Noob review of BLM-50 473nm 50mW from Extreme Lasers on eBay

[allthatwhichis]

:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:
First off, I've never done a review before, so... this will not go on my resume. :lol: Criticisms are welcome. And I don't spell well...

My batterys in my camera are going dead so I only took a few beam shots to compare between my green and red.

Looks like a nicely built module; much sturdier than my 100mW green. I now really question if my green is 100mW. Maybe this comparison will help decide...

My first real problem is where the screws to the power supply that have stickers that say, void warrenty if removed, looked to have been removed... The stickers are "broken" and the screws have rough spots where it looks like they have been loosened.





That's the only problem I see so far... I'll send the seller an email and ask what's up. I definatly want a warrenty...

Here's is my "test" config. I took poster puddy and puddied everything on top of each other so I could tote it around work to find a good enough room.



The lasers are 14 feet from the wall and I have a sheet of paper with a grid of 1/4 inch squares. the grid is too light so you can't see it too well. I did it on MS Word, and I hate Word, but you work with what ya got.






The green spreads to almost 1/2 inch at 14 feet...



The blue is about 1/4 inch at this distance.



The red I got a lil closer to... It is also focusable, it was 1/8 to 3/16 of an inch. I'm not sure what make the surrounding dots... I guess it's just a cheap diode...




Here's a few beam shots to compare. No red beam...










So... Survey says??? I need a meter. From the beam shots and "point" shots, the green and blue look a lot closer in power than 100/50... I may have to find someone local... Maybe someone that makes lasers, sells their red ones on eBay... :? That I can take these to and get them measured. I'd like to measure the blue before I leave feedback.

Here's my ghetto try at white. I couldn't get teh beams aligned AND take a picture, but while I was not taking the picture I got a few good alighments and it seemed fairly balanced, NEED more red though. That's why I question the power of the green. Please post thought in it's power!!!



I'm still waiting on my DAC so I can hook up the scanners... After that the show is on...

[JimBo]

The green should appear to be about 4x the brightness of the blue because our eyes are MUCH more sensitive to the 532nm (green) wavelenght.
You will probably find that the green has no IR filter and that is why they rate it at 100mW, the blue CNI units have the filter so their power is representative of what you can see.

Jim

[allthatwhichis]

There is a greenish lense just inside the opening of the green. I have tried 3 cameras trying to see any IR and haven't been able to, so I don't think there's any. I got it from extremem. The blue had a cap that screws off and the filter's right there.

I put em all on this motorized mirror I got... off eBay. I;m a junkie... ops: and took a picture. The blue almost blends with the green... :?





I hate to say it but it looks to me like the green is running around 50 to 75mW... :roll:

[buffo]

Allthat:

You're less than 20 minutes from where my Mom lives in Florida. The next time I drive down to visit her (probably not until January), I'll bring my Coherent Lasercheck with me - along with an IR filter. We can check the output of all your lasers if you want.

Adam

[allthatwhichis]

Awesome! If I can rid myself of a few more computer parts I may grab one of marconi's reds. He's only an hour or 2 west of me. If I can, I'd rather spend the gas money and ride over there than pay for shipping. I'm not sure how they take to strangers visiting. I'm strange too... :roll: I "assume" there's a meter at their place...

By January I should have the scanners going and be able to make a frame or two on my own. :P

[DZ]

Awesome! If I can rid myself of a few more computer parts I may grab one of marconi's reds

I have a spare Maxy module if you interested. Its ttl, though they can change it over to analog if you need. $200 OBO.

David

[allthatwhichis]

Awesome! If I can rid myself of a few more computer parts I may grab one of marconi's reds

I have a spare Maxy module if you interested. Its ttl, though they can change it over to analog if you need. $200 OBO.

David

I should have bolded "If..." I do have someone interested in the storm block and the FX55 Sandy for close to that price. What power is it? You need any computer parts? :roll:

[DZ]

What power is it?

Its the 200mW one.

You need any computer parts?

Ha! I work on computers for a living and often end up with way too much of that junk. Once I put about 30 power supplies up for sale on ebay. Only sold about 3, the rest I just threw away. Thanks for the offer though. Say, do you need any computer junk? I do have an old IBM PCServer 330, rack mount with external EXP drive array, running raid 5. I think it is a dual pentium pro. I listed that for free on a local web site and got no takers!

David

[allthatwhichis]

NO, NO, NO!!! My girl is yellin at me to get rid of what I got... :roll: No... Only computer stuff I need... is $350 for a BFG 7950GX2 but don't tell anyone I said that...

[marconi]

Bounce the beam off of an old DVD onto a wall and look again with the camera
might have to block the green spot too to see any IR off to the side..
But this works ..If you dont see anything my guess is you dont have any IR radiation.
Seeing that it has a "green glass" in front of it..I would say it has an IR filter.

Yeah Its strange how many of us have so much computer junk laying around ..right Dave.
Just to hard too throw out good junk.
I should have tossed out those 486's a long time ago, but they make great code machines.. :0

I not too apposed to visitors, but strangers ...yes.
You are welcome anytime to come over ..and yes we have many meters.
Just warn me first..ok?

I am also a HAM but havnt operated in a long time..
Got lostsa video junk here as well...goes with the TV dayjob.