200mW CDS Laser Repair pics + Matchlight

I recently got the lasers I bought from Yobresal and originally this laser would only output a stable power of around 65mW in a nasty TEM20, I ran some diagnostics and everything on the controller board was working fine, but the thermoelectric cooling didn't seem to be operational. Unfortunately to repair the TEC I had to pretty much take the whole optical assembly apart, then heat the metal plates with my MAPP torch so I could chip the broken TEC off with a chisel

Put in a new TEC I cut from a larger one, put the optical train back together and began working on the crystals - after about two days of tweaking I got the power output up to the original spec of 200mW and unshifted it back to a nice TEM00. After my repairs the original housing wasn't working very well so I mounted it inside a basic Radioshack project enclosure.

Unit without cover
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Finished Unit
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Lighting some Matches
[media width=425]http://www.youtube.com/v/Ocw1niqWOnE&hl=en[/media]

Great job.

What is this TEM20? I can't find anything using google.

Think he meant TEM02.

Holy Crap You have got that laser working way better than I expected it ever could. Nice job. I'll bet that was the best $50 you have ever spent on lasers huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Hermite-gaussian.png

pic showing TEM20

"Holy Crap Shocked You have got that laser working way better than I expected it ever could. Nice job. I'll bet that was the best $50 you have ever spent on lasers huh? Smiley"

it sure was was pretty nerve wracking trying not to destroy it in the process

Forgot some other pics I took -

200mW spirograph
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My green laser collection ;D
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That's totally sweet how you got that thing working. Nice pics too!

a few more pics (loving the high powered green)

beam from my window (it is about this bright in real life - no fog)
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Beam from a block away (it hit two trees along the way hence the bad looking beam)
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End of the beam (not quite that visible but it was very noticeable)
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Those are some nice pics Is it really THAT bright?

all of the camera bloom (white areas) does not show up like that but the beam even though at the end was almost a foot in diameter was still visible

Very nice job dude, I can't believe you spent two days aligning the crystals, I didn't know it was that hard.   Hats off to you man.

very good work...damn...tem20...i have one red cheapo in tem20...it is not cool

nice job, i'd have stabbed myself in the eye if i had to repair a laser when the repair involves moving crystals...



still working on my spirograph

nikokapo said:

very good work...damn...tem20...i have one red cheapo in tem20...it is not cool

nice job, i'd have stabbed myself in the eye if i had to repair a laser when the repair involves moving crystals...



still working on my spirograph

Click to expand...

reds dont go to tem02