Searching for a low-powered violet laser

Gilvus · Feb 23, 2012

Hi guys, can anyone point me toward a cheap 5mW violet laser? I'm looking a consistent output lower than 5mW - the one I have from Rayfoss is cheap, but goes over 5mW and thus isn't a IIIa laser anymore. In particular, I'm looking for the 405nm equivalent to LaserGlow's Anser: well-built, no fancy finishes, no fancy case, etc.

I've been crawling the threads and tried the search with no luck. Can anyone help me?

lasersbee · Feb 23, 2012

You could get a cheap 405nm Laser off eBay and
perhaps Pot Mod it to a lower power. If there is no
Pot perhaps changing an on board resistor to drop
the output power.

The eBay 405nm Pointers I purchased were all over
5mW output.

Or... you can go with the LaserGlow Laser...

Why must it be <5mW....:thinking:

Jerry

Gilvus · Feb 25, 2012

Hey Jerry, I want to make lasers available in classrooms because they're great demonstration tools AND a great way to get kids excited about science. You can imagine the safety and legal issues if a schoolteacher brought an overspec pointer into a classroom and one of the kids' parents found out...

Ghostchrome · Feb 25, 2012

Yep. My wife is a teacher... loves purple. I was thinking about getting her a 5mW 405nm pointer too.

Gilvus · Feb 25, 2012

Has your wife discovered all the cool stuff that she can do? There's tons of household objects that fluoresce awesome colors, plus some geologic minerals and more exotic phosphor materials. Some stuff fluoresces under green lasers as well, but not as many.

When I go to volunteer outreach programs, I bring my UV flashlights and my lasers, but I don't let the kids touch the lasers. It gets a lot of excitement every time.

Sigurthr · Feb 25, 2012

Hehe, the Electra-5 is a tad bit expensive for 405nm, but I'm sure it is really nice =P. You'd be better off buying cheap ebay 405s or asking Swim if he has any real low output ones that you can get and then reduce their output down to 5mW. You'd need a good LPM though.

magmabeam · Feb 25, 2012

i don't think that wavelength is very visible at <5mw

Gilvus · Feb 25, 2012

Sigurthr said:
You'd be better off buying cheap ebay 405s or asking Swim if he has any real low output ones that you can get and then reduce their output down to 5mW. You'd need a good LPM though.

I might end up doing that, but it's a big time sink. I've asked Rayfoss what they can do it about it on their end. In either case, I'm probably going to buy a LaserBee to make sure the lasers are classroom-ready.

magmabeam said:
i don't think that wavelength is very visible at <5mw

I know, but that might actually be a good thing. When it hits the right material, it fluoresces brightly! Imagine a dim purple dot glowing bright blue when it hits someone's sock.

magmabeam · Feb 25, 2012

as other posters have said, you won't be able to get one through the normal channels without them being overpowered

you could try contacting websites that sell them and ask them about purchasing custom underpowered ones, try posting a request in bst forum

lasersbee · Feb 25, 2012

If you want it just for fluorescence perhaps just removing the
collimating lens would be safe enough... (maybe extend the
housing).Max power would at close proximity would still need
to be tested...

Jerry

Searching for a low-powered violet laser

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