Can anyone ID this laser pointer?

Hello everyone!
I'm kinda new here so please forgive and correct me if i am not following proper etiquette. I've been lurking in these forums for about a month now, but finally got a reason to register and post.

My dad picked this laser up in China for 88¥ and it says its a 300mW, 532nm Class 3 laser, but I was wondering if there is anything else I could find out about it.
I have a couple issues that I would like to resolve.

First, is there a way to focus the laser into a tighter beam?
It currently shows a 4-5mm point at source and at 3m is about 1cm. I can focus it by running it through the eyepiece of my telescope, but it has a very short focus range (~7mm)

Second, are there any tell-tale signs that I could look for to prove that it is at least near the power it says it is?
I can't pop a black balloon, or light a match with the beam with it, but the dot is visible on objects ~1mi away. I can see the beam clearly in dim/dark environments for quite some distance as well.

I assume that the reason that I can not "burn" anything is because the laser is either underpowered or the beam is not at a high enough energy density.

I appreciate any input you may have,
Thanks

I can tell you right now it's not near 300mw.
Sounds like the manufacturer did a terrible job of focusing it. You'll have to take that from cap off. Then with the laser facing you(without batteries) turn the lens assembly counter clockwise a little bit at a time, and test it after doing this every time, or you'll go to far.

its a cheap chinese laser, probably not ir filtered. its what we call "new-wish" style pointers. and im sorry, its probably terribly underpowered. if it cant even pop a balloon, id say its around 30mW. but i could be wrong. about the focus issue, ive never owned one of these style pointers, so im really not sure how to take it apart...ive heard its awfully hard, though. the only way ive seen is a vice and some pliers. but, yes, its underpowered, greatly. sorry:/

If it can't light matches it's definitely not 300mw. My 100mw o-like module will light matches within several feet in seconds. You most likely have <50mw, you could post a video of burning electrical tape and it would give us a better idea. Anyway, your dad paid only 88 yen thats only about one U.S. dollar, wow are you sure?

Ramsey_innovations said:

If it can't light matches it's definitely not 300mw. My 100mw o-like module will light matches within several feet in seconds. You most likely have <50mw, you could post a video of burning electrical tape and it would give us a better idea. Anyway, your dad paid only 88 yen thats only about one U.S. dollar, wow are you sure?

Click to expand...

Sorry i mis-stated myself it was 88RMB (thats yaun) or about $13. I had a decent 90mW laser some years back and used it ignite some fireworks fuses, so I figured that this wasn't near 300mW.

As for the disassembly I'll pull the top off of it and try to get it focused a bit better, maybe make a little guide if you think it would be helpful to anyone. (if I get it working)

I would say its 80-115mW but the reason it cant do those things is because of the focus issue.

Alright I was able to pull the cap off of the laser and revealed the focus assembly. Over a half hour period I attempted to get the beam to tighten up, but was only marginally successful. I was able to take the beam from 1cm at 3.1m to 8mm at the same distance but could not get it any tighter than that.

I removed the focusing assembly and removed the lens from it to examine it closer. It measures 6mm diameter and appears to be plano-convex and made of acrylic.


I was wondering if the limitation that i am seeing when focusing is due to the quality of lens that is being used. There is also a noticeable halo at the target. could this be lessened by implementing a IR filter?

I have a few lenses I have scavenged from some digital cameras that have crapped out and among them I have a 8mm positive meniscus and an 8mm convex.
I tried placing the convex in the focuser, and was able to get it to sit OK in it, but the lens appears to have far too short of a focal length (1.2cm)

In my small collection I also have a 14mm plano-concave lens and a 11mm meniscus. There are other lenses I have hanging about but most are much larger or very thick.
Does anyone have any ideas? I really enjoy messing around with this pointer and would like to get it working as optimally as possible.

I could not get the 'guts' out of the body due to a brass housing being firmly glued in place by what looks to be lock-tite. I really don't want to destroy the body to get at it either, since I may decide to use it for a DIY project later on.

I was messing around with this laser again, and pulled off the adjustable lens and was shining the wide beam at the floor and noticed something odd. There were 2 points of focus! I looked down inside and saw the crappy plastic lens that was hot glued on to the module just above the diode and pulled that sucker out.
WOW! talk about a difference. With no lens on it my focal length is only about 4-5cm, but it focuses down to <1mm now. the beam now tingles my skin when I shine it on there.

The biggest thing i have noticed, though, is that the diode shines VERY off center.
I don't know how evident the offset is, but what i do know is that it no longer shines through the aperture in the protective cap on the host anymore.

Is there a way to straighten this thing out?

Update (7/14):
With No lenses on this thing I am able to pop balloons, cut thin plastic, light black powder, etc. almost instantly. I think that a lot of the problems I was having was due to the laser being so far from parallel with the host. I was able to measure the angle that the laser comes out at 22° from parallel. The only light coming out of the lens was after being bounced around in the collimator's tube.
While I understand that the output is nowhere near the stated 300mw it has, at least, sparked my interest again in lasers enough to attempt to build a 405nm.
Thanks for all your help!

Is there a way to straighten this thing out?

toothpick!!! No reason you couldn't leave it in there..

The Teardown

Ok I finally got impatient, and decided to crack open the host. Although it is now trash it will give me a reason to use this Garrity A300G as a host.


Well here are some pics of the driver, heatsink and diode.



In attempting to remove the module i accidentaly cracked the crystal that produces the green beam. The diode only produces IR it would appear. at any rate I think I will disassemble this module and test out the driver, see what amperage and voltage this thing pushes.