I don't see why you would be unhappy with this lens. The gain in power is awesome, and since the beam comes out so much more concentrated, it is more visible AND burns things more easily I could pop a balloon from about 20-30 feet with the collimated beam of my 6x at 200mA [smiley=evil.gif]

Thx a bunch, Jay, PM sent
[/quote]



Got you covered!

You will not be disappointed!
Jay

I am of the same mind...

Never looking at the dot at close distance. It's all about the beam in the dark! And the serious burning power!

I used to say 'leave the burning for the open can reds'... Not any more! 8-)
Jay

Hi Jayrob,
Did you send mine? *:

Yours is the very next one on the list!

I have ordered plenty of AixiZ glass lenses for the mod, and they have been shipped. I expect them any day. Probably Monday. Or maybe even today...
Jay

It is very hard to define "wasted." If you mean not collimated, then you could measure the beam through an aperture that cut off the "splatter" and compare it to the measurement without the aperture.

EVERY lens, glass or acrylic, produces some uncollimated light. Single element lenses are worse (especially with an "open" back) because the light from the diode is entering the lens from different directions. In the "splatter" you are seeing not only the errant parts of the light from the window of the diode (light bounces around inside the diode can too), but also the errant light that is being reflected around in the module before entering the lens.

I have seen MUCH worse. In one of my comments I stated that the person who was not satisfied (I don't know if it was you) had obviously never seen a Merideth. The Merideth is MUCH worse. Also, this "splatter" is the main reason behind IgorT's multiple lens rejections in his research. My IgorT version #1 lens is so bad you can barely pick out the beam from the splatter! For a single element glass lens, this is very good. I most certainly am not trying to convince you to "accept" the lens, just trying to answer your questions and comments.

With the "normal" AixiZ acrylic this errant light (that leads to splatter) is the reason that the rear of the lens has a small aperture (that we usually open up). The beam is artificially "round" because of mechanical restriction NOT optical quality. This "rounder" beam is "bought" at the expense of output. With the greens it is the reason that the beam is shined through a aperture.

We have not seen IgorT's selection yet, so we cannot say what it looks like. It is the best one he could find. He rejected several along the way.

Peace,
dave

Good stuff there Dave...

Very good informative post, thank you!

There have been pictures of the close up 'dot' on Glow In The Dark material from rkcstr, as well as his discriptions of the beam quality. So it's not like I'm trying to hide anything here.

It's not like I'm making a killing on this modification either. So take it or leave it...

By the way, I just put my 'test' diode from the SF-AW210 sled into a Pocket Mini at 280mA's...

One of the things I wanted to test with this diode, is to see how the FlexDrive can handle the voltage at 280mA's. It holds just fine at this current! 8-)

The power is right where I anticipated it to be... 384mW's! (using the 405-G-1 lens mod)

I know I already mentioned it, but I think this diode is the same as your 8X Dave!
Jay

well that's good to hear im ordering me 10 of them on monday cant wait for more info 8-)

Thanks for the explanation Dave, so really with the glass lens here, we are seeing the true output of the laser that hasn't been artificially 'cut off' to reduce splatter like the AixiZ acrylics. * *Interesting about the greens, I always wondered why the dot was so perfectly round * *No wonder those things heat up so much (along with the IR high powered diode) because so much of the light is being trapped inside the host. *

And no, I have never seen a Meridith lens in action, nor have a seen a acrylic with the backside modified. *

BTW, previous post removed due to respect for Jay. *Sorry Jay! *:-[

When I sent IgorT his first Merideth module (after he complained about how "ugly" the Version #1 lens was) he was shocked that we would accept such ugly beam spec's ;D I wish I had taken a good picture of the "look" of the spot with a Merideth. It is less than "pure."

Peace,
dave

leukoplast, I respect your opinion man...

But we all accept various types of imperfection with any lens. As rkcstr said, it is more that worth the 'splash' to get the much higher power and better beam.

I don't like how the AixiZ acrylic shows two large spots way out wide with a blu-ray in the dark. But it doesn't bother me enough to stop using the lens.

But to each his own...
Jay

THAT would be very cool.
Peace,
dave

**EDIT** Drlava estimated that the flexdrive could handle it up to around 300mA

Green lasrs actually have a perfectly round beam straight out of the pump medium. As long as the crystal set is not shifting out of mode. If you have an old green pointer you want to experiment with, remove the expander and view the beam without any optics. Straight out of the crystals, the beam is perfectly round, but will diverge rapidly. The additional optics are used to correct the divergence, or you would have a 6 inch dot at 10 feet away, but absolutely no noise surrounding the dot.



Edit* This is a pic of and old set I was playing with, but gives an idea of beam shape and rapid divergence.

WTF I just gave you a point for an honest review and you pulled it. There is good and bad with everything. I personally want to know both, and I'm sure others do too. Its not personal, its the truth. So much for unbiased reviews.

I want my point back >

I fully agree. Instead of joining the "ain't it wonderful" chorus, it would be more productive to find out just why the image is so bad. For example, how much of it is caused by the lens not being perpendicular to the laser spot, and/or not centered?

And then the beam hits the lens and some is reflected back and bounces around the housing and enters the lens at variable angles and noise is introduced.

Peace,
dave

Noise from light reflected on the glass-air interface would certainly amount to much less than 1%.

That picture is awesome!!

And then the light exits the lens and, in a pointer or hand held unit, reflects off of the aperture and housing once again and an increase in noise is introduced.

Even with theoretical perfection in lens quality, cleanliness, and alignment, you are going to be introducing enough "noise" (especially in a pointer or hand held laser) that it will be noticeable, and measurable. *

Finally, although I agree with the statement that the picture is awesome, you will no doubt notice that the light from both the pump diode and the output beam can be seen on other surfaces. Even in the free air environment, reflection is an issue

Peace,
dave

I have messaged and e-mailed Igor long ago about this lens. I would love to have his comparison with his best glass lens. He has not responded??

I was impressed with the results, and others are as well...

I welcome all information. I would like to know more too. And if there is a better lens, by all means. Tell me where I can buy it!

I have posted the e-bay link to the bare lens at the top of the thread. I'm sure there are several who are testing this lens...
Jay

WTF I just gave you a point for an honest review and you pulled it. There is good and bad with everything. I personally want to know both, and I'm sure others do too. Its not personal, its the truth. So much for unbiased reviews.

I want my point back >[/quote]

Sorry, as said in the PM I didn't realize you gave me rep for that post. But what I wrote was out of line, and what I was complaining about was already shown in a picture on the first page (very good illustration of what it looks like BTW). I deleted the post because I figured it was unnecessary to post such harsh words when I really have no idea what I am talking about in the first place. And it was very disrespectful of me (IMO).

WTF I just gave you a point for an honest review and you pulled it. There is good and bad with everything. I personally want to know both, and I'm sure others do too. Its not personal, its the truth. So much for unbiased reviews.

I want my point back >[/quote]

Sorry, as said in the PM I didn't realize you gave me rep for that post. *But what I wrote was out of line, and what I was complaining about was already shown in a picture on the first page (very good illustration of what it looks like BTW). * I deleted the post because I figured it was unnecessary to post such harsh words when I really have no idea what I am talking about in the first place. * And it was very disrespectful of me (IMO). *[/quote]
So much for PM's...
I didn't think it was out of line at all. You didn't like it and you gave an honest report on why. Truth is truth. You didn't attack him, you gave honest reasons why you didn't like it, and there is no disrespect in that. I was impressed by post and if nothing else it reinforced Rkcstr's review. You did nothing wrong and you obviously lost some respect from others for pulling your post. There are to many kiss asses on this forum, we don't need any more.

. . .and too many asses to kiss to keep track of.

Be honest. Move on

Peace,
dave

Here's a picture of what it looks like with normal pointing...



The picture was taken from 10' away. You can see the 'splash' yes, but the dot is very concentrated and is burning the closet door!

This is a very good picture to show what it looks like for normal pointing.

If you were to look at the dot close up with eye protection, it will look like rckstr's picture that he posted...
Jay

And then the beam hits the lens and some is reflected back and bounces around the housing and enters the lens at variable angles and noise is introduced.

Peace,
dave[/quote]

Though minimal, I wouldnt compare the output of DPSS to any diode... Diodes are sloppy by nature, DPSS makes for one clean arse beam...

Also when I say noise, im refering to scatter surrounding the output. As long as the optics are clean from contaminents, you will never see spots, speckle, or lines. The apeteur plays no part in this.

Every pen or handheld I make in green, first gets a complete strip down, new optics and proper alignment. Im just saying that there is no comparisson when talking a diodes output vs DPSS.