The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - ....Now 209mW's!

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Hemlock Mike said:

By not cutting the plastic, there is some risk of smoking a little of the plastic.  Not good.

Mike

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Hi Mike, yeah I remember reading that somewhere (probably in DDL's thread), when I first began trying to build a laser. That's why I have never tried it. I just did a quick test to see if it made a difference in the power measurement. Which it did...
Jay

chido said:

Thanks jay for taking the time to test this.

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No problem!

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

jayrob,

The Meredith housings (LDC-1 &2) are the only ones that I use in my DIYs, so I'm glad to hear you think they're a cut above the AixiZ. I'm using the Meredith glass (LDC2) for my bluray, and it's the third diode the unit has housed. I don't mind paying a bit more to support an American machinist. The housing and optics are in many ways more important than the diode itself, and for an such an expensive diode (from a 6x burner) might as well use the better more expensive housing - it's a small part of the overall cost. My 635nm pointers are both going strong after 100's of hours of use (over 4 years old) -- they are both using Meredith housings.

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Yes, I too favor the Meredith. That said, I still like the AixiZ acrylic lens. Best bang for the buck. It gives the same power measurements and burning capability as the Meredith acrylic for red burners. (or close enough) If I was building one for myself though, definitely the Meredith. Even with the acrylic lens. I just like that thick brass focussing knob. AR coated optics as well. And like you said, for that 6 X blu-ray, I'll take the Meredith glass lens and get 30% more power too!
Jay

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Wow, I can't believe there's such a big loss using acrylic lenses

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Switch said:

Wow, I can't believe there's such a big loss using acrylic lenses

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I believe I know why the Meredith glass lenses are putting out more than the AixiZ glass lenses. (and acrylic lenses) After talking to the maker of the Meredith acrylic lenses, he explained to me that besides the Meredith glass lens being a single element lens, it is a very 'short focus' lens. This means that the lens must be positioned very close to the LD to get focus.

This made perfect sense. All of the light from the LD goes directly into the lens. On the other hand, the AixiZ glass lenses are 3 element lenses. (I believe) And I know that they are not as 'short focus' in design as the Meredith glass lenses are. The lens is positioned farther away from the diode, and some of the light goes out to the side of the module/lens case, before it even reaches the lens...
Jay

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

and some of the light goes out to the side of the module/lens case, before it even reaches the lens...

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Always had a feeling that was happening.That is just huge BS! Why do they make'em that way? I guess it pays to get the meredith glass if you want a sweet and more efficient laser....

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - Schweet!

Mike, I am very much looking forward to your test results. I hope you also ordered a 5.6mm adapter because you will need it to mount the LD.

I have had some focussing issues with some of the Meredith modules. It's not too difficult to fix though. It is important to fix one of the problems BEFORE you mount the LD into the 5.6mm adapter. Here's a link to my 'Heatsink Tips' document. Take a good look at my tips on the Meredith modules at the lower right hand side of the document. There are a couple of things to take note of there. Please let me know the results of your findings!
Jay
http://www.sonic.net/~jayrob/MXDLHeatsinkTips.doc

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I have a couple of comments here - both of which I am not sure about but I throw them in for the more experienced folks to ponder.  1st - on focusing the Meridith lens: when I first assembled my unit I found it nearly impossible to focus close enough to the diode.  In my application I need to focus down to a dot, and then beyond to defocus a little to get a bigger dot (contrary to the way you guys do it here).  The lens would not focus; was bumping against the diode.  I simply turned the lens element around and the focal point moved out comfortably.  Now I have plenty of "focus room".  (I checked this by turning the element back to the way it was when I got the lens, and it lost its focus, back again and it worked - so I'm pretty sure this solved my focus problem (in my lens assy).

2nd observation - the 405nm that this diode puts out will cause many things to fluoresce.  Some plastics get very hazy when illuminated by a fluorescent source, while glass usually does not fluoresce until you get into the shorter wavelenghts (254nm).  Could the plastic in the Axzis lens be fluorescing, blocking some of the light?  I can't test this as I don't have another plastic lens (used that in my little 10mw unit).  But it would be simple to check for someone who has a lens and a blacklight.  Just see if the plastic looks hazy under a blacklight.....

FWIW - Mark

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Switch said:

Always had a feeling that was happening.That is just huge BS! Why do they make'em that way? I guess it pays to get the meredith glass if you want a sweet and more efficient laser....

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The Meredith acrylic lens sits into the top section of the 'diode retainer' in the above diagram. Which puts it farther away from the LD. I don't know a lot about optics or anything, but it makes sense that the ability to focus the point 'tighter' (for burning), is probably due to having a lens that is the 'long focus' design. The short focus design of the Meredith glass lens allows more light to go through the lens, but the lens does not allow you to get a really tight dot focussed. That's the trade off. But I really like the Meredith glass lenses for the blu-ray builds, because I'm really not interested in the burning capability of the blu-ray. I just like the mesmerizing florescence and beam.
For the open can red builds, I prefer acrylic. Although the Meredith glass lens is awesome in one of those too! And burns great! We saw that from mikeeey's video: http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1206219782
Jay

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Pirateo, as you saw in my post that you quoted, I have had the same focussing issues. That's why I recommend to 'shorten' the top of the 5.6mm adapter BEFORE pressing the LD into the adapter. By doing this, it gives more space inside the module for focussing...
Jay

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Jay - yes I saw that.... but I had sucess just by turning the element around - no need to file. Does that make any sense?????

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Pirateo40 said:

Jay - yes I saw that.... but I had sucess just by turning the element around - no need to file.  Does that make any sense?????

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You know, I think I remember trying that before without good results. But if it worked for your application, thats a good deal. I believe the glass lens is domed on the top. And is designed for a 'one way' direction. But I don't know about optics. Just making some common sense observations here.

P.S. I just shined one of my blu-ray's into an acrylic lens and it's hard to tell for sure, but it did look a little hazy...
Jay

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

I would not be at all surprised if the plastic gets hazy from the 405nm.  I'm amazed at what this laser does for fluorescense - it's really not even UV!

I just took my unit and lit up a bunch of plastics I have around the house.  Most were obviously fluorescent.  But when shown thru glass you can barely see the dot.  Try it - just shine the laser through some plastic, then through some glass and note the difference.   My bet is that plastic lenses won't work efficiently with these lasers - they simply block some of the light by fluorescing...

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Pirateo40 said:

I would not be at all surprised if the plastic gets hazy from the 405nm.  I'm amazed at what this laser does for fluorescense - it's really not even UV!

I just took my unit and lit up a bunch of plastics I have around the house.  Most were obviously fluorescent.  But when shown thru glass you can barely see the dot.  Try it - just shine the laser through some plastic, then through some glass and note the difference.   My bet is that plastic lenses won't work efficiently with these lasers - they simply block some of the light by fluorescing...

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I just tried that. You are right! I shined it at clear plastic, and the dot showed up on the surface pretty bright. But when you shine it at clear glass, you can barely see the dot on the surface of the glass. That said, the same thing happens with the reds, except you can easily see the dot on the glass as well. I am guessing that the difference in power is mostly due to the short focus vs long focus design. The long focus design being farther away from the LD, and allowing some of the light to 'fan out' before it gets to the lens...
Jay

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

Yeah - I think that's bad news for plastic lenses.... Perhaps the resons the red shows more on the glass is that the red light is more visible to your eyes. The violet laser is really hard to see, and shows little light unless it hits something that is fluorescent. Glass has impurities that scatter light, and the red being scattered is visible, but the violet being scattered is not (my guess).
Mark

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

The AixiZ glass lenses that I have test compared, did not give the big jump in power that I get from the Meredith glass lenses. This is why I think that the gain in power is mostly due to the 'short focus' design of the single element Meredith glass lens. I have not really heard from many others who have done these comparisons.

I know that Hemlock Mike has ordered a Meredith glass lens. I am really looking forward to your findings Mike...
Jay

Re: The 6 X Blu-Ray Club - 130mW's... Schweet!

jayrob said:

I have not really heard from many others who have done these comparisons.

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That is, AixiZ glass vs Meredith glass. Gazoo has gotten the same results with Meredith glass vs acrylic on the red builds. Anybody heard from Gazoo lately?
Jay