I've been looking at the idea of buying a higher powered laser (between 1W and 2W) and I live in the USA where such items are apparently legal to own, but not to manufacturer or sell. So the only option is to either buy one overseas and hope it doesn't get seized by Customs, or build one myself.
I keep hearing it's much cheaper to build one, but since I've never even handled a soldering iron or built an electronic item before, I'm hesitant to do this. I've watched youtube video tutorials about it and end up baffled by the terminology and procedures. Many of them say to start out with a flashlight as a host, and the flashlight they base their laser on is a Surefire. That's hardly cheap! I already have plenty of other "budget" flashlights, so I hope something like one of them could be used.
Can manufacturers in the USA make laser parts that are almost, but not quite, the finished product? A laser pointer is basically a flashlight with a laser diode in it instead of an LED or light bulb. Couldn't a manufacturer make a laser pointer without the laser diode and sell it legally? Then a customer could simply buy the diode separately and drop it into the unit and be all set! Does anyone do that already? If not, then how about modular parts where all the electronics are already assembled, but separates the unit into 3 or 4 parts that can be purchased separately and then joined together?
I keep hearing it's much cheaper to build one, but since I've never even handled a soldering iron or built an electronic item before, I'm hesitant to do this. I've watched youtube video tutorials about it and end up baffled by the terminology and procedures. Many of them say to start out with a flashlight as a host, and the flashlight they base their laser on is a Surefire. That's hardly cheap! I already have plenty of other "budget" flashlights, so I hope something like one of them could be used.
Can manufacturers in the USA make laser parts that are almost, but not quite, the finished product? A laser pointer is basically a flashlight with a laser diode in it instead of an LED or light bulb. Couldn't a manufacturer make a laser pointer without the laser diode and sell it legally? Then a customer could simply buy the diode separately and drop it into the unit and be all set! Does anyone do that already? If not, then how about modular parts where all the electronics are already assembled, but separates the unit into 3 or 4 parts that can be purchased separately and then joined together?