Coldshadows Warnlaser 473nm laser!

Just couldn't pass up on the opportunity to get myself a handheld blue laser.  Not bluray.. BLUE.  

Now This thing is UGLY.  Huge and ugly.  But ya know when it comes down to lasers, we really are mostly interested in the beam and power.  Coldshadow did do a review on this laser already (Hereand I was impressed overall with most things about this laser.  It is my intention to pull the module from this laser and throw it into a Kryton laser barrel being as it's so ugly. LOL

I tested it with the included battery on my Kenometer and got a rating of 16mw.  Much more than the advertised rating of 5mw.  however given that this was given to coldshadow for free in the hopes of generating revenue it's no suprise they sent him a overrated unit.

I did throw in a Ultrafire 2400mah 18650 and got a peak of 23mw.  I'll be using these from now on hehe.  

Now with the idea that it's just got a typical module in it like a green I proceeded to start taking it apart.  Much to my dismay, Warnlasers uses a full tube of thermal glue in each laser.  They use it to hold everything in place and it's pathetic to be honest.
The laser still works when it's screwed back together but clearly you can see in the picture that there was soo much thermal glue that it ended up breaking the epoxy on the last focusing lens.  It's not that big of a deal and I know that once I remove all that damn glue, I can epoxy the last lens assembly back into place.  It just makes things more difficult.

Now to the pictures.




Look at all that damn glue. Sheesh.


this one is a comparision beside a 100mw bluray on the right.  blue is on the left.

WOW! You have a Wii!

EDIT: I guess I should make this a little more constructive, eh?

What a nice laser. The price really was a steel for the power it's got. Your kid is awesome as well. He should model for your krytons.

Nah, I havn't got a Wii, my son does.  That and a Modded PS2 (he likes to play SNES games on it)

Update on the Warnlaser.  The internal module after being removed, was 20mm in diameter and the inside diameter of the barrel is 17mm.  Not to mention that the doggon this is waaay longer than what would fit in my Kryton.  soo, this project is a ki-bosh.  It does have a potentiometer on the driver board, and I probably could up the current on this badboy, but am not inclned to do so.  Maybe when I get bored with this laser, I will, but for now it's perfectly fine as it is.  Now you've gotten to see the inside of a Warnlaser 5mw blue.

Pretty pathetic. covered entirely in glue, and uses tinfoil as the connection between the module and the barrel. I mean C'MON TINFOIL!?!?! I replaced that with a copper shim.

Tin Foil!!! Man, talk about cutting down on material quality to save a few cents...Doesnt look very nicely made on the inside either....

Well, it isn't nice, but as long as it works I suppose it doesn't really matter whats inside.

When you consider that it would be considered a "professionally built" laser I find it appalling, Almost any amature builder on this forum would do a better job than that.

Regards rog8811

crudd i was sending pm's for this laser but i guesss it was out of my range

Wtf sucks, you cant transfrr to kryton

Geneticz said:

Tin Foil!!!  Man, talk about cutting down on material quality to save a few cents...Doesnt look very nicely made on the inside either....

Click to expand...

Foil is often used when the "fit" is less than "pressed" tight.

That being said. If you need that much thermal glue to hold it in place, it doesn't fit

Peace,
dave

Ken, what part of the module is 20mm? Is it just where the foil is? Because if so, that could probably be trimmed a little.

And your Kryton is at least 18mm to fit an 18650. So it could be bored out a little as well. (some of the threads can be cut down and still allow the tail to screw on.

Anyway, if it were able to fit (diameter wise), you would need to go with an RCR123 instead of an 18650...
Jay

NIce review!  

That blu-ray blue comparison picture looks exactly like one I took, you could check it out the Optotronics blue 35 "sold" link in my sig...

But yeah, that laser looks built pretty shitty.  ;D

Actually Jay, the 20mm is right next to the optics. I've no doubt that it could be "shaved down" overall and in actuality would be better as it would get rid of all the glue that is literally all over the doggone thing. However, I cannot see putting this module in your lathe and spinning it crystals and all. So, there really is no way to reduce the overall diameter of the module without totally dissasembling the unit, removing crystals and lenses, and totally resizing the entire module. Maybe when I get bored with it in 2 weeks!! LOL

Hey Ken, just curious, but when you took the pictures of the warnlaser, did you use ANY smoke, vapor,etc. to make the beam visible ?

the first picture with my son holding the laser is without smoke. Just raw laser beam baby!@!

Its quite bright!

it IS visible at night. Not very visible but is visible.