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Thread: That 4th laser's a B%^&h...

  1. #1
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    Lightbulb That 4th laser's a B%^&h...

    I received my customer dichro from Adam today. Thank you Sir! This was a long group buy; mainly in getting people together to get the discount. I feel it has been very smooth, especially once the order was made. Maybe not for Adam at the Post Office.

    I forgot to take a picture of it outside of the mount but there is small black layer around the "rim" of the filter, with an arrow that I hope means transmit this way.



    This is not a review, almost a rant. It was NOT easy to get everything aligned. That 4th laser's a Bitch... alignment(hard)^4; I am glad I have my blue last; adding 405 might not be that hard. I have red last and have to align with the 660. This new dichro likes specific angles, which I have found it... challanging to perfect. I am still getting loss on the 660/635 dichro but I am tired of moving stuff. I have that particular mount on another swivel mount and will try to get the perfect angle for the 660 transmission. I have the 635 reflect fairly good. Just getting the 660 through all three dichros and onto the galvos was the hard part. then finding a place to put the 635 that didn't block the green... which I positioned to get the least loss on it's bounce, and the blue, which has also had it's dichro optimised for the least loss on the green. I can't see any blue going through it's dichro. And I did say layouts will be interesting using this pricey piece of glass...



    I am edging the blue around the green mirror holder by a few mm.







    The 660 I am using is the 120mW TTL Maxyz. For some reason it blanks opposite from the 635 so I cannot use the same color channel. Which means I need to solder a lead to ILDA plug for a 4th channel. Did I mention something about that 4th laser...

    I still need to tweek the angles. I also see I am losing a decent amount of red off the green dichro. I wish I had a big optical table and a meter to find the best angles for each laser on each dichro... O, and a week off from work, paid, to work the angles out.
    Love, peace, and grease,

    allthat... aka: aaron@pangolin

  2. #2
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    Default

    Hey Aaron,
    That's sweet man! Nice pics too. BTW, you can flip the modulation on your Maxyz module with a 7404 IC and a 2N2222 transistor.

  3. #3
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    Wink

    Quote Originally Posted by 300EVIL View Post
    ... 7404 IC and a 2N2222 transistor.
    Thanks man, I really want to swap the TTL one out for atleast one analog one, if not a pair. Your post was going well till it got corrupted...

  4. #4
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    Quote Originally Posted by allthatwhichis View Post
    Thanks man, I really want to swap the TTL one out for atleast one analog one, if not a pair. Your post was going well till it got corrupted...
    It's weird though... I'm actually getting analog modulation out of my Maxyz running it that way. If you'd like, I can build you the circuit. Don't blame ya though. I'm looking for a dual analog Maxyz myself. Too bad Chuck is not around anymore.

  5. #5
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    Smile

    Hey Aaron... Just thought of something: The early Maxyz modules were rated for 658nm, not 660 nm. That may be why you're having to "angle-tune" a little bit.

    There should have been a copy of the spec sheet from Semrock in the package with the dichro. If you can't get something close to what that graph shows, we may need to call Semrock back and complain. (Then again, return shipping would be a disaster! )

    I don't have a 635 nm red to play with, but I do have a spare set of Maxyz modules here (newer style analog), and I've also got several HeNe heads that I can use in a pinch to test the dichro's reflectivity...

    Now all I need is TIME!

    Adam

  6. #6
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    Talking

    Yea, the sheet says 95ish% at 655 and over. It may be that 5 to 10% is being reflected but it looks like more. I played around with it before bed and cannot seem to trim that down. I can get it to where I see little to no 635 transmitting, but still see a high amount of 660 hitting the mount as a reflection. I am lossing a lot off red the green dichro via reflection.

    What are you doing with that set of Maxyz...

  7. #7
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    Smile

    Polarization may play a role as well... Francesco sent me this topic from the German LaserFreak forum. (google translated). Apparently someone over there found a Swiss company that makes a dichro with a narrower transition band that the one we got from Semrock. Interesting read... Anyway, his complaint was that the one from Semrock exhibited sensitivity to polarization. That's news to me, as it's not listed anywhere in the Semrock specs, and they specifically stated it was polarization insensitive...

    Guess I'll have to fire up those maxyz modules and see for myself. (BTW, those Maxyz modules are going to end up paired with my HGM5 argon and a 635 nm red to give them a little more kick. Probably won't have it all together until next spring though.)

    Adam

  8. #8
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    Now that there is a need of sorts for a red laser of some 400mw of power....I will be try and build a few lasers sometime soon. I have the house laser at 523mw {660nm} on for some odd hours now and does great.Very stable. I think if the laser were turned down a bit and used a smaller TEC or no TEC it should be stable...minding the user to supply a sink for it to rest on. The laser would have a small footprint and operate off a single 5 vdc supply. And yes there are cheaper aspherics that do as good or better than the ones in MaXYZ modules. I will venture to say this could be a hobbiest "kit" with all the parts there or an assembled/tested for 24hrs unit. Not sure as time is a real asset now with work loads increasing. I will keep this on the front burner........with 1000 other things......more to come....
    You are the only one that can make your dreams come true....and the only one that can stop them...A.M. Dietrich

  9. #9
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    Smile

    Hi Mike;

    Great news! I'm so glad you're willing to stick with this project (especially considering the pricing games that some of the diode suppliers have been playing with you recently!) I agree that there is a significant market for 660 nm lasers in the 400-500 mw category now that the Maxyz modules aren't being sold on E-bay anymore.

    On the other hand, a 400 mw 635 nm red (with approximately the same beam specs as a Maxyz module) would be an absolute "killer app" here on PL. 635 is the tough nut to crack, but there are *lots* of people lined up to buy them...

    Again, thanks for sticking with this one... Know you've been all kinds of busy dude. Glad to know you've still got at least a little time to play with your toys. (How did the D.I.Y. DPSS blue turn out?)

    Adam

  10. #10
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    Nice layout Aaron

    __________________________________________________ _______________________
    Adam wrote:

    On the other hand, a 400 mw 635 nm red (with approximately the same beam specs as a Maxyz module) would be an absolute "killer app" here on PL. 635 is the tough nut to crack, but there are *lots* of people lined up to buy them...
    Any idea on what the price is going to be on these?

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