Need help with a bad beam profile/divergence

So I have my first build under my belt. I went with a Jayrob chrome mini, Jayrob glass lens mod, copper H/S and "EZ" focus adapter. (I'll post my review soon. I finished it up, inserted the battery and held my breathe... Success! I couldn't be happier that it actually turned on. My only problem is the beam profile and divergence is terrible. It has a center "dot" with aproximately 6 perfectly spaced surrounding dots. At the other end of my yard the center dot is "red". I was told possibly this is due to the LD not being squarely pressed or the window is dislodged. I have Flamin Pyro's insertion and extraction tools. I pressed the diode in with it and double checked the alignment with the extraction tool. Looks good. Lens is clean, window is clean and visibly "looks" ok. Anyone have any ideas before I either attempt to "decan" my LD, or spend the money on another one? Thanks, in advance.

P.S. I'll try and get a pic added. My iphone isn't exactly great at this

Wow, this sounds really weird...

Pleae do post some more pictures, but from the sound of it, you are shining it into diffraction grating :crackup:

Just kidding.

But on serious note, what color is the laser actually, you've never mentioned that except that "center" dot is red , which , considering the context, is weird...

What do you mean?

Eudaimonium said:

Wow, this sounds really weird...

Pleae do post some more pictures, but from the sound of it, you are shining it into diffraction grating :crackup:

Just kidding.

But on serious note, what color is the laser actually, you've never mentioned that except that "center" dot is red , which , considering the context, is weird...

What do you mean?

Click to expand...

Oops. Minor details It's a GGW 405nm. And yes, it does almost look like a diffraction grating. It has a pattern like a revolver cylinder, with a perfectly centered dot in the middle. The outside dots are violet and at distance, the center dot looks a little purpley red. Dunno?:thinking: I tried switching out lens assy's and flipping lens around. Same pattern every time.

CDHDC said:

Oops. Minor details It's a GGW 405nm. And yes, it does almost look like a diffraction grating. It has a pattern like a revolver cylinder, with a perfectly centered dot in the middle. The outside dots are violet and at distance, the center dot looks a little purpley red. Dunno?:thinking: I tried switching out lens assy's and flipping lens around. Same pattern every time.

Click to expand...

You know, I also saw that when shining bluray on grass, sometimes the dot appears redish pinkish violetish - like , because of some grass flourescing properties of something.

But, never mind that, the perfectly diffractioned beams look weird, however if you tried changing lens and same thing happens... I am afraid... that the little glass window on your diode is broken.

Please take a closer look at your diode and see.

Eudaimonium said:

You know, I also saw that when shining bluray on grass, sometimes the dot appears redish pinkish violetish - like , because of some grass flourescing properties of something.

But, never mind that, the perfectly diffractioned beams look weird, however if you tried changing lens and same thing happens... I am afraid... that the little glass window on your diode is broken.

Please take a closer look at your diode and see.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I figured as much. I just wanted someone elses opinion before have at that poor little diode

On a side note, it is rather cool looking. I'll do what I can with my limited photog skills and equipment to get some pics before I fix/kill it