FS: >110mW PHR, >140mW 4x & >170mW 6x Blu-Rays

i am home now with my Igor 6x....
wow.freekin.wow.
it has definetly exceeded my expectations.

balloon pop at 75 FEET!!!!! within 5 seconds

my old 133 mw green from nova lasers can barely do 12-13 feet when it was new.

it's so small and light, but very powerful.

I got mine Igot mine Igor mine. . one of the members of batch 3 before the incident . but finally Igot mine. ******add evil laugh******. now on to experiment in the name of science.

I keep asking this, but i guess it gets lost among the other posts:

When contacting me, PLEASE use the email contact form, NOT the PM contact form. My email address is in the profile. I check it several times a day.


Gmail offers me a ton of useful options for keeping things neatly organised and having a better overview of the situation. Additionally, conversations with the same person get sorted in a thread, so i always know who i'm talking to.


Not so with PMs. There all the different (and sometimes similar) nicknames confuse me, and i can give same answer twice (or continue a conversation i haven't begun yet). And since most people don't tell me their nickname once they finally do email me, i don't even know how many people i am even talking to at once... (it might help if you signed with your name and nickname, be it an email or PM..)


Additionally i'm having some problems with the PM to E-Mail forwarding option. I thought i had all PMs coming to my email, but only after one actually made it, and made me look, did i notice a huge pile of PMs i had no clue about - i was sure i would get notifications for each and every one of them to my email!


I'll dig into the PM pile now, but there are so many, it'll probably take me the whole weekend. Luckily my time just freed up a little, so if you are among the PMs, expect a reply shortly.

Or if you want to make it easier on me, write an email... And sign it with your nickname in addition to your name. :angel:


Talking with so many people at once can get confusing, if it occurs on two ends simultaneously, with a real name on one end and a nickname on the other.



Since asking in the thread didn't work, i put this request in my signature, as you can see below. Maybe it'll work now. One can hope... :undecided:

My 6x BluRay from Igor

Hehe, i love looking at that straight line from your Ueber-LPM.. :yh:
If there was any fluctuation in power, it would show there. But after the laser stops shaking and you remove your hand, the line just doesn't twitch anymore... v3 Heatsink/Modules are good, eh? :evil:


If you have some time, put a nearly completelly empty battery in and repeat the test, and let me know if you can see ANY difference..

Ok, i have some important info for any potential or future buyers...


I've gone through 56 GGW 6x diodes so far, and i have very little left. In case you don't know, i pre-test ALL of them on my Diode Analyzer, weed out the weaklings, and select only the good ones for my builds.


Unfortunatelly, many diodes are so weak, they produce as little as 155mW at 200mA! Imagine what would happen if i just used random diodes for my builds - if i would simply pick the next one from a bag and set it to whatever current it would need, to reach the power you ask for....

Some buyers would get lucky and get a normal or even a freak, but others would get unlucky, and get a weakling. The weak diode would require as much as 250mA for 200mW, and would not last very long! In fact even at just 200mA low efficiency diodes often don't last more than a few hours, while normals and freaks have no problems with these currents, even tho they put out MUCH more optical power at that same current...


But since i pre-test all of them first, i know everything there is to know about each diode before i use it in a laser (i will soon post a thread with all the collected data).



WHAT DOES THE PRE-TESTING MEAN:
- It means that my base price for my GGW laser guarantees you get at least a good normal diode.

- It also means that IF you want, you can get a high efficiency freak, which will reach the same power at a much lower current OR a much higher power at the same current. But the freak will have to cost a little more since diodes like that are rare....

- You can even ask for a higher wavelength, and get a laser that is more visible at the same power, since i also test the wavelength during the pre-testing....

- Or you could even ask for a high wavelength high efficiency super-freak! Only those would have to cost the most, since they are among the rarest diodes of them all....

- If on the other hand you wanted a cheaper laser and high power is not that important, you couls ask for a lower efficiency diode, and save some money. But the power will be considerably lower of course....



It means that you don't have to worry about what you will get. Basically, there are no random diodes with me!
You decide what you want and that's exactly what you'll get! Once i'm done typing in all my pre-testing data, everyone will also get a full PIV plot of their diode.


I am the only one, who does this, and that's another reason why my work takes longer than that of other builders, but that's preciselly the reason why people usually want my lasers....


So far every single 6x laser i ever made was set below 200mA, even tho some are putting out powers above 210mW! One is even doing 236mW at 196mA! But those are the best of the best diodes - extremelly rare...



However just because of this, i am spending my diodes much faster, since over 10% of them are quickly declared useless due to low efficiency, and i'm getting stuck with more and more of those... :cryyy:



I have a number of diodes left that i have yet to test, and i will do my best to select such a diode for your build, as you will ask for, for as long as i can.



But there is a potential problem... The Chinese suppliers are scaring me, that there are no 6x's left!

If this should turn out to be true, it would be a complete disaster.... :undecided:
It would not be good for me, but it would be even worse for anyone who might have wanted a 6x laser from me!


I am forced to take orders for another batch right now, so that i can afford buying up as many diodes as i can get my hands on ASAP, just in case they really run out! I might also be forced to sell some personal builds..


So at this moment, orders are welcome and will be handled with priority!

And ESPECIALLY if you want a high power laser made with a high efficiency diode, you should order SOON, before i run out of the good ones!



For now the 6x diode price differences are calculated on the statistical spread of efficiencies and wavelengths.

But if GGWs really dissapear for good, you can be sure that the prices of the remaining ones WILL go up, IF anyone will be willing to part with the last of them at all.



I hope that the limited supply story of the Chinese is just another lie to keep the prices high and to make us buy more faster, but this time i'm really worried.



That's why i'm gonna have to make another batch quickly, so that i can buy whatever diodes i can get my hands on. Even so i'll still have to pray that they last long enough for a better diode to become available...



Since the last of 6x Batch #3 lasers have just been delivered, i am now officially starting an express 6x Batch #4!

If i'm quick enough it hopefully won't be my last 6x batch!



Oh, and if you want to place an order, PLEASE WRITE AN EMAIL, NOT A PM!

IgorT said:

Ok, i have some important info for any potential or future buyers...


Unfortunatelly, many diodes are so weak, they produce as little as 155mW at 200mA! Imagine what would happen if i just used random diodes for my builds - if i would simply pick the next one from a bag and set it to whatever current it would need, to reach the power you ask for....

Some buyers would get lucky and get a normal or even a freak, but others would get unlucky, and get a weakling. The weak diode would require as much as 250mA for 200mW, and would not last very long! In fact even at just 200mA low efficiency diodes often don't last more than a few hours, while normals and freaks have no problems with these currents, even tho they put out MUCH more optical power at that same current...


But since i pre-test all of them first, i know everything there is to know about each diode before i use it in a laser (i will soon post a thread with all the collected data).

Click to expand...

Oh well, I understand exactly what you mean, I just experienced on my skin.
In April of this year (you were in big troubles at that time) I got a Pocket Mini from Jake21: he used a SF-AW210 diode, set at 180mA with a gorgeous output of 225mW....! Wow, I said, it looks a good one so, to stay on the reason side, I asked him to reduce the output to 200mW (for a safer life)...
Well, I was happy to see that also with such a reduction, fitting a 405-G-1 lens (one of the first lenses realized from Jay) his output was around 266mW...gorgeous, again!
I have been really careful to use it with a duty cycle not exceeding one minute of continuous power, till yesterday afternoon! I was just recording his exceptional output with my LaserBee I De Luxe, when it died under my eyes. The following grapho is its death record...:cryyy:



I believe to have reloaded the TR10440 batteries from 20 to 30 times, so the diode life can be calculated between 3 - 5 hour, now the dot is similar to a very low, pale light diode, just sufficient to be seen in the dark...:banghead:

Now, my next powerful BR hope is in your hands...:angel:

Not All Batteries are the Same

Like the proverbial saying, good thing awaits for those who wait, or something to that effect. Finally got my hands on the legendary IgorT's hand made laser. And having IgorT's laser reminds me of the movie "Kill Bill Vol. 1"'s Hattori Hanzo sword. Although, on the outside the laser looks like just like any other laser build, but once you know who built it, and how and where it was built, it gives a exotic feel to it.

Anyway, FYI for those noobs like me who thought all lasers take either CR123 or 1.5v AAA battery you are in for a surprise. The blu-Ray that IgorT built for me takes a 14500 Li-ion battery, and not just any 14500 battery will do like I found out much to my consternation. Instead of waiting for the batteries I ordered to arrive from China, I decided to go to my local store to buy a 14500 battery off the rack. When I inserted my Radio Shack bought 14500 3.6v battery into the laser and click on the power I was in horror to find no lights of beam cast from the laser. My first thought was @#$%$$##$%$%$! thing is DOA! And almost, unknowingly, very foolishly, turn the laser around and look right into the aperture to see if the thing was working. I was very lucky, it was. I was able to see a faint hue of blue light before I turned the laser around. I pointed the laser on the wall and was able to see a faint blob. My second thoughts, #$@$%$# diode is dead. Still, I was able to focus the beam into a dot.

So I immediately wrote to IgorT about my predicament and he replied within an hour worry as I was about the laser he built. I told him about the 14500 battery that I bought and he wanted me to send him pictures of the battery and the beam shots, which I did. The next day, he emailed me back with a theory that it was the battery's fault that caused the driver to misbehave and he presented me with all the researches he did into the battery's brand and its spec. which he found to be insufficient to suppy the right amounts of ampage for the driver to work correctly.

IgorT asked Scopeguy20 who I must thank profusely who happens to lives close by me to send me the correct 14500 TrustFire batteries to me to test his theory out. After I received the batteries and tested it, IgorT was right all along. Not all 14500 batteries are build the same. As a cautionary tale for those who are impatient like I am, it really helps to read everything that IgorT wrote both on this forum and in the email that he sent if you want to play with his lasers. I would like to thank IgorT for his great customer support and his diligent in solving any problems with his laser.

NEVER buy RadioHack batteries for anything. They are always under spec and never last. I just had an argument over a phone battery I bought that lasted for just 6 months. The girl tells me it was because I charged it to many times and that the original phone batteries are a better battery. So I asked her why is it that their batteries costs more than what I paid for the whole phone? She just shrugged her shoulders. :banghead:

Yeah, Radio Shack was never the same once they got into the cell phone business. Now there are so few electronic stores around.

Hehe, yeah, the problem we experienced with Maxi3D really gave me a scare! First of all, i had no clue he didn't know about the batteries the laser needs. I usually make triple sure during the Order Summary, that the buyer orders the batteries and charger or at least requests a free battery pack from me....

Luckily my good friend Glenn (Scopeguy20), who helped me out of many a predicament already, lived in the same state and was able to send him a battery pack the same day! Thank you Glenn, you saved the day again!


What ultimatelly gave us a scare was, that Maxi3D found the right size lithium batteries, but while the size was right and they had lithium in them, the chemistry turned out to be very wrong.

Luckily another buyer already once showed me this battery chemistry, and i remembered from there, that they were made for a very high capacity at a very low current.

But i wouldn't expect this to make my laser misbehave... I expected either one of two things to happen:
1. The batteries would get extremelly hot in having to supply the current my driver requires to operate - something, that could even be dangerous with some Lithium based chemistries, OR
2. The batteries would not supply the required current and the laser would not light up at all.

I have never seen my driver work half way or even less than that. In all my tests it either works at full power down to almost 2V, keeping the current completelly steady and never changing more than 0.3mA (which is half of the reason Electron's graphs are such a straight line - the other half being the special heatsinking, which has been perfected with the v3 Heatsink/Modules, where the diode is stuck directly into the heatsink, no AixiZ module is used).

And below 2V the driver simply stops working, and the laser doesn't turn on anymore.

Since the driver can keep the current so completelly steady from 5V down to 2V, Li-Ion batteries are in perfect range for it. They have 4.2V when full and 2.7V when empty, which means that the power of the laser on an empty battery (or anywhere in between) will always be EXACTLY THE SAME as on a full battery. The laser always starts at the same power and the only thing that can change it is temperature (heat affects the diode efficiency), and that is well taken care of, especially with the latest v3 All-In-One Heatsink/Modules....


So when i heard that Maxi3D's laser is putting out a faint dot, i got scared. I thought that the first high efficiency GGW diode just died - i use diode efficiency as a sign of health, that is why i pre-test all diodes and weed out the weak ones. A high efficiency GGW dying would be bad news, not only because they are rare and hard to replace, but because it would mean that even freak GGWs can have birth-defects. But what made me suspect there was another problem was the fact that he never even saw the laser at full power! He didn't see the diode die, he never even saw it live. And that never happened before. So i knew something else must be the problem...

Luckily Maxi3D immediatelly replied with the battery and spot photos i asked for and since the spot didn't look dead i googled the battery chemistry. Evidently it is not enough for batteries to have the word "Lithium" printed on them. LiSOCl2 batteries simply can not deliver the required currents.

I do not yet fully understand how they can make my laser misbehave, but i expect their voltage drops when the driver draws a high current pulse, and then recovers just enough for my driver to keep trying to draw another pulse, but never quite reaching the required current.. I asked Maxi3D to send me the battery, so i can analyze what happens...


So my lasers require Li-Ion batteries, and i only recommend PROTECTED Li-Ions to ever be used! They automatically shut down if the voltage goes above 4.2V during charging or below 2.7V during discharging, and they shut down if they are shorted, which prevents any dangers from the batteries heating up dangerously.

The battery and charger info is in the second post of this thread, as are the links to everything from DX. Both are very cheap, and if you ask i include a free battery pack with the laser. Just make sure you ask during the Order Summary...

I do make CR123 models and those can take either Li-Ions or regular 3V CR123's from camera stores... But PROTECTED Li-Ions are better and more environmentally friendly, as you can recharge them as many as 1000 times, so you're not throwing empty batteries away for no good reason. On top of that, a pair of two Li-Ions costs only $5 from DX, and the charger only $9 or $13 depending on the model.

The laser needs only one battery at a time, so a pair allows you to use one while charging the other. On top of that a single charge works as long as two weeks to a month, depending on your use. But sometimes a battery stops working (the protection circuit shuts it down permanently), so it's best to have two pairs, to have spares, and you won't run out for years!


So when ordering a laser, make sure you order the correct batteries and charger, or ask for a free pair to be included with your laser (= emergency battery pack)...





Maxi3D: Your Hatori Hanzo comparison honors me. Especially, since it's a katana. I love swords and have many katanas... Some even hand-crafted!

I just wish i could also engrave the lasers too.. :evil:


Because you are right. From the outside they look like many other lasers, especially since some builders started using the same host models as me. In fact i have even heard stories of people going around asking all the machinists on the forum for copies of my heatsinks! But at least no one can copy my drivers, and since the v3 Heatsink/Modules, the heatsink copies are extremelly unlikelly as well...


But it's the inside where a laser is built, and in mine both the heatsinks and drivers are my design, and optimized for maximum stability of power. And the heatsinks are designed to completelly enclose all the laser guts inside, for maximum structural integrity, and so that nothing can ever break... The only thing that can ever go wrong is the diode burning out, and that depends only on the power setting - that's why i try to keep the powers reasonable... And that's also why the build is covered by a full warranty. On top of that, i don't use random diodes, but pre-test all of them, so you always know exactly what you're getting up front.


Making the tiny drivers and pre-testing all diodes takes a lot of time, which is why my building takes longer than that of other builders. But usualy that is exactly why people want my lasers - they are not just quickly thrown together assemblies of ready made parts, but painstakingly "hand-crafted" to perfection... (= Hatori Hanzo reference ) I have an OCD-like compulsion for that.. :yabbem:



Once the diodes are pre-tested and the drivers finished i can actually complete an entire batch in a single day! Just like i could if i was using random diodes and ready made driqvers. And believe me, i have been tempted many times, especially when pressed for time......

But there are very good reasons i spend so much time doing all those things. Diode pre-testing allows me to select the perfect diode for your requirements and even fulfil special requests about efficiency and wavelength, and my drivers are still the most stable but also future-proof.

The same drivers will still be fully capable of powering ANY future 405nm didoes, because unmodified they can boost up to 16V (up to 25V with different capacitors!) and supply as much as 1A, so there has not yet been a diode designed nor planned, that would be too much for them. The only thing i have to change are the current settings if i need to power higher power diodes....


That is also why the laser can easily be upgraded to a better diode at any time, as soon as a better diode becomes available. With the v3 Heatsink/Modules even heat won't be a problem for a long time to come, regardless of the laser's small size...


I always wanted to make tiny lasers - that is why i started the boost driver developement - i wanted a laser that would work off a single battery at a time when all lasers used two or three.

And with the model names by some as my "Classic", i have designed my dream laser. That is also the reason why i haven't gotten sick of them after building over 130 of them! That, and the fact, that i kept working on improoving the design, until it was as good as can be.


My main personal lasers are still of this same model and i still love them. But i have recently upgraded them to v3.. That is also why i was happy, when my first 6x diode died.. :angel:

FrancoRob said:

I believe to have reloaded the TR10440 batteries from 20 to 30 times, so the diode life can be calculated between 3 - 5 hour, now the dot is similar to a very low, pale light diode, just sufficient to be seen in the dark...:banghead:

Now, my next powerful BR hope is in your hands...:angel:

Click to expand...

Yeah, the SF-AW 6x diodes scare me.. I haven't heard much, but what i have heard was not too encouraging..

That's why i now want to buy up as many GGW 6x's as i can. Even those are not all are good, but at least i know what to expect from those that are...


For example, what you said about your SF-AW diode would make me think (during pre-testing) that it's a very good one - Obviously it was a high efficiency if Jake told you the correct currents. Also a shorter wavelength since the increase with glass was quite high. But the wavelength usually doesn't mean anything...


But while it was a high efficiency set at a very low current (if all was done correctly), it died MUCH too young.... I don't understand how those diodes can write Blu-Ray disks at 6x speed, being that inconsistent...



That's why i want nothing to do with those diodes (well i do Want to test a few as soon as i can afford it). They cost the same as GGWs, but if it was a GGW, it should have lasted you a year! Of course a rare GGW could also theoretically die this young, but it would have to have a "birth-defect"... So far i have not lost a single high efficiency GGW diode, so i take the good efficiency to be a show of health with them. With the SF-AW's it evidently doesn't mean much.


So i really hope i manage to buy more GGWs. Even if the "limited stock" is a lie to keep the price high, they are worth the price. I paid $350 for my first GGW diode alone, and i never regretted it!


Just like you won't regret the 8x.
I just wish i could make one for myself! :drool:


But until your 8x is ready, you will have to satisfy your 405nm needs with my personal 265mW super-freak 6x with the medium glass lens.. You're gonna love it! Especially now, in the absence of the one you just lost...

It's the highest efficiency / longest wavelength 6x i could find. A VERY special GGW diode! It produces that power at only 196mA!

Oh, i have not yet managed to dig through all the PMs this week (too much work) and i'm leaving for the weekend again, so the rest of the replies will have to wait until Monday, when i'm back....

Same goes for emails. But i'll only be away for the weekend (just to blow off some steam)...


Just letting everyone know, so no one worries for no reason.

Actually you shouldn't buy anything from Radio Shack, "RS" Real Shit. Oh did you know they are changing their name to "The Shack", really they are. They went down hill over 20 years ago, I can't even remember the last time I went in there. I use Digi-Key, Atlantic Electronics, Allied, MGM, etc. They sell quality parts, not 'RS'.

IgorT said:

.....Just like you won't regret the 8x.
I just wish i could make one for myself! :drool:
But until your 8x is ready, you will have to satisfy your 405nm needs with my personal 265mW super-freak 6x with the medium glass lens.. You're gonna love it! Especially now, in the absence of the one you just lost...

It's the highest efficiency / longest wavelength 6x i could find. A VERY special GGW diode! It produces that power at only 196mA!

Click to expand...

I can't wait to get it! :yh: I'll test also your "medium" lens, just to add some more info to the lenses test already performed by Flaminpyro, ref.:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f38/any-one-seen-axixz-glass-lens-405-nm-42225-2.html#post556875

FrancoRob said:

I can't wait to get it! :yh: I'll test also your "medium" lens, just to add some more info to the lenses test already performed by Flaminpyro, ref.:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f38/any-one-seen-axixz-glass-lens-405-nm-42225-2.html#post556875

Click to expand...

Lucky guy, your getting a 265mw BR and then have an 8x coming too?? Wow, what's that going to output? I'm salivating