CNI yellow 593.5nm Lab laser

Ok, sorry for my huge hiatus, but I think i'm back in the groove. I've been crazy busy as of late, but still finding time to tune and fix, but too lazy to do write-ups on my stuff. I've been sitting on this for quite a while, and people are requesting it out the you-know-where, so time to get off my busy yet lazy butt and type up a review for this sucker, as well as lots of other cool stuff I've had laying around but been too lazy to write reviews and posts for.

Enter stage left....a yellow CNI laser system!




This thing is a beast! It is an H series lab laser, which is generaly used in projectors and other applications where beam quality is less of a concern. While not a perfect TEM00, unlike the larger F series lasers, its still quite good, and after my adjustments to it (it came to me somewhat unstable) the laser is looking good. Its pretty happy, usually spouting 70mW+ cold after a few seconds of turning on, then gradually warms up to around 82mW. If I push it to its limits I can frequently get 100mW+ out of it. Not too shabby at all, as the 593.5nm process is incredibly picky and sensitive at higher temperatures compared to the 588.6nm we all know and love.

The color is amazing, and having this nice mid level power, really brings out the difference in color, you can see just how much more orange 594 is compared to 589. The function is simple, just plug the head into the laser controller, make sure the interlock is in (which is an RJ style clip) and turn on the main power. the power light comes on at this point a bright red, and then turning on the keyswitch, initiates the laser delay, after which the green laser light indicator LED comes on, and the laser begins its emission. The fan is a bit loud, but not obnoxiously so, and really helps keep it cool, but running it on a heatsink is still a good idea to keep the temperature stable, and to keep it from getting too warm. It does have thermal protection, as well as a few other types, all of which throw an alarm. Most of which shut off the laser and light the red alarm light on the PSU front, which can be reset by cycling the power to the laser at the keyswitch and doesn't require a full power down. It also has an emergency stop button above the keyswitch that turns on the 'alarm' and shuts down the laser, and can also be cleared by cycling the key switch.

The driver is complex and I'm not going to get into that here.

But I know what you really came for...

Beamshots!




Color comparisons of 588.6nm (left) with 593.5nm(right):


another comparison on the wall this time 593.5 is on the left:

Over 80mW of 593.5nm, that's impressive! I was already amazed by a 3mW pointer, let alone this beast. The beam looks very tight from what I can see. How is the divergence on this thing?

Quite good. I havn't measured it, but its very similar to the PGLs in quality. I want to say the beam diameter is around 1.5mm and a divergence of <1.2mRad, which is pretty typical of a higher power lab laser.

Thank you for putting this up UK. Looks like a great addition to your massively awesome collection. It must be nice to have the skills and knowledge to get a laser from CNI and tweak it to make it even better!

Thank you for your kind words of praise.

More to come! this is the first of many! :tinfoil:

Do you get these units from Ebay, or do you have your own sources? I've been trying to search for lab lasers in general on Ebay, and aside from a couple 1W 532nm's all I get to see are 5$ modules.

Sometimes, but generally they are given to me be labs that are closing down, upgrading, or moving and cannot take all of their equipment with them, so they sell off what they don't need. They also sometimes are equipment pulls.

Ah, that makes sense. Thanks. Doubt there are many labs that use this kind of equipment in the small country I live in, but it's worth a shot.

Best place to ask are entertainment companies if you want oddball stuff like this. they usually come from projectors. But either way they wont be cheap. generally buying them new -is- the cheapest and only way to get them unless you're very lucky to run across old equipment containing them for a deal or you get them secondhand from someone else directly.

That's one sweeeet looking lab laser you've got there, uk, thanks for sharing with us! :beer:

If this is only the first of many, I can't wait to see what else is coming!

Ahhh that's a beauty. I never really get to see the beam of my yellow in a clear sky, the divergence is too horrible.

Nice labby you got there kaiser, good to see you finally got around to reviewing it!

-Alex

BowtieGuy said:

That's one sweeeet looking lab laser you've got there, uk, thanks for sharing with us! :beer:

If this is only the first of many, I can't wait to see what else is coming!

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:tinfoil:

Gabe said:

Ahhh that's a beauty. I never really get to see the beam of my yellow in a clear sky, the divergence is too horrible.

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You should be able to at that power level. The beam should be quite similar to what I'm showing here. but looking away and looking toward the beam will have different brightness levels and the 589 will be slightly brighter per milliwatt.

Gabe said:

Ahhh that's a beauty. I never really get to see the beam of my yellow in a clear sky, the divergence is too horrible.

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Really, even thought its DPSS? I wasn't aware there are poor divergence dpss lasers.

nwfreefly said:

Really, even thought its DPSS? I wasn't aware there are poor divergence dpss lasers.

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Usually, that's the case yeah. Contacted Scott at laserglow, said it's likely due to the final collaminating lens. Couldn't get it fixed, a few years out of warranty
But yeah, real nasty. 3.1+ mRad divergence. Sadly, I don't know of any beam ecpanders that fit over a small pen host like that. Guess I'll have to make my own, and make it as pretty as the rest of the host.

I can probably adjust it for you if you pay shipping. It's pretty simple, it probably just wasn't set right or the internals may have 'walked'/'migrated' a bit with age.