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Adding External Lens for Burning

J

Jmjam

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Hello, I am quite new to Lasers and this forum and am asking for a bit of guidance.

I have this DX 200mW Green Laser and would like to add a lens to make it burn better. Which lens should I buy If I wanted to burn things somewhere bewteen 10-60 cm (just not too close to the pointer itself)?

I was also hoping I can buy a lens on eBay for under $5 if that's possible

Link of the laser: 200mW 532nm Green Laser Pen (2*AAA) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

Any help would be great please. :)
 





InfinitusEquitas

InfinitusEquitas

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That laser will not burn most likely... maybe it will, maybe it won't but DX lasers are a lottery, you rarely get a good one. Also if you're in the US dx will not ship that pointer to you.

If you want to try though, personally I find a jeweler's loupe to work very well.

PLEASE remember that you need safety goggles for doing anything that involves burning, and in this case you will need goggles that also block IR... which this laser produces.

If you're on a budget, but want a laser that burns, you might want to look at a red laser not a green one. O-like and rayfoss offer much better quality.

Again, you only get two eyes... if you want to do burning, you MUST get goggles, you only get 1 set of eyes.
 
J

Jmjam

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Thanks for replying.
I already own this laser and do know the safety procautions behind buying high powered lasers. This laser I bought does burn. I have a video on youtube showing its burning potential. Though I want it to burn better and faster.

here's the vid if you wanna take a gander lol ‪200mW Green Laser Deal Extreme (HD 1080p*)‬‏ - YouTube

So you say this jewlers loupe would be a good external focus lens?
 
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InfinitusEquitas

InfinitusEquitas

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I've managed to light a red tipped match with a 50mW green and a jeweler's loupe. It's by no means a perfect solution, but IMO if you're looking for something cheap/small, it will work. Just be careful about reflections.
 
J

Jmjam

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I don't really understand how a beam expander would help me burn better. Could you inform me a bit more on this? BTW how fast would you say that red tipped match was lit?
 
HaloBlu

HaloBlu

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IMO it seems easier to find glasses that only block 532nm & just throw an IR filter on the laser itself.
Do protect yourself from the IR (in addition to 532) one way or another. Those IR filters are cheap enough.
 
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InfinitusEquitas

InfinitusEquitas

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It was a while back, mostly did it out boredom. IIRC it lit in a second or two.

The beam expander would allow you to focus the laser beam to a focal point farther... basically in order to burn you need to focus as much energy as possible in an area as small as possible. Beam expander does exactly what it says, expands the beam with a lens, than allows you to focus it with another:


With a loupe, you only have one portion of the equation, by moving it in front of the laser you will be able to further focus the already well collimated beam of light.
 
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J

Jmjam

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Thank you so much for the help :) So a 20x maginfied jewlers loupe would do just fine for further burning? Would 30x mag make it better? Or 10x mag?
 
InfinitusEquitas

InfinitusEquitas

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Lol, a telescope would work too... relax, start small. Trust me when I say burning gets old fast.

Basically what the loupe will do for you is let you burn faster, not really further though, you would need a second lens for that. The higher the power of the lens, the more you're focusing the light.

If you really want to burn things at a distance, get a 500mW+ 405nm laser, or a 2W 445nm laser, I've melted holes in a garbage bag from 20 feet easily, balloon pops have been done at 50ft...
 
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Jmjam

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Oh lol nice. I by "further burning" I meant in terms of burning being better and faster. sorry to confuse you a bit. So the loupe will potentially make my DX 200 mw greenie burn at possibly 10cm? or is the focus somwhere closer?
 
InfinitusEquitas

InfinitusEquitas

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Really depends on beam diameter and divergence. You'll get better results from experimenting than from me guessing though:p
 
InfinitusEquitas

InfinitusEquitas

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^^^Yup, you should have fun with that.

FYI, what HaloBlu said is true, it's pretty easy and cheaper to add an IR filter for burning with green lasers to protect yourself from ir.
 
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