound about right?

I can imagine. I heard stories from someone who lived in Corpus Crispy.

@Firelight2, I don’t really think CRX has a 1.5MW laser. Not even a Samsung 30T could output that much power, even 1000 of them would just cut it close.

Also, I think he would’ve left a whole in all of the houses in his neighboor hood, and the FBI and CIA would probably be at his heels.

@DBCustom, back on track, how can you actually survive in this kind of weather? Your energy bill must be ludicrously high, through the stratosphere.

Now, you should probably paint all of your house white, put solar panels everywhere you can, wear white clothes all the time during the summer, have a house isolated with aerogel, and everything possible to make it bearable.

:smiley:

Is that how you calculate the laser CRX? I have a blue one that uses 2 18350’s, pulls … well… all of a sudden I can’t be sure what it pulls, I thought it was 3.3A at the tail… it’s supposed to be like 3W or something. I know it is quite strong, will burn a yellow jacket nest at 25-30’… it doesn’t catch on fire due to the larvae inside but it smokes and smolders. It’s kind of difficult to take the tail current reading because the beam will burn things, guess I can take it outside and lock it down in a bench vise pointed up into the sky, take the reading that way to be on the safe side (provided there’s no airplanes overhead)

My green laser, with a just measured .465A at the tail current draw…

This one is using my DBC-04 battery tube repurposed and with a marine bronze head. I now also have a SS aspheric focusing lens on it.

House is white, I wear cotton, I was born in August when it was 111º, much prefer heat to cold, have worked outdoors the majority of my life. When I delivered building materials, I drank some 3 gallons a day. A gallon of sweet tea to start with and filled up the jug twice with water after that. All in a day’s work.

A very quick reading on my blue laser shows 1.58A at the tail from 2 Aspire 18350’s. So that’s 1580mA, right? So would that be multiplied x 8.4V? For 13272 divided by 1000 for 13.272mW? Or 1.327 Watts? Am I figuring that wrong?

Shining the beam a mile across the lake…

Oh god. That is 13,2W correct?

An average laser will have an efficiency of 5-10%. It could be higher, but this is just theoretical.

That means your laser’s power is between 0,66W and 1,32W.

Both measurements are extremely dangerous to anybody which has a retina, and highly illegal in almost all countries in the world.

When I got it I was told it had been used pretty hard and probably wouldn’t make it’s “new” ratings of 3.3W. So this 30% level is probably close to correct. :wink: It’s a 9mm Nichia diode that cost several hundred dollars when new.

Yeah, it’s kinda scary. A silent gun, as it were. I don’t keep cells in it and keep it locked up… much like a firearm.

The green one won’t burn things, still, I don’t “play” with it as it is really difficult to find a place to shine it since the green carries so stinking far. I’ve been able to see the green beam hit a telephone antenna/tower 2.2 miles from here.

Edit: Of course the lasers are dangerous, but when you grow up shooting guns you know the danger is relevant, retina perhaps but not so much skin from any real distance, quite unlike a firearm. :wink: My gunsmith buddy told me a long time ago that a laser was a good training tool for proper firearm safety, being able to see the beam of light shows you just how difficult it is to point a gun in a safe direction. Really expands the mind’s scope on how to handle a loaded weapon. Obviously, neither are toys to played with or handled lightly.

Damn. Throws farther than the BLF GT in the palm size of your hand.

I would be more scared to hold this laser in my hands than an actual rifle though.

How much did that laser diode cost?

Too funny :smiley:
But do be careful with these things.
Reminds me of taking a tail reading from a fet triple and having the bezel resting flat down on my leg… :laughing:

I studied up on lasers when I first got one, the mediocre strong green lasers can cause damage to the retina for miles, like 7 miles, and can be quite disturbing for 11 to 14 miles. At distances over a quarter of a mile or so, though, the auto-reaction to blink can be sufficient to prevent harm, irritation perhaps but not a burned hole in the retina. That’s on a 200mW green laser, which is what mine is supposed to be rated at. Well, my other one. This one is from a more reputable source that guarantee’s it to be 50mW at a minimum. I think I paid around $60 for the green diode.

I got the blue one on a sort of trade, as a used laser. Like I said, new the Nichia 9mm at 3.3W is over $300. It’s in a solid copper housing.

In the end, pretty worthless to have as you can’t do anything with them if you have a conscience. :wink:

Hmm. More expensive than even the CFT90.

What did you trade it for? I’m… interested.

Work.