LAsershowparts dual A140 module kit - PBS 'upgrade'

[norty303]

Ok, so it seems like way back in the mists of time, I built a dual blue 445nm using one of the kits from Dave and some of the first batch of A140 diodes that Briggs did the GB for. Also around that time, I bought a braodband PBS in the GB that P1tbull did, and that had been sitting around for a while.

SO, fast forward a few years and I'd never been quite happy with the knife edge arrangement - partly due to a slightly sloppy build by me, so with the missus away for a week I decided to upgrade the module to a PBS arrangement as one of my laser related jobs to do this week.

A 1/2 waveplate was duly ordered from Rob, and this evening I did the work.

I had to relocate the original knife edge mirror mount and turn the part the mirror fixes to 180 degrees to give me a flat face to mount the cube on. I also had to drill a small hole in the top, which is used to align with, by sticking a small hex driver in and tweaking back and forth. Simple but effective.

To get the cube square with the mount I put them on a glass plate (back of an iPhone actually...) so the bottom faces were flush, and then dabbed epoxy on the top of the join after cleaning it with alcohol.

I then mounted it, masked the transmission diode, and played with the waveplate to get optimum angle - marked witha thin Sharpy, and then took it off again, aligned, 2 dabs of epoxy and left face up in the vice to set.

Then back in the module, fired across the room to a mirror on the wall stuck with BluTack, and back again (about 5m totla distance) and did the final alignment and power test, which was pleasantly surprising. I'd read that there were quite a few losses with cube and waveplate combos, due to multiple faces, and less than perfect transmission characteristics. Power with the knife edge had been set at just over 1.9W, with the cube it was actually more, coming out at just under 2.1W
I tested the power using an FB3 projecting the Laser Media test pattern (because it has the laser on all the time) and from prior testing this gives about 95% of the power that a 5V signal does. So it's doing a bit more in the real world, but whats 100mW or so between friends!
And as its also a bit tighter, it should hopefully look brighter too.

Then remounted the blue dichro and re-aligned the whole projector. Job done! About 4 or 5 hours all together at a leisurely pace.

Next job - realign a CNI MGL-H 532 head which has developed 2 spots...

Anyway, here are some pics...

[kecked]

why not use a single 9mm and get 3 w

[norty303]

Joost made the same comment on my Facebook post....

Because 9mm diodes didn't exist in 2011 when this module was put together.
This was about using what I already had, better, with minimal effort and cost. I already had the cube so the only cost was the waveplate.

Also, I don't need 3W. The projector needs 2W of blue, so what it has works just fine.

If I'm going to spend money on lasers, its going to be on my bigger projects later in the year.

[kecked]

Use it for green instead of blue.... or red.

[norty303]

Use it for green instead of blue.... or red.

If I use this module for green or red then I don't have a blue in the projector. I already have a perfectly serviceable Kvant 638 and Laserwave green in there.

I have no intention or need to recycle parts - this is a working 4W projector, (as in 'on my kit list earning money' working) so I'm not sure why I'd want to strip parts out of it at this point.

I'm struggling to understand the logic behind why you're suggesting what you are??


My project for later in the year involve a matched pair of 6 to 8W projectors, so a single module is no good to me then anyway (and cripples this projector in the process)

[svandescheur]

Hello Norty,

Do you have also some beamshots ? I like beamshots :P
I have buyed a quad mount (2*2) from lasertack for my "old" 5,6mm 445's from my laser-wave module.
Almost 2 years ago i buyed 2.5W445 (3diodes), 2W532 and 1.8W637 (12 diodes).
I asked them if they can build the red and blue in the same size module.
Now i have 2 very big modules with 2 HUGE drivers.
The projector was so big i have made, i still have pain in my back

Now i'm planning to rebuild the laser-wave modules into Edison modules...

I have ordered lasertack drivers and a quad mount 2*2 for the blue.
But now i'm thinkering of the same you did (a dual blue) or PBS'd dual (4diodes)
And use the 2*2(2up,2down) quad mount for my red module, so i can make 3 small quad red modules out of 12 diodes to PBS each other.
And use my big greenie from laser-wave that is just fine..

I like to have the red and blue a little bit more tighter & brighter..
Also i want to get rid of the "dirty mask & glimps/spickles around the laserdot; i don't have with my laserpointer"

Also the red does have a crossline mask, circles and spickles (i don't know if spickles is the correct word in English, i hope so)
sparkles i mean haha i think it's from the PBS or other crystals/lenses or mirrors inside the module..

MayB i'm a little bit to perfect, but i cannot do anything about it i get a cure/medicine soon

And hopefully i can make a smaller/lighter and better performanced projector i have had..
The 1st projector i build is laying at the scrapheap Damn BIG & HEAVY motherfuckerthing i think it was minimal 35kg. or something.

Good luck Norty with the blue and looking forward to see some beamshots !!

All the best,

Sander

[norty303]

No, I didn't get any beam shots I'm afraid. It looks just like any other blue beam I expect. If I'd have done a before and after shot of the beam, you probably couldn't tell the difference. What it did mean was that my beam is now ~4mm wide at the scanners rather than nearly 6mm that it was.

Personally, for a non-commercial module/something I can service at home, a dual module is about the limit of what i think is reasonable. That still means fairly big powers these days though!