building a single mode projector

[Draco]

Just a quest question, my 520 green laser is 50mw and the other two are around 120mw, will the green be bright enough for this ?, I have a 100-200 dpss to use as well but need a spacer to get the beam at the right height, if the 50mw 520 is enough then I wont need to make spacers and all that fun stuff.

Since green to our peepers is more visible I am thinking the reduction on the green won't be a problems but just wanted to check with what you guys think

Mine is using salvaged Dichros so the green laser needs to be at the back firing straight though the Dicros

[KANG]

The green being more visible to our eyes shouldn't be a problem. I have made a single mode build with that before I upgraded my green and blue a little. I tend to like more the cool side of the whites.

There are a lot of single mode diode builds on this forum that might be worth looking into. The beam specs are very nice with single modes and modulation is great!

I'd be happy to show you mine at the moment if you'd like. It's seen in a lot of my vids, although I haven't fine tuned it as much as I'd like.

All the best,

[absolom7691]

I have the same setup and using a G-2 collimator on the green helped a lot. To my eyes, it is a really good balance.

[Draco]

Cool!
thanks for the info
The other two diodes I plan on using are single mode as well, they are in a test unit that I built on wood, I learned a lot from that one, one being that my home made dichro mounts won't work for this as I don't have vertical adjustment. I will get some of the G-2 collimators on them as well.
Are the G-2's universal? or do they have then for the 3 wavelengths? The lenses I have came with the mounts, I used some cheap finned aluminum blocks and the diode is held in with a spanner nut, I did that so I could swap out diodes with out needing an extractor but I did opt for a 3 element collimator, If memory serves G-2 is similar?

[absolom7691]

G-2's are universal. I can't remember but I thought the G-2 was a single element. As far as light transmission, the 3-element collimators are not good. They have the benefit of being glass with AR coatings but they are lossy. I use the cheapo acrylic lenses on my red and blue SM diodes and a G-2 on the green. Here are some pics for color balance reference.

[Draco]

Very cool
I will try the G-2 then