My 7 Color Laser In Clear Enclosure...

Update: New and better build here! (358mW's!)
http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/build-tips-7-color-laser-using-adjustable-sled-mount-heatsinks-41942.html



First build:

I finished my 7 color laser and would like to share some build tips.

For the guts of the project, I followed the tutorial from rog8811.

For the housing, I decided to go with a clear enclosure using 'push on / push off' clicky buttons. (I needed something with room for my build, which has heatsinks on all of the lasers - still pretty small though)

The polycarbonate material is scratch resistant. It's cool to be able to see inside the assembly of the three lasers and sled!

* Translucent polycarbonate enclosure:
Digi-Key - HM959-ND (Hammond Manufacturing - 1591CTCL)

* Green Modules:
3pcs Green laser module/5-10mW£*>5¡«500mW green laser module£*>Laser&lighting products£*>www.0-like.com

* FlexDrive:
http://hacylon.case.edu/ebay/laser_diode/Micro_FlexDrive.php

* Tutorial from rog8811:
How to: Pocket sized 7 Color Laser with Spiro Projector | Hack N Mod

I just went for the 7 color laser, not the spiro. How Rog gets all of that to fit into his small box is beyond me. Simply incredible with that build Rog.

If you are going to try this, I thought I would share just a couple of things I found out doing this build...

First, the pictures:










I found out that this project is much more difficult than I had anticipated. Rog makes this kind of thing look easy, but it is very difficult to get all 3 lasers lined up perfectly!

Some of my build notes:

* I bounced the dots off a mirror in the other room so that on the 'round trip', the dots would be close to me. That way I could see if they were aligned. Because you want them to align at distance.

* Also, they must be aligned at the aperture as well! This is easy for the red and blu-ray, because they are pointed at the splitter cube, but check for this when setting up your green, which must meet the other beams through the PS3 turning mirror.

* I went with a little thread lock on the lens threads at both the focus ring, and the module. (get perfect focus before it dries)
I did this because the assembly needs to be so precisely aligned, that even the smallest movement can put the dots out of alignment at distance.

Anyway, this is the coolest project I have done yet! Thanks Rog :thanks:... for showing how to do it!

(Beam shots - with some smoke)





Power settings and diodes:

I stayed pretty close to the recommendations by rog8811 from the tutorial linked above. Here are my settings...

* Red - Sony/Senkat - 92mA's (measured 42mW's with AixiZ acrylic back opened)
* Blu-ray - PHR - 118mA's (measured 110mW's with AixiZ acrylic back opened)
* Green (O-like 10mW) - I picked the best one I had, which measured 9mW's with a CR123.

* Note: I lost a lot more than I should have through the sled optics on this first build, because I did not turn the modules to the best position to get best power through the polarized splitter cube. (a lesson learned)

* The Red started out at 42mW's, and comes out at 26mW's.
* The blu-ray started out at 110mW's and comes out at only 20mW's. (* see note above)
* The green started out at 9mW's and comes out at 4mW's.

Now just do the math for the 'in-between' colors! (yes, I tested them)

* Turquoise - 24mW's
* Yellow - 30mW's
* Magenta - 46mW's

* The white beam measures 50mW’s…

Very happy with these measurements!

Note: The PHR turning mirror is great! (shown below) Also, the splitter cube is fine too! I must not have turned my blu-ray to the best position on my first 7 color build. Because in testing my second sled (all PHR as shown), I can turn the blu-ray and get much less of a loss in power.

I tested at 136mW's (starting out), and coming out at 105mW's through the splitter cube and off of the PHR turning mirror.

My next build will be much better, especially using the awesome adjustable mounts from sightfx! I'll probably settle for a 6X blu-ray at about 180mA's and a 405-G-1 glass lens...



Update: New and better build here! (358mW's!)
http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/build-tips-7-color-laser-using-adjustable-sled-mount-heatsinks-41942.html







Alignment:

The alignment is definately the key to the build, and is the most difficult part. Above, I mentioned a couple of things that I found useful for helping with this, but no matter what, it will be a chore to get it perfect...

For the green, I ended up using two small set screws that I can use to slightly move the green laser for adjustment...









Update:

Needed more battery capacity for the green.










Another Update:

Hey I just did a bunch of testing with the turning mirror from the PHR sled, and I am sure it will be even better than the PS3 turning mirror!



In comparing the PS3 turning mirror, I get about the same results for red and the blu-ray, but way less for the green.

The green starts out as 95mW's and is only at about 35mW's after the going through the PS3 turning mirror.

So, I have not built my next one yet, but I don't see why the turning mirror from the PHR sled shown in my pictures cannot be used instead of the PS3 turning mirror.

rog8811 has verified that that the only reason he did not try the PHR turning mirror, is that he had accidentally chipped it. So he used a PS3 turning mirror instead...





More testing:

I am anticipating at least 350mW's, maybe 400mW's for the white beam using a GGW 6X at a fairly conservative 180mA's and my 405-G-1 glass lens. And all PHR optics.

I get about a 20% loss through the PHR optics, so this will give me about 180 to 190mW's of blu-ray after optics...
Jay

Its Beautiful

Looks Great. Amy pics of the beam yet?

I'll get some beam shots and then post back...
Jay

Edit: There's the beam shots!

Yeah, I knew this wasn't going to be any easy project. I just bought an old lathe recently, and can't wait to try using it. I bought it particularly for this project + to make heatsinks for the future. Sounds like you got it working so, CONGRATULATIONS!! The only thing I'm confused about is, should I use a PHR sled or a KES sled (I have both). Also, what powers of each did you use? (what mA settings for the PHR and LPC, and what mW green module?)

I stayed close to the recommendations by rog8811 from the tutorial linked above. Here are my settings...

* Red - Sony/Senkat - 92mA's (measured 42mW's with AixiZ acrylic back opened)
* Blu-ray - PHR - 118mA's (measured 110mW's with AixiZ acrylic back opened)
* O-like 10mW green - I picked the best one I had, which measured 9mW's with a CR123.

Per Rog, I used a PHR sled and replaced the dichro with a turning mirror from a PS3 sled...
Jay

Very cool indeed Jay! It takes a lot of effort to build one of those. Kudos! I have heard of someone building an orange laser with a combined red and green LD setup. Is the orange beam laser worth doing? If I saw a bright orange beam on a handheld, I would be stoked!

Great job Jay, thanks for posting the info.

Your welcome!

I just put some beam shots at the first post!

Two of my favorite colors, Turquoise and Magenta, do not record well with my camera...

Too bad, because they look really bright in person! To the eye, there is a huge difference between Magenta and Blu-ray, but in the pictures, you can hardly tell them apart...
Jay

Very nice Jay! I wish I could get one of those with about 40 mW on the greenie and corresponding higher red an BR diodes. Imagine pointing to stars w/ the astronomer pals and then switching beam colors! I'm sure they would be totally speechless!

I hear you Glenn...

But even at this power, it is brighter than I thought it would be! I'm really happy with it.

And for astronomy, since your eyes are adjusted to the dark, even the 10mW green will make a nice beam in the sky. Green, Turquoise, White and Yellow are brightest visually...
Jay

OMG thats crazy man !

:yh: Great build Jay ! very neat and clean my mom would be proud of you ! :worthy: I love the clear case, now ya need some colored led's inside that repete the laser colors, that would be killer !

my new lathe will be here in a couple days and I'm going to give this a shot, I wonder what might work as well as the PS3 turning mirror as I do not have any PS3 sleds. any ideas pass em along. again wonderfull build !

Best Regards Pyro...

BTW where did you come up with that clear case, Thanks !

:thanks:

I have the sled upside down... there is a small round plastic element about 1/4" in diameter right over the beam path, so in effect, it looks like a small light in the color of the beam is on... inside the box!

Here's the box:
http://search.digikey.com/scripts/DkSearch/dksus.dll?Detail&name=HM959-ND

Perfect height for standing CR123's. But you have to use a thin brass washer at the top. I soldered to the edges, and then just glued one side to the lid.

It's a sweet little case! I needed the extra room because I have heatsinks on all three lasers...
Jay

this is by far my favorite 7 color build I've seen anywhere! The clear enclosure is a great idea. What is the total power output of the white beam?

:thanks:

You lose a lot through the optics in the sled. And it must also depend on the color of the laser, as to how much of it reflects off of the coatings on the PS3 turning mirror...

* The Red started out at 42mW's, and comes out at 26mW's.
* The blu-ray started out at 110mW's and comes out at only 20mW's. (see note below)
* The green started out at 9mW's and comes out at 4mW's.

Now just do the math for the 'in-between' colors! (yes, I tested them)

* Turquoise - 24mW's
* Yellow - 30mW's
* Magenta - 46mW's

* The white beam measures 50mW’s…

Note: I must not have turned my blu-ray to the best position on this first 7 color build. Because in testing my second sled, I can turn the blu-ray and get much less of a loss in power.

Starting out at 136mW's, and coming out at 105mW's through the splitter cube and off of the PHR turning mirror.

My next one will be much better, especially using the awesome adjustable mounts from sightfx!

(I'll add this information to my first post)
Jay

wow the blu-ray beam loss is huge compared to the half- power loss of the other two colors. I wonder why that would be... but heck, that 50mw of white laser light is just about 50mw more than I'll ever experience!

I wonder how polychromatic light burns when compared to the monochromatic light we are so used to..

I am guessing that the blu-ray doesn't reflect as well off of the coatings on the PS3 turning mirror. But the color blend is just about perfect.

As far as burning, I would take a guess and say that it would also just depend on focus, and of course having them aligned perfectly...

I have the red and the blu-ray focused for best visual dot at 75', so I know that they won't be focused for burning. In this build, I believe it is best for a long focus as Rog has stated.

Surprisingly, the dots are still very small at close distance too! Must have to do with the optics in the sled. (guessing)

Combining beams is all new to me, and it has made building lasers feel like a new experience again! Thanks Rog! :thanks:
Jay