He is talking about my comment about my 150mW green that has a bad diode. You're thread got me thinking of changing optics and putting a new diode in.
Senior Member
He is talking about my comment about my 150mW green that has a bad diode. You're thread got me thinking of changing optics and putting a new diode in.
Senior Member
Hi Ritchie,Originally Posted by laserads
Ideally you need the part number of the pump diode that is in there or as a bare minimum know the max. rated power of the pump diode.
My >20mW 473 was sold to me as doing 36mW. When it arrived and after 5 minutes warm up it was doing 55mW. I popped the lid and saw a microlensed C mount pump diode. I have a couple of 2W microlensed 808s kicking around here so I was not too concerned about popping the pump diode. Looking at its threshold current and its operating current when it arrived I deduced that it was most likely a 2W pump diode (slight chance it is a 1.5W but these are less common devices) It was doing 1.8A for 55mW out. Taking it to 2.3A and making a slight change to the TEC settings got the o/p to swing between 95 and 101 mW (the TEC hunts a little) 2W 808s will have a max current somewhere between 2.5A and 2.8A.
The datasheet for the Castech crystal kit specifies a 2W pump diode for a 70mW laser.
It seems the efficiency of the crystals is a fair bit better than this spec.
Take care before tweaking though because if you pop the pump diode it is not as simple as just swapping it out. You will have to wavelength tune the new pump diode for max o/p power and mechanically align the diode. (usually means moving the crystal assembly rather than the diode) If you don't know which controls on your driver board are which you could get hopelessly lost with the set-up.
Mine was bought as a project to dissect for bits - If you paid good money for your 100mW you might want to think twice before tweaking.
Best regards
Robin.
Lasers and beer don't mix. After 2 beers I lose coherence.
Senior Member
ooooooOOOOO Ritchie ....
cant beleive you ripped the lid off !
Last i heard you had SUPERGLUED the screws to stop you playing !!
No Crying when you blow it now !! ..like the previous 50 lasers you have managed to blowup hehehe
PAUL
In the beginning there was none. Then came the light - #1 UKLEM - 2007
BUY UK LEGAL LASER POINTER :: NEW - Blue 460nm Laser Pointers
Senior Member
I don't know if a manufacturer of DPSS units would go for it....but I would be more than willing to buy a laser "Kit". If they were to supply all the parts needed to construct a complete laser.....then yes I want one. I am sure that there would be somewhat of a high demand for this if any one offered it. It should be very much less than a complete unit...leaving all the real work for the hobbiest to enjoy/hate. I am thinking along the lines of a box full of bags of electronic components, a diode,a crystal set for the desired wavelength, and the optics. The machined parts for the housing and PCB board and cables with ends to build up would be a nice feature. Assembly/testing documents would be nice too. I would like to see some one offer this as to the purist....this may be a better way to go. Remember the Heathkit boxes? I loved them. Now you can't get anything like that.
You are the only one that can make your dreams come true....and the only one that can stop them...A.M. Dietrich
Senior Member
robin, do you have a like to this 20mw blue laser you tweaked??
andy
Eat Sleep Lase Repeat
Junior Member
Paul
Relax man....
Like a scientest i couldnt resist the craveing to learn !
& all that stood in my way was 8 little screws.
The blue has survived unscathed from its ordeal & now i have learnt a bit more of the vast laser jigsaw world.
& i have only blown around 30 diodes in my 20 year career & for every one of them that bit the dust i learnt more & more about lasers.
Sometimes hands on experience & Disasters help us to learn & solve problems as opposed to just buying a replacement unit & switching it on .
Cheers Ritchie
Ritchie
Senior Member
Actually it is cr@p & I hope it dies soon!
That would give me an excuse to do a full strip down and rebuild.
I'd drop in the 808nm 2W I bought specifically for my blue project so I know the exact spec of the pump diode. I would realign the crystal assembly to get a more circular beam & I would fabricate an adjustable focus mechanism for the collimator lens. It is fixed focus at the moment so alignment of the crystal assembly changes beam divergence!
Still it was far cheaper than the crystal set and got me the PSU, TECs, crystals, driver (TTL - bah have to hack it for analogue) and all the mechanics.
Robin
Lasers and beer don't mix. After 2 beers I lose coherence.
Robin
Got any pix of the insides?
we like looking at guts - well I do anyway...
Rob
If you need to ask the question 'whats so good about a laser' - you won't understand the answer.
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Rob... you're not the only one...
I second this!
Senior Member
OK, OK I'll pop the hood & take some pics tonight.
Robin
Lasers and beer don't mix. After 2 beers I lose coherence.
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