100mW 532nm M Series Proper Surface?

Hello guys,

As many of you know I've just received my 655 labby & am in love with it. I was told 100mW of 655 would be fine to run on a wooden surface, but I am getting fixed responses on 100mW of 532(my next labby).

Would that be fine to run on a wooden surface? I've sent eMails to LaserGlow and they tell me I need a metal surface. I've seen some sweet stainless steel tables for $100 and could easily fit a few labbies.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
-Alex

LeHap said:

Hello guys,

As many of you know I've just received my 655 labby & am in love with it. I was told 100mW of 655 would be fine to run on a wooden surface, but I am getting fixed responses on 100mW of 532(my next labby).

Would that be fine to run on a wooden surface? I've sent eMails to LaserGlow and they tell me I need a metal surface. I've seen some sweet stainless steel tables for $100 and could easily fit a few labbies.

Any thoughts?

Thanks
-Alex

Click to expand...

Ehh, depends on the head - some heads are adequately heatsinked as is. My 0.5W CNI for example has a small heatsink on the bottom and a fan at the back, enough to keep it running without bolting onto anything else.

Ideally, if you're going to put it on a metal surface, you want to use Aluminum - I'd go for >5mm thick. Alternatively you could attach it to an old heatsink from a PC - I have a 2W dual diode blue that's zip tied onto an old heatsink I had lying around, does just fine.

diachi said:

Ehh, depends on the head - some heads are adequately heatsinked as is. My 0.5W CNI for example has a small heatsink on the bottom and a fan at the back, enough to keep it running without bolting onto anything else.

Ideally, if you're going to put it on a metal surface, you want to use Aluminum - I'd go for >5mm thick. Alternatively you could attach it to an old heatsink from a PC - I have a 2W dual diode blue that's zip tied onto an old heatsink I had lying around, does just fine.

Click to expand...

Thanks diachi!

The particular Labby is the smallest head they have. The PSU has a fan on it, but the head is just the module with the head being a heat sink.

I should be fine running it for 10-30mins on the wooden surface, right?

I've seen members running their 400mW 532 on a kitchen counter so...

Thanks,
Alex

Generally, the specs are guaranteed only when bolted to a heatsink that is able to dissipate the wattage of the head. A couple of mine for example doesn't even get warm, usually but are far more stable with a heatsink. Not all need a sink to stay running, but they may over the course of a long period of time have large temperature swings (or shutdown in an extreme case).

^Yay!

So I should be good to run them for 10-30minutes, even a yellow?

-Alex

Realistically in practice, they should always have a heatsink. Period. Even if it's just a metal block. You should get something.

ultimatekaiser said:

Realistically in practice, they should always have a heatsink. Period. Even if it's just a metal block. You should get something.

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Well those heads feel pretty hefty. A good way to test if they are getting hot is by touching the head to see if it's warm?

The 473 100mW is in the same head as the 655 version and that should be good to run for hours, correct? Yellow is the most demanding so if that is good to go so should all the other wl's

-Alex

Feeling it with your hand isn't a good method of checking. It does give you an idea over a long time if its not able to keep up in an extreme case, but realistically the differences that matter are tiny, and are inside the head where you can't feel. the general outer heat doesn't tell you much. even a few degrees of temperature change can mean a huge change inside the laser parameters, and potentially a drastically shorter lifetime. most diodes are run well below room temperature for their ratings and long life. which is why pointers and pgl-Cs and such are known for frequent death/low power. by the time you can feel the heat even outside the module, let alone the host, the diode is already well over a hundred degrees an those little emitters dont last long at that temperature, by that point, they're literally starting to vaporize/disintegrate. being hefty only gets you so far, and frankly isn't an excuse in my book, especially with a laser that expensive.

100mW of green is pushing probably a watt of pump-ish, and while the head can probably tolerate that for a while, I still wouldn't recommend running it without one for more than a few minutes if you want to keep it healthy for a long time.

So what would I need? The 532 M series don't have a fan
in them?

Bloompyle said a aluminum plate would help. ugh

-Alex

You could always go to a restaurant supply house and grab an aluminum baking sheet and turn it upside down so there's some air between the sheet and the wood surface.

Probably can find one at Goodwill for cheap.