Blue module build: so i F'ed it up but learned a lot...

[hobbybob]

After having bought some excellent blue modules from Johan i wanted to create my own blue modules as a add on for my greens.
So after having drilled and stuff i adjusted lens and placed prisms. I had a very nice beam, i was so proud.
It was 3mm at aperture and at 39m it was just 4x1 cm or something. really spicy beam.
Put nail polish on lens so it would harden and keep the lens fixed, then went on cleaning the dichros first.

After the nail polished dried i turn on the diode to find out i had a standing stripe, instead of a horizontal stripe.
I was getting nuts, later i realised that this was probably because of the prisms weren't there, but i was getting confused then at that moment.

Then i glued the first prism straight like Rob always does in his modules and then the second.
Then shit turned sour. i wasn't able to get a nice straight dot and every time i readjust the lens it was cool and when taking the screwdriver out you saw the dot growing at 39 meters distance.
When i pushed in the lens it was ok, so i decided to push in the lens while epoxying it shut.
Well that sorta worked, but it was still not to my liking, lot's of strange effects in the beam.

Then i found out i had the second prism glued wrong way around, no problem got 2 pairs so glued another prism in place and immediately things got better.
But now there was so much glue , nailpolish and stuff around that probably lens got dirty as well a bit...
But now i have a similar profile as Edisons modules only with a little more scatter.

Am now thinking wheter i will switch my other edison modules to such driver too and use a die4chill to cool it (or place a metal plate in place of the TEC and use it aircooled).
Since Edison did an excellent job of creating this nice blue module, that will take out the hassle of adjusting ;-)

Hat's off to you guys that build your own blues. But this is part of the learning process right ?
Fucking it up to make it better next time. Well, i am a bit disappointed i could get the result i had in test setup since that was ab-so-fuckin'-lutely brilliant.
But i have a blue now and made it myself, and better yet, when turned off it leaks NO blue light since the driver i used has blue suppresion.
So i think the drivers with suppression circuit have the future.

[andy_con]

we have all been there dimmers

[dilbert]

I'm there now! rebuilding my quad blue for the 3rd time........ Andy you have pm on way.

[dnar]

I am really careful with adhesives around optics. Super Glue is a no-no, contact adhesive strings when handling and thanks to Mr Murphy the strings fall on optics 95% of the time. I only trust Araldite near my laser gear.

[hobbybob]

That's assuring to know then. thanks man, really always followed your builds and stuff and now getting my hands dirty with some top tips from Rob i still seemed to have found a way to fuck up.
The epoxy i used was stuck to my arm and didn't go off under the shower so i used some german paint thinner stuff which really worked well.
So if the dichro i think i fucked don't clean up with first contact i will be using that to try and recover that prism covered in epoxy.
Else it's one prism out of the window.

I have now at least a module at the correct height to match my huge ass CNI module (at least the powersupply is huuuuuge).
But i also bought myself a new SSD (bigger) so i will be also transferring / cloning my current SSD to my new SSD today, after that will continue to work on the green and make it blue / green ;-)

[LaNeK779]

you know what? whatever all you ever do, none is going to shoot down my global divergence record! the first time i fired my blue, i saw a stripe of aprox 1meter wide at around 3 meters distance (and that is AFTER focusing the lens!). and the funnier thing is that i tried to correct it using prisms.

then i got my common sense back and i found out that the diode itself was not seated all the way in the diode mount (a press-fit style)

so, congrats on your first home built blue!! you have just become much wiser! why don't you try a quad now? it is not as hard as it looks. just cock it up and start over (that's what i do and it finally works after a number of tries)

[andy_con]

dimmers, photos of said module?

[flecom]

I have respect for people that build their own modules... I built a 2W (4x445) 445nm module and it was thankfully uneventful, but every time I try and build a red module I just look at the diodes the wrong way and they pop

[Jem]

If you're having problems with glue you really ought to try some UV cure glue. Basically it stays fluid until you hit it with a UV lightsource.

I've been thinking of selling some of this on the Forum as it's something that we use regularly in our Lab. The stuff I have pretty much goes off instantly once hit with UV. It's not cheap though, would probably work out at somewhere between £20 and £25.

If you desparately need some I can probably help you out but it certainly isn't a commercial enterprise on my part.

Cheers

Jem

[edison]

i think i have some parts left to get you a similar module that you have. Just start relaxing and i will help you when we meet.