Best place for difraction gratings

I know nova lasers and Dragon lasers have nice diffraction gratings but their kinda expensive and the nova ones i would have to cut to get to work with my rpl

so i am just wondering if their are other places for nice diffraction gratings and i really want a nice line generating optic but i didn't like the one from nova as i had a big hot spot with a little bit of spread.... nothing like their picture

Thanks
Michael

try shinig your laser through diff things, i found a little piece of plastic that does that really nice (it like a cell phone screen cover), now for an rpl ur gonna need something that can withstand the heat, i read that a glass stirring rod from a chemistry set does what you are looking for, im sorry though i dont have any pics for the stirring rod

but here are pics of what that screen cover does (they are crappy pics, but it shows the effect, green and blu-ray):

i know there is a couple of places do them;
o-like:
http://o-like.com/b2b_cplist.asp?catid=467
and stonetek:
http://stonetek.org/shop/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=70&zenid=617b026f26dbb0a51c726035c9083886

Just a DIY suggestion (i'm a diy maniac )

If you have dismantled some blue-ray sleds (who don't have here, raise a hand ), you probably found those line pattern generating glasses just in front of the LD's.

A beam through one of them, generate a row of dots, more or less diffracted ..... now, if you put 3 of them one in front of the other, rotated of 120 degrees each one, you get a self-made hexagonal pattern star diffractor .....

just take the glasses out and enlarge the center holes, and then re-glue the glasses on the plastics, if you don't want too much attenuation due to the diaphragm effect ..... the blue-ray ones are good also for green, where the red-ir ones just for red, cause the different materials and AR coating, but they work, after all

brewcitymusis sells them at really good prices

yours,
Albert

If you want a line generating lens with holder that just pops right over the lens nut on an AIXIZ Module contact Dark_Horse. I've got 3 on my 3 matched host R,G, & V, Lasers, & they work GREAT, as well as helping to focus the lasers.............rob

give those a try. really cheap. don't know how safe the site is though
Diffraction Grating Slides - Double Axis 13,500 line/in