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

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

All my lasers come ready to use..

I can do 280-290mW reds with AR acrylic lenses, they can be converted to >300mW once the custom lens is ready.

Price of an open can red in the MM-FD heatsink/module, powered by the FlexDrive is $185.


For more info, pics, and descriptions of the build, drop me an email.

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

Hmmm, nice looking case wizzadking looks like it's worth checking out B&Q as well

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

I have been asked to put together a short list of useful "laser accessories"...

Here is what i use and recommend..


Tripods:
- Tiny flexible legs tripod: Very cheap, but VERY solid, tiny, but often very usefull, legs can be bent, and stay put, can hold lot of weight when balanced

- http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.2332]"Gorilla" flexible legs tripod (small):[/url] and
- "Gorilla" flexible legs tripod (large): have legs consisting of multiple ball joints, which can not only bend but wrap around pretty much anything. I use these "flattened down" to hold a laser a few cm off the ground, in front of my meter, they can function as a normal tripod, and you could hang a laser off a tree branch with one of these, if you had to (there are other sizes and versions, but they work the same way).. These also have a detacheable top, which you can leave in the clamp

- Extendable legs tripod (small): It's a tripod. It's cheap. Legs can be extended, and often stay put, but don't bet your life on it.
- Extendable legs tripod (slightly larger): Same as above. An inch longer, but several inches more expensive. Not sure if more stable.


Tripod laser clamp:
- The clamp: This is what is gonna hold your laser on the tripod. It simply screws onto the tripod screw. But since it has a "universal nut", it's sometimes too loose. So buy as many as you buy tripods, and a couple of spares on top. With the "Gorilla" tripod, the screw part is detachable from the tripod and can stay in this clamp.


Rubber Air Blower:
- Rubber Air Blower (large): If you have a laser, you should also have this. Sooner or later you WILL get dust on the lens. And if you don't have this, you are going to do something stupid, like "clean" the lens. And then it's gonna be bad and you'll need a new lens. NEVER touch plastic lenses! If dust on lens, use this rubber air blower. Do NOT use canned air or a compressor! Hold the tip of the blower close to the lens, but not too close, just outside the focusing ring, and squeeze. If something doesn't come off, repeat, if it still doesn't come off, leave it there, or you will make it worse.
- There are other sizes and versions, but the material makes my skin crawl when i touch it. Get the above one.


Lens protection:
- GITD Tail-caps: There are several of these included with each laser, but if you loose them, you can buy a pack of 10 here. These are tailcaps but they fit perfectly on the focusing rings. You just have to convert them from tailcaps into lens-caps, by turning them inside out, and cutting off the rubber column, that normally presses on the button. Don't use these unless you cut that out, or it will touch the lens and ruin it!


This is the most important stuff, i can think of now. The battery and charger info is in the second post of the thread. I will add this there as well. If i think of anything else, i will add it later.

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

BTW, Sam.. My old 6x is currently doing 261mW through a medium custom lens!

And it's still alive!

I don't expect it to last too long at this power, and i defintelly wouldn't recommend this, but it is simply incredible, that these diodes can take this even for a second, never mind several hours! But just this can be very deceiving. The reds at least had the decency to die if you overdid it..


In any case, i am starting the testing (= killing diodes) now.

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

Your killing diodes???? Lol are you sure mate it's still alive at 261mW after the lens that’s just absolutely ridiculous. Think you may need to try another way of killing these 6x they sound tough :-?.

Thanks for posting the accessories page I’ve got more stuff to buy now :

4x still going strong as well, I tried exploding caps with it a few day's ago [smiley=evil.gif] damm they make a bang defiantly wear some form of eye protection when doing this, stuff goes everywhere.

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

That's 261mW through the medium FL/NA custom lens..

The power after plastic is "only" 226mW or so....  :

But the raw power (behind the lens) is somewhere around 280mW!



EDIT: Yeah, when lighting matches (and exploding gun caps / what are they anyway?), please keep the laser (and your face) at a safe distance.

When you ignite a match with a laser, what happens is, all the lasers energy is concentrated in one tiny spot on the match. And when that spot heats up enough, the result is a tiny explosion, which then engulfs the rest of the match. But the initial explosion (and yeah, it's an actual explosion) happens at the point you aim at, and it explodes in the exact direction of the laser. So if you hold it too close, you will get burnt crap on the lens. And you don't want to do that.

Minimum match lighting distance should be 10cm or 4 inches, preferably more....


P.S. Sam, you should see how fast 260mW of 405nm lights a cigarettee.

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

226mW thats still a lot of power after a plastic lens.

The caps are just the small red rings of a shots, I had them from when I was a kid, you just load them in the cap gun and when they fire you get a bang and a puff of smoke. http://www.unitedmaskandparty.com/Armor/images/cap_gun_refill.JPG

Oh yeah if i'm every trying to ignite something I always try and keep the laser at least a foot from whatever i'm trying to ignite, actually the further the better, I reckon with one of those tripods I maybe able to beat scopeguys white tip match distance of 10'

lol you need to install the componets in a zippo Igor it would make a great lighter

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

Sam said:

The caps are just the small red rings of a shots, I had them from when I was a kid, you just load them in the cap gun and when they fire you get a bang and a puff of smoke. http://www.unitedmaskandparty.com/Armor/images/cap_gun_refill.JPG

Click to expand...

It is a very small amount of black powder

Peace,
dave

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

Sam said:

lol you need to install the componets in a zippo Igor it would make a great lighter

Click to expand...

Don't dare me, or i will.


Otherwise i remember gun caps now... I played with those when i was a kid..

I completelly forgot about that! Should be fun.

But i do have some black powder i think. If not, i could still make it, i guess..

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

IgorT said:

But i do have some black powder i think. If not, i could still make it, i guess..

Click to expand...

Ahh Igor techiman the pyromanic


Ok if you seriously want me to then, I DARE YOU  to turn a zippo into a blu laser for lighting fags, hell if you really want to do it I'll even send you a zippo over

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

Yeah, i was making explosives as a kid. I made a hydrogen bomb once.. Not THE hydrogen bomb, just a bomb with hydrogen in it instead of powder. It was the loudest. But not the strongest.. The strongest one made mud rain on my mother's car..  :


P.S. Why is your Dorcy a 655nm LED? ;D

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

For lighting cigarettes, what you really want, is a pulsed laser at an "eye safe" wavelength.

Mechanical Q-switching with a solenoid should be adequate for such a use.

Think you can do that tiny machining for the bragging rights?

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

Ok, i decided to test the following powers:

- 175mW after plastics (= 209mW after short FL custom lens)
- 200mW after plastics (= 246mW after short FL custom lens)
- 225mW after plastics (= 270mW after short FL custom lens)

They will be cycled by a circuit until the bitter end, while Zom-B's timers on photo sensors will record the time they survived, by measuring time, when they detect the beam.


That's three diodes down the drain! For proper results it would have to be three diodes at each of these powers, but i can't afford that... But it should still give me a good idea of what they can do, and at least then i will be able to give you even better recommendations for the powers of your 6x lasers. Hmm, i'm starting to think my prices are too low....  :

Anyway i already know that a 6x at 200mW is more reliable, than a PHR at 150mW. Possibly even more reliable than a PHR at 120mW! They are definitelly at least twice the rated power of PHRs.


Once i know the hours, i can calculate how long that would lasts with normal or heavy use, and then you can decide how much you are willing to risk.

Keep in mind, higher power = shorter life, lower power = longer life. No two diodes are the same and some are tougher than others, but there is no way around this simple fact.


But with 6x's i now finally have diodes i am willing to set high, because my personal 6x survived many months in my hands, while during the same time, at least 10 (if not more) PHRs at 150-170mW died in a row, with the same level of use..

So while my recommendation for reliability is 160-170mW, i won't say no if you ask for 200mW after a plastic lens...
Because a 6x is a TOUGH diode!


EDIT: Revised the above testing powers, so they are evenly spaced out. I think i found a way to make the three tested diodes count for more than just one diode at one power, the results of which can be quite random. The more info i can squeeze out of them, the better, since they are not cheap..

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

All eyes are on you Igor!

Do you have the current settings for the above 3 examples?

I have two examples of 6X's at 190ish mA's. Both with Meredith glass lenses...

* 209mW's at 191mA's
* 224mW's at 192mA's
Jay

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

jayrob said:

Do you have the current settings for the above 3 examples?

I have two examples of 6X's at 190ish mA's. Both with Meredith glass lenses...

* 209mW's at 191mA's
* 224mW's at 192mA's
Jay

Click to expand...

As you can see, even the 6x's vary quite a bit in efficiency. But they are still consistent enough, that all of them can be used! Especially since they don't have kinks, which could prevent you from reaching a certain power... One may require a bit more for the same power, the other a bit less, but all of them will be capable of going to 200mW after plastics or higher..

The current setting will be determined for each diode individually, based on a plot. And it will be set for that power after a plastic lens, because a plastic lens is a common reference, which everyone can relate to, and i can calculate the other values from it easily by now. Also, for the diode, their output power matters more, than the current setting.


For example. if you have two diodes at the same current, one lower efficiency, the other higher efficiency, the higher efficiency diode will actually suffer more at that same current, simply because the optical flux at the die will be higher. But that's too simplified, since it suggests the efficiency is the only difference between them. In reality, the different efficiency must have a cause, and if that cause is pre-existing imperfections, or some such thing, it then gets more complicated. The lower efficiency diode will be under a lower overall stress at the same current, but the pre-existing imperfections could cause it to fail sooner. Then again, the same imperfections could actually make it live longer in some rare cases, for example, if they are "evenly spread out"... It's a very complicated balance of multiple things..


But the point is, how long they can take a certain power on average. I will try to milk the three murder victims for all they are worth, and then some!
Luckily, Kage donated a 6x to me for testing, so that i don't go broke over this too much... ;D Thank you Kage, your donation is greatly appreciated!


Anyway, if these 6x's were like my old one, it would take 192mA for 175mW, 215mA for 200mW and 235mA for 225mW after a plastic lens.. In fact, the latter is where my old 6x is currently at - 236mA, putting out 226mW after plastics or 261mW after medium custom lens or 278mW after short FL custom lens..

My old 6x has lost 8mW of power through degradation by now, i said it's gonna die any moment now, several times, but it just keeps surprising me with it's toughness!

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

200ma is a good round number for me Igor. Hopefully it will last awhile, but even if it doesn't I willing to chance it.
I want a good solid blu-burner

Chuck