Infinity focusing

dustmite · Jul 28, 2013

So im fairly new to lasers and after buying my first 100mw green from thejoker, i had it for one day before i seen daguins at cost thread and couldnt resist buying the laser sabre from him considering the amazing deal. now my question is, whats the best way to focus to infinity? im looking for maximum beam distance here while maintaining as small a dot possible. not sure if im supposed to just aim at a cloud or pick a far away tree to focus on?

and it being a 1.6w i assume itll still burn great even on infinity? cause i dont wanna mess around with going in and out of focus on things.....

thx guys!

scumbagatheist · Jul 28, 2013

Dustmite, you will have to adjust focus to various lengths to achieve what you're wanting. The lens will turn in the laser to allow you to focus up close to things to do you're burning. But, you will have to refocus to infinity for a long, focused dot, at a distance. It's not an inconvenient thing, as long as your lens is nice and snug in the host. You may feel the need to add thread tape to the lens barrel, or use appropriate springs for the right amount of tension.

These things will all become quite apparent as soon as you have your new laser. But, don't get excited about 1.6W at a distance. You likely won't be able to do anything more than pop balloons and light matches at more than a couple of meters. My 3.3W burner can barely scorch plywood at more than 4 meters...in a short period of time that is.

-SBA

dustmite · Jul 28, 2013

So thats just the nature of it eh? Dont expect to set it at one focus to do all, its just something i gotta deal with ? Not a big deal, but like you said im gonna prolly add teflon tape to the focus lens so i dont have to deal with it spinning in and out loosely. Guess ill just deal, no biggy....

scumbagatheist · Jul 28, 2013

Personally, I prefer springs over tape. I have dozens of sizes available, so that's helpful.

These diodes that we use in handhelds are not at all designed like 532nm DPSS modules that are found in pen lasers. Those are fixed focus with a lens and focal length that is designed specifically for the brightest output with the most narrow beam. They're not much good for anything else.

Our focusable lenses allow us to burn something as close as a few inches, yet be able to maintain nice dots when focused at infinity to hit things km away. It's actually a benefit, despite being more work.

Also, you have a multi-mode diode laser. Your "dot" will not be a dot at all at long distances. You will see a line, rather than a dot. This is the nature of these diodes. The best thing you can do for a nice, tight beam, is to get a 3 element lens for it. It chops of the sides of the multi-mode beam to give you more of a dot, while reducing some of the output power (~30%).

Livinloud · Jul 28, 2013

harbor freight, works like a charm and you have 180 other springs to do whatever with

200 Piece Assorted Spring Set

scumbagatheist · Jul 28, 2013

There ya go! Thanks LL. You're always handy with the links!

I used the same set. But, my job gives me access to even more. Maybe I can source the perfect spring and offer it to the fine members here.

Livinloud · Jul 28, 2013

well for the price you cant go wrong with those. iirc there are roughly 20 in that pacakge, if not more, that fit laser lens. some of them are too long so need to be cut in half but that give you 2 springs out of one.....

hopefully you can find some and offer them on your builds

scumbagatheist · Jul 28, 2013

Thanks, LL. I already do include these on my builds. I am not completely happy with the internal springs that I have to cut down. They're a little stiff for my pleasure. Want I really want is the perfect exterior lens spring that doesn't cost $5 apiece.

dustmite · Jul 28, 2013

well what is also attracting me to this hobby is that fact that im a machinist! i work in a nice small shop and im the setup guy for the mill dept. we have 6 horizontal mills and about 6 lathes. i have access to all sorts of stuff related to customizing this hobby. come monday ill be bringing my toy to work to find a suitable spring aswell as show the coworkers and get some ideas on some custom builds.

Livinloud · Jul 28, 2013

you can mill some cool focusing knobs then

members are always looking for those since the standard aixiz ones suck since they are so small

dustmite · Jul 28, 2013

Livinloud said:
you can mill some cool focusing knobs then members are always looking for those since the standard aixiz ones suck since they are so small

ive never seen the various components so explain the assembly to me. is the focusing knob just the male threaded piece with the lense inside it? and is the diode containing the female threads on top for the lense or is the heatsink threaded to hold the lense?

first thing ill attempt prolly is disassembling this light sabre, measurin the alum. heatsink and then recreate a new heatsink out of solid copper.

Livinloud · Jul 28, 2013

from left to right; useless longer housing (always thrown out by the builders), nickle module (normally brass now), lens spring, lens, aixiz focus ring. if you get a tension spring for the focus it will go around the lens and be compressed by eh focus ring.

standard focus rings are small and the problem is, its hard to focus the laser without getting your finger burnt by the beam. people like to buy bigger focus adapters or custom ones since they make it easier and safer to focus your laser

EDIT: diode is pressed into the module like so

dustmite · Jul 28, 2013

so we want a larger diameter holding the lense... ill look into this for sure... thx

Livinloud · Jul 28, 2013

Yes

Standard focus ring

(borrowed from Blord since same laser as mine below for exact reference)

Larger custom focus ring

compared side by side

the larger rings should be threaded so they can go right on the lens. people have made them the size of the standard ring for a press fit but threaded is 100x better!

dustmite · Jul 28, 2013

So that black threaded piece holds the lense not the silver turn thing that were trying to customize? Yoiu wouldn't happen to know that thread size off the top of ur head would ya?

dustmite · Jul 28, 2013

Also, will I sees significant benefit from changing to an all copper heatsink?

Infinity focusing

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