- Joined
- Dec 2, 2010
- Messages
- 9
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The Story
I recently decided to dabble into a few different things that had caught my interests at an early age. Lasers being one. That being said, I recently purchased a green p...*cough* module from amazon.com rated at <50mW. Here's the exact one I bought:
Shortly after having received it and reading large amounts of info from this very forum, I decided to attempt taking the thing apart to get a better look at what I was dealing with. This is what I found:
I was actually surprised by the heavy plastic support frame for the driver. The dents are from the punch I had to use to push the module out of the body. As you can probably tell, it was not screwed into the cap so it did not come out when I pulled it. The end of the lens assembly is chewed up because I noticed it was screwed in when I got the cap off and though it was the module and all I had to do was screw it out. So, I took needle nose pliers to it, and promptly discovered it was plastic and that it was just the lens assembly.
A slightly better view of the lens assembly. Blurry I know but it's best shot I've got of it at the moment. Sorry for the blur.
What follows are a few beam and spot shots and a picture of the part of the host that held the module. I've conculded it's a newwish knock off.
In the dark, but it isn't nearly this bright, the exposure on my camera can not be adjusted. No, you can't see the ring. See the third pic (down).
Again, apologies for the blur
Yes, I know there is a ring around the spot. No, it is not visible even in the dark. I suspect it is the tiniest amount of green mixed with infrared.
I have three questions to pose:
1)Does anyone recognize this module?
I do not expect anyone to, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
2)The question: Is the following possible or did I, in my noobness, miss something?:
Discovering that the black plastic lens assembly was movable, I played with the focus and felt I had improved the divergence (purely by chance).
I originally measured a divergence of 2.02 mRad. After playing with the focus, I measured ~0.76 mRad! Here's my numbers:
Original: 1.5mm dia. @ the aperature with 38mm @ 17.8 meters. This gave me a div. of 2.02 mRad.
Refocused: 3mm dia. @ the aperature (the difference between the fast and slow axes was far, far too small at the aperature for me to measure with the tool I had on hand) with a 16.5mm average [(18mm+15mm)/2] at 17.8 meters. This gave me a div. of 0.76 mRad!
I can't remember exactly what the rayleigh distance/length was but I am fairly certain that I am just outside of it for this laser by a at least a couple of meters with the distance I used.
3)Typically, how well regulated are these no name knock off p...modules?
While it was disassembled, I :shhh: messed with the pot a little to see what would happen. In one direction, it slowly lowered the brightness to nil. In the other, there was no noticeable change for a short distance then, nothing. Turning it back brought the spot back. I did this several times and came to the conclusion that the regulator (if there is one) is really doing its job well.
Bring the knowledge. :takeit:
I recently decided to dabble into a few different things that had caught my interests at an early age. Lasers being one. That being said, I recently purchased a green p...*cough* module from amazon.com rated at <50mW. Here's the exact one I bought:
Shortly after having received it and reading large amounts of info from this very forum, I decided to attempt taking the thing apart to get a better look at what I was dealing with. This is what I found:
I was actually surprised by the heavy plastic support frame for the driver. The dents are from the punch I had to use to push the module out of the body. As you can probably tell, it was not screwed into the cap so it did not come out when I pulled it. The end of the lens assembly is chewed up because I noticed it was screwed in when I got the cap off and though it was the module and all I had to do was screw it out. So, I took needle nose pliers to it, and promptly discovered it was plastic and that it was just the lens assembly.
A slightly better view of the lens assembly. Blurry I know but it's best shot I've got of it at the moment. Sorry for the blur.
What follows are a few beam and spot shots and a picture of the part of the host that held the module. I've conculded it's a newwish knock off.
In the dark, but it isn't nearly this bright, the exposure on my camera can not be adjusted. No, you can't see the ring. See the third pic (down).
Again, apologies for the blur
Yes, I know there is a ring around the spot. No, it is not visible even in the dark. I suspect it is the tiniest amount of green mixed with infrared.
I have three questions to pose:
1)Does anyone recognize this module?
I do not expect anyone to, but I thought I'd ask anyway.
2)The question: Is the following possible or did I, in my noobness, miss something?:
Discovering that the black plastic lens assembly was movable, I played with the focus and felt I had improved the divergence (purely by chance).
I originally measured a divergence of 2.02 mRad. After playing with the focus, I measured ~0.76 mRad! Here's my numbers:
Original: 1.5mm dia. @ the aperature with 38mm @ 17.8 meters. This gave me a div. of 2.02 mRad.
Refocused: 3mm dia. @ the aperature (the difference between the fast and slow axes was far, far too small at the aperature for me to measure with the tool I had on hand) with a 16.5mm average [(18mm+15mm)/2] at 17.8 meters. This gave me a div. of 0.76 mRad!
I can't remember exactly what the rayleigh distance/length was but I am fairly certain that I am just outside of it for this laser by a at least a couple of meters with the distance I used.
3)Typically, how well regulated are these no name knock off p...modules?
While it was disassembled, I :shhh: messed with the pot a little to see what would happen. In one direction, it slowly lowered the brightness to nil. In the other, there was no noticeable change for a short distance then, nothing. Turning it back brought the spot back. I did this several times and came to the conclusion that the regulator (if there is one) is really doing its job well.
Bring the knowledge. :takeit:
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