DIY 473nm / FRANKEN-TEK B&W Transplant To Handheld With TEC

so its producing twim beans straight out of the crystal?

bobhaha said:

Damn man... Looks great!

I was thinking about doing the same with my set of 473 labbies. But I need to read up more on procedures of alignment.

Looking good man! Keep it up!

EDIT: Also would a dicro (block blue) before the YAG be beneficial? The crystal emits both forward and backwards... so would reflecting the light back into the crystal be beneficial in anyway?

Click to expand...

Im not sure, I tried this with a FS mirror in front of the output, but did not notice
any gain. I will play around with that one later..

One thing I found that blew me away is that aligning in this rig is 10x
easier than in the original labby...

The process isnt as efficient, but getting the LBO to light up is as easy as
a 532 bonded set.. I think that all of the correction in place for the
808 found in the labby heads, makes it that much harder to find the 'sweet spot'.
Using this 808 with FAC and the single collimator before the yag, allows for a easy dialing in.

The rest is small movements in front of the LPM sensor.. I just fired it up and
am getting 75mW of 473 in a single beam with some 'splash' that will be eliminated
by the expander for the output beam

All the while there is still no temperature control running.. I have 350mA
into the TEC at the moment, and if left as is, it will steady out around
40-50mW of 473 :san:

I took some more video and pics, will post in a bit..

Now if I could only get my 589nm sets to light this easily :cryyy:

Gryphon said:

so its producing twim beans straight out of the crystal?

Click to expand...

Yes, lol, 2 beams when positioned correctly. One on each side of the LBO.
Two beams reflecting between the YAG and LBO, and 2 beams exiting on
the output side of the LBO at 10deg angles or so.

Are you getting this power from the same 600mw pump you started with or have you already turned it up? If you are getting 60mw out at 600mw in you could hopefully get a couple hundred mw of 473 when you turn up the power!

Awesome build, many people thought this was a nearly impossible feat

benmwv said:

Are you getting this power from the same 600mw pump you started with or have you already turned it up? If you are getting 60mw out at 600mw in you could hopefully get a couple hundred mw of 473 when you turn up the power!

Awesome build, many people thought this was a nearly impossible feat

Click to expand...

Unfortunately no, its at full, the most im going to see on this one will be <100mW.

What I failed to realize was the crystal set was out of a head which
makes a 2nd beam. Even though I can get it to run with a single beam
that 2nd beam accounts for 50% of the output.

I will just have to make another after this one, and go for 200mW+
This one was just proof of concept more or less.. But im taking notes
and that will make the difference on the 2nd build.

I uploaded a video, this one is the single beam running between 40-60mW
and was filmed early last night. Since, I have got it up to 75mW and
am still working on that :eg:

Looking good man!

Would you mind making a short clip just briefly explaining how you are aligning the crystals and pump?

What the traps for new players are etc...

-Adrian

This is great stuff! Thanks for putting up the videos.

It's really neat to see it go from 808 to 473 like that. :beer:

bobhaha said:

Looking good man!

Would you mind making a short clip just briefly explaining how you are aligning the crystals and pump?

What the traps for new players are etc...

-Adrian

Click to expand...

If I get a chance, I will do up a video that explains in a bit more depth.
As it stands, you just have to dive in with some trial and error.

There is no comparison of trying to align this vs trying to align the original
labby. In the labbies, one small move can = no light at all, movements
in my build are very forgiving and the LBO never really dims out too much.

As mentioned earlier, not as efficient as the elaborate correction in the
original head, but much more DIY friendly.

532 with Envy said:

This is great stuff! Thanks for putting up the videos.


It's really neat to see it go from 808 to 473 like that. :beer:

Click to expand...

No problem :beer: I figured if any of my builds warranted some extra
attention in video and pics, this would be it


*EDIT*

Not nearly as stable as in the original labby, but I still have yet to setup the TEC. Still running
it as 350mA which is not enough. I should be able to keep it above 70mW when controlled properly.

Did a 3min run from a cold start. It seems to favor 22.4 deg C, and performs best. Not 100% on the
temp being correct, was measured with an IR thermometer... you can see the conflict.

^^ Not madness, just fun :san:

To update, im thinking of getting rid of the TEC.. While it does help to stabelize
the output by controlling the crystals at higher power, the 808 is not TEC'd..

By the looks of it, if you control one sections temp and not the other the power drops.
The heat added by the TEC also works against the pump diode in raising the temp.
This also applies to the TEC controller, its adding its own share of heat..

I think for this to be TEC's, I will have to mill out a new head. So first things first
im aiming to get a good laser out of this head, and scratch the TEC for now..
More pics in a bit.

Why not TEC both the diode AND the crystal set? That way you'll be able to control the temps of both of them and thus the output power a little more easily.

Though, I guess then you'll have to deal with the inefficiencies of TWO TEC units instead of just one or even none... The host you're going to put this in is going to end up being relatively chunky anyway, right?

I have to play around with it, the only thing, TEC'ing the 808 would mean is a longer platform.
Of course more power consumption. Im going to see how the same 473 module behaves
when mounted directly to the heatsink.

TEC will give a more stable output, but a lot of power is wasted, and unwanted heat added.
So without making the laser huge, I have to figure out which arrangement will perform
best. Im guessing no TEC will prove to be the better setup.

All I can say :worthy:
Also if any one can pull this off it's you.
i have a B&W rig mysellf. I love 473nm color.

I need your help, I've disassembled the same 473nm module to it's parts and I was unable to get even a single photon of 473nm light using different permutations of "facing" with yag/yvo4 - lbo.

My question would be:
Does both crystals have to be set at some temperature in order to even work? Or maybe is there an OC mirror required to make to work?

n2stuff said:

All I can say :worthy:
Also if any one can pull this off it's you.
i have a B&W rig mysellf. I love 473nm color.

Click to expand...

It was a project / challenge floating in the back of my head for some time..
One of my favorite colours by far. I also have a set of crystals for 589, but
wont be attempting anytime soon.. I have to play around some more with the
easier 473.. 589 I spent 4hrs and not a spec of light.. Mind you the crystal sets
came from non working units.

.3lite said:

I need your help, I've disassembled the same 473nm module to it's parts and I was unable to get even a single photon of 473nm light using different permutations of "facing" with yag/yvo4 - lbo.

My question would be:
Does both crystals have to be set at some temperature in order to even work? Or maybe is there a OC mirror required to make to work?

Click to expand...

Regarding the temp, no.. Did you pull the set from a working labby?
The trick is to get a working set where the crystals are already aligned
and not move anything on the module when pulling it from the labby.

Just break it loose gently.. At this stage all you have to do it get the 808
lined up, and you should get some 473..

How are you guiding the 808 into the back of the module? From what
ive tested, you need an 808, rather a true 808 with FAC, no ebay off spec diodes
and a lens to focus it.

You also have to rotate the diode to find the correct position to enter the YAG (polarize).

Your diode should be rotated 90deg, unlike the original mount in the labby
where it sits upright.

If you were able to get light out of the crystals in the labby, then you're good
its just going to take some playing around with..

If anybody wants one there on feebay.
Fiber-coupled 473 nm blue laser + fluorescence probe | eBay

n2stuff said:

If anybody wants one there on feebay.
Fiber-coupled 473 nm blue laser + fluorescence probe | eBay

Click to expand...

Thanks for the link..

Im starting to think a tutorial thread is in order :thinking: