daguin
0
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2008
- Messages
- 15,989
- Points
- 113
I got a chance to play with the new little pointer that is from BobLaser (the one that Day is running a GB from). My laser was NOT purchased through Day and I must now admit my age. I have deleted the PM's about getting this laser and now I cannot remember the name of the gentleman from Australia that arranged this for me. I apologize. Please jump in and remind everyone that you got this for me at cost so I could review it for you. Thank you for that.
I got the <1mW to see what the lowest output pointer would look like and because in Australia, that is what they are legally restricted to now.
The laser arrived in a nice box with the standard foam cut outs holding the laser and having room for batteries. The postal officials made my supplier remove the batteries before shipping. I plopped in two AAA batteries and sure enough, 1mW of violet light. Now I don't have a picture of 1mW of violet light. It is almost impossible to see. This could only be used in a smaller, dark room as a lecture pointer.
My first picture didn't come out so I "reassembled" the laser loosely for this shot. You can see that the aperture is not pressed in all the way. It was pressed in fine when I got it. It has a large, soft rubber button. The switch was crisp.
The color and shape of the laser looked "strange" but familiar to me. Since this weak amount of light is useless to me, I decided to see if I could get to the guts of the laser and if it could be modified. The laser pulled apart easily at the "ring" exposing the driver complete with potentiometer. There was no glue here. It was just a "snug" friction fit.
I started to turn the pot up when the brightness jumped suddenly and significantly. I stopped at that point to measure the output. It was putting out 100mW!. I put it back together again (It easily presses back together) to see what the spot looked like now. It is bright like 100mW of violet, but the divergence is poor. The spot is about 19mm (.75 inch) at 35 feet. That is unacceptable to me, so I decided to see if I could get it apart enough to focus it. The module pulled out of the front of the housing. It is pressed in. I used a small screwdriver in the aperture to pry the module out. Once the gold portion was free of the housing, it the rest of the module slid out easily.
You can see that the positive path is accomplished via the small red wire that was trapped between the black portion of the module and the housing. The golden aperture cap screws off of the black (plastic) "extender" tube and the extender tube screws off of the module.
The lens will require a spanner to try to turn it. I didn't try it yet. I probably won't reassemble this laser.
Bottom line. It appears that the method used to get these lasers <10mW is that they have the driver turned down so much that the current is below the lasing threshold of the diode. The tube pulled apart easily for "pot modding." The focus sucks. I may play with the diode/driver some more when I have more time, but this should get you started with the BobLaser 405nm pointers
Peace,
dave
I got the <1mW to see what the lowest output pointer would look like and because in Australia, that is what they are legally restricted to now.
The laser arrived in a nice box with the standard foam cut outs holding the laser and having room for batteries. The postal officials made my supplier remove the batteries before shipping. I plopped in two AAA batteries and sure enough, 1mW of violet light. Now I don't have a picture of 1mW of violet light. It is almost impossible to see. This could only be used in a smaller, dark room as a lecture pointer.
My first picture didn't come out so I "reassembled" the laser loosely for this shot. You can see that the aperture is not pressed in all the way. It was pressed in fine when I got it. It has a large, soft rubber button. The switch was crisp.
The color and shape of the laser looked "strange" but familiar to me. Since this weak amount of light is useless to me, I decided to see if I could get to the guts of the laser and if it could be modified. The laser pulled apart easily at the "ring" exposing the driver complete with potentiometer. There was no glue here. It was just a "snug" friction fit.
I started to turn the pot up when the brightness jumped suddenly and significantly. I stopped at that point to measure the output. It was putting out 100mW!. I put it back together again (It easily presses back together) to see what the spot looked like now. It is bright like 100mW of violet, but the divergence is poor. The spot is about 19mm (.75 inch) at 35 feet. That is unacceptable to me, so I decided to see if I could get it apart enough to focus it. The module pulled out of the front of the housing. It is pressed in. I used a small screwdriver in the aperture to pry the module out. Once the gold portion was free of the housing, it the rest of the module slid out easily.
You can see that the positive path is accomplished via the small red wire that was trapped between the black portion of the module and the housing. The golden aperture cap screws off of the black (plastic) "extender" tube and the extender tube screws off of the module.
The lens will require a spanner to try to turn it. I didn't try it yet. I probably won't reassemble this laser.
Bottom line. It appears that the method used to get these lasers <10mW is that they have the driver turned down so much that the current is below the lasing threshold of the diode. The tube pulled apart easily for "pot modding." The focus sucks. I may play with the diode/driver some more when I have more time, but this should get you started with the BobLaser 405nm pointers
Peace,
dave
