I'm currently negotiating with a seller to review some acrylic fiber optic of diameters 0.5, 0.75, 1 and 2 millimeters to check if they would work as fast axis collimators...
if I have a positive answer I'll let you know, and I'll try the fast axis fiber lens solution as well as cylinder lens and prism pair
it would be nice if we could get a microlaserlabs (laserman532) type deck for combining a few of these after we figure out a way of collimating them decently
Keep us up to date.
I just ordered a sample pack to evaluate the fibers... I'll let you know!
Has anyone measured the divergence using the stock lens from the projector? It looks like a fairly nice AR coated glass asphere, so if anything it seems our best bet would be to start with that lens and then find a cheep source of anamorphic prisms to add afterward. Did the research for the surplusshed ones every go anywhere?
I failed finding prism pairs cheaper than thorlabs (approx. 40$ the pair, coated for blue if I recall)
Same for the cylindrical lenses
but I have those fibers, diameters .25, .5, .75, 1, 1.5 and 2 mm, so it should be a good start at finding a fast axis lens suitable for that diode (even just gluing the 2mm one on the window could work)
There was some research done getting cheep optics from surplusshed, a few candidates are:
http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l2171.html
http://www.surplusshed.com/pages/item/l10160.html - has some kind of AR coat at least
There are also options like
http://www.altechna.com/product_details.php?id=374
DIY TEC controller, parts are about $20-30 and it's quite easy to build. Uses a fan speed PWM controller to control the TEC.
Got my first Diode from the 2000 Lumens Projektor today. Here is a a quick and dirty power vs current curve:
Treshold arround 200mA
Slope efficiency 1.4W/A
From these specs it looks more like a 1W diode!?
Specs are absolutely the same as the ebay diodes.
Collimated with lens27 and two prisms from surplusshed I get 380mW at 500mA after optics with a nice beam:
Picture made without fog and not really dark outside.
Andreas