445nm A140 @ 600mW in Kryton Groove

After catching the bug that is 445nm, I had to go about obtaining one of these ultra powerful and ultra affordable lasers.
I had considered pulling the diode from the 12x burners out there but the costs were a bit over the top.

After hearing about the new diodes from these Casio projectors I knew I really had to get one.
Since Kenom and I have a pretty good relationship on here with information and stuff,
I decided to turn to him for assembly, Daguin for the diode, and here are the results:









I was totally astonished with this one after having a 100mW 532nm laser and a 100mW 405nm laser. This thing is BRIGHT!
Its amazing what is possible these days, I remember when I was wow'd with
my 405nm with a PHR diode and the fact that I could burn objects with it.
This is a whole new level of power and with power, comes responsibility. I treat this laser with utmost respect and I don't just let anyone else use it.

Now on to the review. Kenom did manage to make quite an impression on me with this one even after
dealing with him a few other times for various parts and services,
this time he surpassed my expectations. Now here's how he packaged my assembled laser:





Now don't freak because how the box looks as if it "blew up" like how Kenom had put it in a message haha.
It was actually safer than when I sent him my Kryton to have the diode and driver installed.
I had to go through two separate boxes layered on top of eachother to get to the actual laser inside.
Heres a view of after i managed to get through it all...







You can clearly see that it was entirely surrounded by foam and then wrapped in bubble wrap, honestly
I think you could have shipped an egg in this and I would have received it intact



Heres a picture of the driver and diode pressed into the Kryton head:







And the reverse side:








It's powered by two CR123A cells into a Groove2 driver. Kenom ran it on his Kenometer and set it to 600mW.
This thing burns like mad! I've never seen such power! The beam imo is brighter than a 100mW 532nm
laser, which I actually have so I can compare. However due to the high amount of current being
run through the driver, the driver itself does actually get very hot after a small amount of time.
Therefore the thermal protection kicks in and cuts the power off once it gets hot enough.
I limit my use to about 30-40s and then let it cool down. I'm in the process of trying to find a separate
heatsink for just the driver to solve that problem. The diode however is well cooled.



Honestly I think it's very well assembled on Kenom's part, excellent work.

Here's a full picture of the fully assembled laser:









I have to say that the Kryton Groove has got to be one of the best hosts out there. Its the perfect size,
very good looking, and has amazing heat sinking capabilities for the diode.
I've had this host for almost 2 years now and it had a 16x red diode in it before. Loved it then, and love
it now . Seriously, if you aren't in the group buy for the new run of Krytons, get in now!

http://laserpointerforums.com/f55/real-kryton-gb-round-3-a-48664.html


I have to thank Daguin and Kenom big time on this one. Daguin was very swift and an excellent
communicator when it came to purchasing the diode for this build. He was so nice and courteous that
after it was all said and done, I found out from Kenom that Daguin had actually sent Kenom two diodes,
one for me, and one for Kenom to play with! Kenom however did an excellent job on this one and I plan
on getting in on the next group buy for the new Grooves once I have some money put together for it.

I will post up more beamshots and some burning videos if anyone has an interest in seeing them

Hahaha I had soo much fun packaging that baby up. I had a medium flat rate box and honestly I wasn't going to pay $14.95 to ship just that little barrel, so I made my own box. They looked at me very strange when I dropped that off at the post office, but with the implementation of the writing on the insides of those now, they can be used in any configuration as long as you ship it with priority mail.

I played a good joke on 'Bmw when I told him the box had shipped. I told him that it had blown up and he'd just have to wait and see. I think he got a good laugh at that one, and when he finally did get to see the blown apart box got an even better one.

Oh no! They print that on the inside of those boxes now?!

I used to get free boxes from them all the time, I turned them inside out and bam! Free box!

Bummer

Nice, that's just like mine, only you have a cooler design on your barrel (mine is just black). Such an appropriate barrel color and print. I do wish I had a fully-threaded 405nm glass lens instead of this half-threaded one. It's such a bitch to focus.

om i love this paint on the groove. Kenom, can I still order one of these for the upcoming GB?

yes you can. I'll be taking payments within the next few days.

Also this is not paint, it's anodized this way.

Kenom said:

yes you can. I'll be taking payments within the next few days.

Also this is not paint, it's anodized this way.

Click to expand...

Yea that's what I wanted to say. I just did not remember the word. I'm not 100% sure thought if I will buy one. Thanks for the info anyway.