Breaking the Class 4 barrier: 445nm & 462nm added to the family.

Well folks! I have finally taken the leap and ventured into Class 4 territory. Thanks to DTR and Mohrenberg, I am the proud owner of two 501B hosts, one housing a 445nm A-type M140, the other a 462nm M462. I must say, I am overly impressed with what I have assembled! Intense beams, super bright. Makes me doubly thankful for those Eagle Pair glasses. They do get hot quick though, consequences of a small host and heatsink. That's ok though, I may move them to something larger in the future. I took a few beam shots to share, I hope you all enjoy.


445nm fired into the beam trap.


462nm fired into the beam trap. My camera has a difficult time distinguishing between the 445nm and 462nm colors.


445nm outside. One of the better beam shots I caught.


445nm. Glad my airspace was clear.


462nm outside. I am officially in love with this wavelength/color. Blue is my favorite color anyway, this is just beautiful to me.


462nm, signaling aliens maybe.


462nm business end. Had the Eagle Pair on for this, had no idea how intense this really was until I looked at the pic.


445nm on the left, 462nm on the right. Even though the camera cannot accurately show the difference, the 445nm is definitely more purple, then 462nm more3 blue to my eyes. Both are beautiful wavelengths, I am most pleased to own both now!

I do have to admit, I felt something like this when I lit both of these off for the first time....

You know, except for it being red, and coming from my eyes....

Anyway that's about it. I hope you all enjoyed this as much as I have. I'll be adding a 405nm BDR in a purple 501B next week, just waiting on that host. After that, who knows? I suppose I need a 450nm now, to help round out the blue/violet end of my collection.

Many thanks again to DTR and Mohrenberg. Both of these guys are great, stand up individuals, and both have been thoroughly a pleasure to do business with.

Enjoy your new class fours, bud

VanillahGorilla said:

Well folks! I have finally taken the leap and ventured into Class 4 territory.

My camera has a difficult time distinguishing between the 445nm and 462nm colors.

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Congratulations on moving up to real lasers. Be sure to avoid any direct contact with the beam.

Most cameras don't get the color right.

VanillahGorilla said:

I am officially in love with this wavelength/color. Blue is my favorite color anyway, this is just beautiful to me.

445nm on the left, 462nm on the right. Even though the camera cannot accurately show the difference, the 445nm is definitely more purple, then 462nm more3 blue to my eyes. Both are beautiful wavelengths, I am most pleased to own both now!

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I have to agree, blue is the best.

VanillahGorilla said:

462nm, signaling aliens maybe.

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Don't be doing that now, you could get abducted and get the anal probe.:crackup:

VanillahGorilla said:

I'll be adding a 405nm BDR in a purple 501B next week, just waiting on that host. After that, who knows? I suppose I need a 450nm now, to help round out the blue/violet end of my collection.

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You will like the 450nm, the 405nm won't look so impressive but it will burn anything you point it at so be careful.

This calls for some music: http://youtu.be/68ugkg9RePc

Alan

Well I have some bad news... Got both of these out to show a family member, put the battery in the 462nm, put the batteries in the 445nm.... and that's the issue. You see, the 462nm uses 2x 16340 batteries, while the 445nm is only supposed to have one 18650
Pretty sure I smoked the driver. I hooked up a DMM, output of the driver reads .4 mA, instead of the 1200+mA it arrived with. Oops! I'll chalk this up to growing pains. It happens right? So now I'm gonna see if Mohrenberg would be so kind as to indulge me (yet again, I have imposed on him a little of late, and he has been absolutely awesome about it) and let me send this host back, check it out for me. Hopefully swapping drivers will fix it up. We shall see!

I suppose there is always a silver lining, if one is willing to look. My laser beam trap seemed to work perfectly! At least I didn't burn a hole through the concrete, I'll call that a win

Looks great. Enjoy.:beer:

Gabe said:

Enjoy your new class fours, bud

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Thanks! It is an awesome sight for sure, I did not have a true appreciation for what these can do until I saw them for myself.

Pi R Squared said:

Don't be doing that now, you could get abducted and get the anal probe.:crackup:

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LOL! Hoping to avoid that at all costs, guaranteed!

DTR said:

Looks great. Enjoy.:beer:

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Thank you sir! And thank you for the excellent products and service. :worthy:

VanillahGorilla said:

Well I have some bad news... Got both of these out to show a family member, put the battery in the 462nm, put the batteries in the 445nm.... and that's the issue. You see, the 462nm uses 2x 16340 batteries, while the 445nm is only supposed to have one 18650
Pretty sure I smoked the driver. I hooked up a DMM, output of the driver reads .4 mA, instead of the 1200+mA it arrived with. Oops! I'll chalk this up to growing pains. It happens right? So now I'm gonna see if Mohrenberg would be so kind as to indulge me (yet again, I have imposed on him a little of late, and he has been absolutely awesome about it) and let me send this host back, check it out for me. Hopefully swapping drivers will fix it up. We shall see!

I suppose there is always a silver lining, if one is willing to look. My laser beam trap seemed to work perfectly! At least I didn't burn a hole through the concrete, I'll call that a win

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No No I hate to hear that. You will get it fixed! VanillaGorilla your haveing a blast with that trap arent you. Again your idea gave me a whole new way to play with my lasers with my crude copy. I should be joining your class 4 soon if all goes well, hope I dont light my tube on fire. Good job from this newbie.:beer:but a little:cryyy:till you get it fixed

GSS said:

No No I hate to hear that. You will get it fixed! VanillaGorilla your haveing a blast with that trap arent you. Again your idea gave me a whole new way to play with my lasers with my crude copy. I should be joining your class 4 soon if all goes well, hope I dont light my tube on fire. Good job from this newbie.:beer:but a little:cryyy:till you get it fixed

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I am loving the trap! And because of the big one you made, now I want a couple 12" ones myself, to run a nebulizer into. The fog idea was a good one, never occurred to me until you mentioned it.
And things aren't all bad for sure. The 462nm is awesome, and I'm getting ready to assemble a 405nm BDR in yet another BudgetBeams 501B, purple this time (again thanks to Mohrenberg and DTR!).

Oh crap I didn't see that, sorry bout your drivers! Hope you get them fixed ASAP

It's all good! Mohrenberg and I are looking at the easiest way to get me fixed. Stand up guy! I'll buy a new driver and be back in business soon enough. Besides, I got the 405nm together for the wife, she is most pleased! Need to get some pics later, gotta get some studying in tonight. Osseous test tomorrow, gotta know dem bones.

Gabe said:

Oh crap I didn't see that, sorry bout your drivers! Hope you get them fixed ASAP

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Yer a lucky man to have a wife who's also interested in lasers!

VanillahGorilla said:

I am loving the trap! And because of the big one you made, now I want a couple 12" ones myself, to run a nebulizer into. The fog idea was a good one, never occurred to me until you mentioned it.
And things aren't all bad for sure. The 462nm is awesome, and I'm getting ready to assemble a 405nm BDR in yet another BudgetBeams 501B, purple this time (again thanks to Mohrenberg and DTR!).

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What kind of power are these putting out. If there is a silver lining you saved the really nice 462 color of what ive heard, for now you will get the other fixed. and you have the 405 and curiuos as to what that is going to put out. Im waiting for a SciFi 1W any day(fingers crossed) and like you an every one mentioned im hoping to get that huge wow factor when finally reaching that class 4 level. The cup on the nebulizer where you put the (fog juice) in only holds enough for like 5 minutes of fog. but I dont see the need to figure out something to get more as the fog kinda lingers for a while. Its kinda plenty of time to have some fun and also doesnt let you over use your lasers at the same time. Really hope you fix your 445.

Gabe said:

Yer a lucky man to have a wife who's also interested in lasers!

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Super lucky! She likes guns, fishing, couldn't really ask for better

GSS said:

What kind of power are these putting out. If there is a silver lining you saved the really nice 462 color of what ive heard, for now you will get the other fixed. and you have the 405 and curiuos as to what that is going to put out. Im waiting for a SciFi 1W any day(fingers crossed) and like you an every one mentioned im hoping to get that huge wow factor when finally reaching that class 4 level. The cup on the nebulizer where you put the (fog juice) in only holds enough for like 5 minutes of fog. but I dont see the need to figure out something to get more as the fog kinda lingers for a while. Its kinda plenty of time to have some fun and also doesnt let you over use your lasers at the same time. Really hope you fix your 445.

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I don't know for certain power output, but if I had to gauge by what DTR has shown for each diode at the current I have them, the 405nm is set at 600mA, so maybe 900mW. The 445nm is running 1.2A, so maybe 1.4W. The 462nm is running 1.8mA, so guessing over 2W. Again, this is pure speculation, I got those numbers from the tests DTR ran on the same diode, and you know it varies some. But I am satisfied with what I have, all very cool lasers!

As for fixing up the one I fried, Mohrenberg offered to set me up another driver and ship it for $10. I couldn't have asked for a better deal!

VanillahGorilla said:

Super lucky! She likes guns, fishing, couldn't really ask for better



I don't know for certain power output, but if I had to gauge by what DTR has shown for each diode at the current I have them, the 405nm is set at 600mA, so maybe 900mW. The 445nm is running 1.2A, so maybe 1.4W. The 462nm is running 1.8mA, so guessing over 2W. Again, this is pure speculation, I got those numbers from the tests DTR ran on the same diode, and you know it varies some. But I am satisfied with what I have, all very cool lasers!

As for fixing up the one I fried, Mohrenberg offered to set me up another driver and ship it for $10. I couldn't have asked for a better deal!

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Sweet! and I hope that driver works out. That 462nm has to be a beauty at 2W. Not to jump on your parade I got my 1W 445 from SciFi my first in the class 4 club and for now I dont think I need more(you all say that first) it is more purple but still pretty. Now I trully get when you said blue is your favorite color, and you have 3 awesome shades of them to boot. Keep us posted on your 445 repair.

Hi VG,
If your getting a 450nm diode try the PLTB450B/1.8A xdrive/G2. you won't be disappointed . If you thought the M140 was good well the PLTB450B will blow it away. Much more efficient diode and not badly priced. Anyway nice builds glad you stepped up buddy. Down the line you can change hosts when i get bored i do that a lot.

Rich

VanillahGorilla said:

It's all good! Mohrenberg and I are looking at the easiest way to get me fixed. Stand up guy! I'll buy a new driver and be back in business soon enough. Besides, I got the 405nm together for the wife, she is most pleased! Need to get some pics later, gotta get some studying in tonight. Osseous test tomorrow, gotta know dem bones.

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VannilaGorila buy the way whats going on with the repair on the 445?