tweaking a 400mW green laser

you can pull the optics module as well as the driver and such and build a more suitable host for it that provides the heatsinking and such that is necessary. It's what my Kryton Laser barrels were built around. a host that provides better cooling. It would be very easy to do with yours.

I think it does need a new host that can provide better cooling. It quickly hits anywhere from 500-560mW, holds for maybe 20 seconds, then quickly, drops about 10mW a second all the way down to the 200mW range before it begins to stabilize. Quite a difference from the constant 680mW I was promised. However, with that 70% refund, I can't complain too much.

Ok, here's a picture of my "boblaser" unscrewed, in it's individual sections. I think it needs a new housing with a cooling system that can help keep it's power output up. It's currently losing over half of it's power within one minute. Anyone out there willing to take on this project? :-? I'd appreciate the help, and I'm willing to compensate financially, of course.

: Um... Anyone?

I think everyone has spoken their minds on this topic. Return it and get a good laser.

If you want to send it to me I'd be happy to make you a host that will sink the shit outta it. I'll quickly ascertain if additional heatsinking is the issue or if there's nothing we can do to fix it.

In a labby, you'll see that the crystals and tec are directly connected to a TEC for really good heatsinking. In a pen host, they use the casing to transfer the heat out into the barrel and sometimes adding additional heatsinking won't do any good whatsoever. You actually have to remove the crystals and make a better mountin if that's the case. I won't know though until I actually get a good look at the components.

You also might want to look into beam expanders. They are basically external lens systems which expand the size of the output beam (allowing for smaller divergence) and then focus the resulting beam. Although strictly speaking this won't increase the power of your laser, it will allow for a nice small spot at a much greater distance than your laser would normally be able to achieve.

I just got a LaserGlow Hercules 350mW with a 10x beam expander, and I found that I was able to easily light matches at about 60 feet. This is considerably farther than would be possible without the beam expander attached.

Kenom, I might just send it to you. It clearly has potential to be a powerful laser. It just drops off so quickly once it warms up. Can you give me a ballpark figure as to what this project might cost?

Uhmmm in the vascinity of $50-$300 depending on how extravagant you want it. Obviously since the heatsink around the head needs to be completely revamped to provide the additional heatsinking, we may need to make new battery section and tailcap as well. (might be able to re-use them) I honestly cant' tell you for sure until we get it in hand and can take a look at what tweaks will need to be done to it. I'm sure you don't want to go to a labby style.

I'll Pm you with my contact info and you can call me and we'll discuss what we can do.

John Lawson said:

not to start crap but that company pulls this stuff all the time i have yet to hear of a satisfied customer this is like the 6th time i have heard of bob laser burning people instead of bob lasers that burn  get a rpl 425 that will stay on full power till the battery goes dead i know my  375 stays over 370 mw for  5 minutes+, Iv'e done this several times I really dont keep it on more than that its so bright i get scared and run in the house

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I'm happy with a boblaser purchase

ok lets see a review maybe they are getting better  :-?

I'm not putting them down but if theyre starting to up the quality a review

should help out thier rep

Mine aren't really high power lasers. I ordered 4 x 5mW 405nm lasers, and some 5mW greens and reds. A review is coming to you soon

Overall the quality isn't THAT bad with Boblaser. However, their higher powered lasers don't quite measure up to their claimed output figures. I think they realize the vast majority of casual laser hobbyists don't have a power meter. Unless you were very experienced you probably wouldn't know that the laser only put out 60-70% of what they claim. Anyway, once I called them on it, they coughed up a pretty substantial refund, and I got to keep the laser. I think $300 for a 550mW peak 532nm laser isn't a bad deal, even considering the fact it drops off by 50% once it gets warm. I e-mailed them and asked how much it would cost to get one that they would gurantee would put out the 700mW average that they claim. I told them I was willing to pay more than the first one for such a laser. They never got back to me.... :-?

lowell said:

Overall the quality isn't THAT bad with Boblaser. However, their higher powered lasers don't quite measure up to their claimed output figures. I think they realize the vast majority of casual laser hobbyists don't have a power meter. Unless you were very experienced you probably wouldn't know that the laser only put out 60-70% of what they claim. Anyway, once I called them on it, they coughed up a pretty substantial refund, and I got to keep the laser. I think $300 for a 550mW peak 532nm laser isn't a bad deal, even considering the fact it drops off by 50% once it gets warm. I e-mailed them and asked how much it would cost to get one that they would gurantee would put out the 700mW average that they claim. I told them I was willing to pay more than the first one for such a laser. They never got back to me.... :-?

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Ok so this doesnt make sense. If you were "very experienced" as you put it, then you wouldnt have bought from boblaser cuz that company isnt good. which means you didnt do research on the company. and you prolly would have built quite a few lasers yourself. which you dont seem to have any interest in. Then you were "willing to pay more" for another laser from the same company that sent you a broke laser the first time, then sent you an underpowered laser the second. WTF?

So did you pm everyone on this topic that voiced their opinion and told you not to mess with it? then put them on the ignore list cuz you realized they were right and you bought a crap laser?

You really had no reason to jump on me cuz I voiced my opinion, I read this topic when there was already 6 papes. and thats where I made my comment. I was just stating my opinion which is legal to do. and accuse me of being smug and sarcastic when I was just trying to help out. Dont get mad at me cuz you dont know what your doing.

So kids, make sure you research the company! Dont try to tweak with an already built laser cuz you'll just break it! And lastly dont pay more money for something that you didnt get good results on the first time. and a second time in this case!

Damn NOOB!!!! NOW Im being smug and sarcastic!

A4RINGS said:

Damn NOOB!!!! NOW Im being smug and sarcastic!

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;D It just shows you with all the money and schooling in the world, you can still have no common sense. And wasting money is ignorant no matter how much you have.

I read this whole thread and its a joke. You ask for everyone's advice then you do the opposite. Then in the end, after you get burned, you want to buy another laser from the same company. Even with your discount its not a great deal considering the time, and emotional rollercoaster. Susie sells 250mW filtered green lasers for just a few bucks more, so yours was no "deal".

After all is said and done seems to me you are the only smug sarcastic one here Lowell, and not to bright either.

N00b is an understatement in your case.

lowell said:

Overall the quality isn't THAT bad with Boblaser. However, their higher powered lasers don't quite measure up to their claimed output figures. I think they realize the vast majority of casual laser hobbyists don't have a power meter. Unless you were very experienced you probably wouldn't know that the laser only put out 60-70% of what they claim. Anyway, once I called them on it, they coughed up a pretty substantial refund, and I got to keep the laser. I think $300 for a 550mW peak 532nm laser isn't a bad deal, even considering the fact it drops off by 50% once it gets warm. I e-mailed them and asked how much it would cost to get one that they would gurantee would put out the 700mW average that they claim. I told them I was willing to pay more than the first one for such a laser. They never got back to me.... :-?

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That's my quote. All I was saying was most people, like me need a power meter to see if a laser measures up to it's claimed output. I said it would take a "very experienced" person with lasers to make such judgements without a meter. I NEVER CLAIMED TO BE THAT PERSON. I KNOW I'M NEW TO THIS WORLD.

However, AGAIN shows that he doesn't even read, or at least understand what he's reading before posting obnoxios, off topic, slanderous garbage. I'm amazed at the amount of animosity people have in here just because someone has different ideas on what lasers to buy, and what to do with them. Unreal....