Welcome one, welcome all! We all know that our diode machines are the REAL gateway drug that the D.A.R.E. officers should have warned us about! I got started a little over 3 years ago with a "7w" NEJE i ordered off of Amazon as an anniversary gift for my wife. I thought it would make for a great complimentary machine to her Cameo vinyl cutter she had just gotten so when it arrived, I set it up and did some tests to make sure it was running as it should and my wife never had a chance or desire to touch the damn thing after that... I was HOOKED!

Fast forward to Aug 2023 and I now have 3 diode lasers with a handful of modules, a fiber laser, a UV and a CO2 gantry on the way... The addiction is real, no? I'd love to read your story on how you got sucked into the world of lasers. Were diodes your gateway drug too, or did you wander into this wavelength after you had already begun your laser journey? Thanks in advance!

Most people know my story so I won't bore with it yet again, but I'll be damned diodes were the LAST laser I got my hands on. Imagine lol. That said I'm one of their biggest proponents! They're useful little guys that definitely have their place in our laser world.

Heck yeah, bud! I love the fact that you have so many tools in your arsenal and still recognize how awesome diodes are. I see so many people who buy $10k machines and all of a sudden diodes are "toys" or "cute". But you know me... I'll be Ride or Diode for life hahaha. Damn, thats a good name for a channel...

Chit yea... Love my diode... Had my diode running, my fiber running, and my 3D printer going all at the same time yesterday... My laptop couldn't handle all three but I bought a Geekom Mini IT12 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 and that damn thing is blazing fast and all the while watching videos...

Diodes were my gateway to the dark side. I thought that they would be cool to mess with after a friend showed me his "noname" 1 Watt gantry machine a couple of years ago. At the time I was neck deep busy in an old home renovation/restoration, and had no time. Fast forward to about a year ago, I stumble upon the Laser Everything YouTube channel and I think Alex had just reviewed the Ortur Aufero Laser 1 with "This Diode is for Everyone" prominently displayed on the video thumbnail. Shortly thereafter I ordered it directly from Ortur, bought an LMA membership, and downloaded (and eventually paid for) LightBurn and I was off to the races. Ortur had a fscking amazing pre-Black Friday sale for existing customers so I bought a Laser Master 3 w/ 10 Watt module, and I haven't looked back. Now I have an Aeon Nova 14 100 Watt CO2 and an EMP 50 Watt fiber laser coming. The container ship with the fiber laser is currently anchored at the Jacksonville Anchorage awaiting their appointment to unload, and the container ship with the Nova 14 is motoring through the Carribean headed to Savannah before heading to Jacksonville.

The video that got me started: https://youtu.be/JOw_3c7F7z4

Very exciting! Glad to see that im not the only person crazy enough to order 2 lasers at the same time! lol

Michael, That sounds like a neat little machine! Perhaps I need to upgrade from my 12 y/o Lenovo AIO for laser duty.

Got my first diode (Xtool D1 Pro 10w) about 1 year ago. I didn’t do much with it over the winter but have been putting it to the test lately. I’ve been debating between a CO2 or a fiber but I’m kind of a buy once cry once kind of person so I’ll probably stick with diode until I can afford something along the lines of a larger bed Thunder or Aeon. Looking at adding an Ortur Laser Master 3 20w in the meantime because my current machine just hasn’t been performing. Lasering can be a lot like golf, so frustrating yet beautiful at the same time!