Care and feeding of your Arctic beast

ZapU said:

Did you try heating it? The lens is glass and the cap and retainer are metal, should tolerate quite a bit of heat. I would use a propane torch, or an oven.

If all else fails, you could drill out the lens with a tile bit or break it out. :gun:

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Of course! I should have thought of that.
I'll let you know what happens!
Thanks!
Mu

Great guide!!

Thanks a lot ZapU

btw I just got my G2 and it came with red colored(full red) sanyo batteries.

And there are no instructions on how long to leave the battery in the charger etc.

I checked and there also doesn't seem to be any excess thermal compound around the insides!

I only have two lenses, the training and the full power one. Any other mods I need to try out!?(mine is a smartswitch equipped G2)

Thanks


I got Sanyo UR18650A battery with my arctic! here's a link - http://www.ecvv.com/product/2451361.html

Is this safe? or can it explode too?

sohail99 said:

Great guide!!

Thanks a lot ZapU

btw I just got my G2 and it came with red colored(full red) sanyo batteries.

And there are no instructions on how long to leave the battery in the charger etc.

I checked and there also doesn't seem to be any excess thermal compound around the insides!

I only have two lenses, the training and the full power one. Any other mods I need to try out!?(mine is a smartswitch equipped G2)

Thanks


I got Sanyo UR18650A battery with my arctic! here's a link - China Sanyo UR18650A 2250mAh 3.6V Lithium-ion Battery 18650 cells, 18650 cell;18650 Li-ion Battery manufacturer

Is this safe? or can it explode too?

Click to expand...

Glad to hear your G2 checks out OK. It hope to do a review on a G2 as soon as I get mine.

I pretty well covered all the mods you can do in the review.
If you aren't afraid of scraping off the glue around the lens, having the ability to focus gives the Arctic incredible burning power.

The battery is a quality battery and is as safe as any unprotected Li-ion can be (the gas in your car is explosive too ). The original charger shuts off when it gets to 4.20V (full charge). To be on the safe side, take out the battery when the light goes green.

Thanks!

btw I too noticed slightly reduced burning power and lack of proper focus!

but since I'm new to the internals of a host, I'm kinda afraid to carry out the focusing mod!:thinking:

Check out this thread -

diy-spyder-s3-arctic-burning-focus-lens-53771

I found an old jeweler's loupe that fits into the front of the screw-on Arctic lens assembly. I don't have to unscrew anything and it sets the focal distance to about 4 inches.

And DON'T FORGET YOUR GOGGLES!

Nice! I'm thinking of modifying the training lens too.

and yea! I got the goggles supplied by WL. I know they are not enough but I've rarely gone to full power!

Saw ZapU's wood burner video in the thread linked by you! Damn that was sweet!

IF YOUR TRAINING LENS IS EPOXIED IN:

I recently received my Arctic and began following the steps in this thread to get my laser up and running to its maximum capability. When I started the process of removing my training lens from its housing, I found that the screw plate holding it in place was epoxied in. I fashioned a tool to fit the threads and attempted to muscle through and unscrew it - but had no such luck.

As some others have tried, I first used an adhesive remover (goo gone, goo away, etc) and soaked the lens housing for 10 hours. This proved unsuccessful in loosening the epoxy, so I moved on to the next idea: heat.

As one other person noted, the lens housing is made of aluminum and the lens itself is glass, meaning it should be able to withstand a relatively high amount of heat. I know what you're thinking: "Crap, i dont have a butane torch!" Fear not, you just need a heat source, like... Your gas burner stove top! I gripped the lens housing with a pair of needle nose pliers, then turned the stove on high, placed the housing in the blue flame and slowly rotated it back and forth to get even heating on all sides of epoxy. After a few minutes of heating and a few unsuccessful attempts at loosening, i noticed the epoxy started to disappear/burn away. After a solid 5 minutes of heating (USE VERY INSULATED MITS/PADS TO HANDLE LENS) I was FINALLY able to unscrew the lens assembly and remove the training lens. Success!

NOTE: there was absolutely no discoloration, flaking, or ANY type of damage (visual or physical) to the lens housing using this heating process.

Best of luck - I'll try to post pics of the methods used and unassembled lens pieces, as well as the tool i made (fashioned on a grinding wheel)

Poultron

I'll second that! I should have posted this earlier. I used a heat gun to break down the epoxy that was in the threads. Worked great! I haven't found a suitable close focus lens that will take it's place, but it's nice to have the training ring to play with!

Good job Poultron, it's good to know heat will do the trick. +1

Sorry to interrupt the on-topic discussion here, but I just wanted to add that every time I read the title of this thread I see "Care and feeding of your arctic breast".

I like to keep the topic up front.

..

y7deluxe said:

Does the O-like 405/445 lens give me the best distance with my laser? If not, which lens gives me the best long distance range for less than $20 and where can I purchase it at?

Also, in the G2 thread, you mentioned the unlimited cap doesn't reduce the power of the G2 as much as it does the G1. Can I purchase the G2 cap so I don't have to leave it off 24/7 on my G1? If so, where can I purchase it at? Thanks.

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The O-like or the Aixiz lens give you as much distance of any lens you can use.

On my G1, I just use the low power cap with the glass removed. On an old model like yours, it's not glued and it should just unscrew.
I don't know if the standard high power lens comes with the lens kits Wicked sells. It's not worth the hassle.

ZapU: nice post, which I may get the gumption to try out some day if I receive an Arctic.

Your tools links both go to the home-page now -- they no longer sell the tools, or they moved them?

Also, did not ever try jayrob's 445 lens as opposed to the 405? My guess as to why your burn-test was 6-8 secs is the 405 lens is not passing 445nm as much as 405nm light.

Bobby said:

ZapU: nice post, which I may get the gumption to try out some day if I receive an Arctic.

Your tools links both go to the home-page now -- they no longer sell the tools, or they moved them?

Also, did not ever try jayrob's 445 lens as opposed to the 405? My guess as to why your burn-test was 6-8 secs is the 405 lens is not passing 445nm as much as 405nm light.

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Just click on Microtek's "browse all" link. It's on the first page.

I will update the burning test info, I thought I had already. I was able to focus the Jayrob properly and get ~2 sec burns with it. You have to wrap it several times with Teflon tape to get it to hold steady. It's a very narrow range of adjustment.

I don't think jayrob sells a 445 single element lens. The 445 is made by Aixiz.

Enjoy your Arctic!

:lasergun:

Sorry -- thought I'd seen him reference one ...

The links look like they are working now, so maybe it was not your side, maybe theirs ... :thinking: