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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

JetLasers 445nm - Focus locked itself

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May 29, 2015
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A few weeks ago, after reading around to find a reasonably priced, trusted manufacturer, I purchased this 445nm 2000mW laser from JetLasers. It arrived yesterday. I did some testing at the lab I work in to check its power and get an idea of the heat it was producing to work out a duty cycle (it's huge and metal, so a few minutes at a time don't seem to be a problem for it). Runs about 2200mW most of the time, 2300mW peak. This was to be expected, judging from a lot of the posts I read here.

Another feature of this laser, which I'm sure is quite common, is an internal focus on the lens end of the device. This functioned fine and serves to produce a very concentrated spot anywhere from ~1" from the lens to infinity. However, today while showing the laser to my girlfriend for the first time in my garage, I turned the focus to its minimum focusing distance (fully CCW), and tried some burning. When I went to adjust it back later to do some beam divergence testing, the focus was locked. I've tried everything to move it. Three people have tried rotating it and all failed. I marred the metal pretty significantly trying to use a wrench (through fabric) on it and it still did not budge.

This can't be a little hiccup, this is to be mechanically built into the laser somehow, but I cannot find any documentation on it, nor can I find anyone else that has ever had this issue. It persists at all orientations and regardless of whether the laser is on or off, safety interlock is engaged or disengaged, or whether the aperture cap is on or off (roommate's suggestion). I emailed JetLasers but haven't heard back from them. I'm at a loss here. I come to you for your ideas and possible recommendations.
 
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I had that similar problem with an early series 2 PL-E however the problem was eliminated in series 3 and PL-E Pro series.
I just kept mine as even with the problem it is so much better than what else is out there---I always could manage to get it unlocked by caerfuly nudging it focus collar while rotating the main body occasionally give it a light tap on the crown or tailcap. just have to watch out not to fully extending the mechanism in either direction.

Who knows maybe yours has a loose screw in the mechanism or whatever.

Have not heard of anyone having that problem in 3 years or so---email Gray at
am sure he will make it right quickly---he is the best of the best at customer services.
 
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He's been responding, he said to try heating it and to just try "more force". I've already used a wrench on it, and nothing should be holding it in place, so I'm hesitant to seriously brute-force it and completely torque the metal or break the internals. The thing is two days old.
 
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Are the threaded parts aluminum? One bad trait of aluminum is that bare metal threads like to lock up. Cool the whole laser down in the fridge to shrink the metal and then heat up the female threads quickly with a heat gun or hair dryer. The female threaded part should heat up and expanded enough to release the locked up threads.
You might want to use leather gloves and one of those rubber grip pads that are used in kitchens to open up jars that have a stuck top.
The only draw back is this might cause condensation build up on the lens because of the rapid temperature change.
Good luck!!
 
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-- yeah- if overtightened these can 'lock' plus any more turing the wrong way wont help at all-its all fairly soft Al.
I mention that because it happened to one of mine- I have several and thought it was one of the fixed focus versions- I would avoid any tools- I have one (someplace) that is apart- so i have seen the internal focus mechanism- (unique BTW-)


the interlock- or being on or off has no bearing-

As far as the dyty/rest cycle- I go by feel- if its warmish on the outside - it must be warm inside etc- once HOT on outside - whoa! - any light putting out 2W is generating a ton of heat and in spite of the overall size NO JL really has a bunch of heatsinking-

also- afaik no chunk of AL can cool down below ambient temp- so if its hot outside- less duty- more rest-

lucky for us
these diodes are some of the most robust ever made. and survive abuse-overheat- ESD better- so -- personally I use a short duty cycles and lots of rest as i have many lasers to play with--ha ha

the parts are glued together- and NOT AT ALL easy to get apart- could do more damage trying to fix- you may want to consider sending it to jayrob- sending it to Gray would be expensive both ways- in the past I have been shipping for others when I have something already going- atm nothing to send. sry.

ask Gray to send you pics of the internal focus- and make sure you are trying to turn it the right way!! being internal you cannot tell-- (only down side I guess)

Len

good luck
 
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I know which direction is the right one because of the location of the buttons and I spent a lot of time manipulating it yesterday while power testing it. I'll just have to try clamping it in the lab tomorrow and maybe using a heat gun on the focusing mechanism to see if it is epoxy or glue or something like he suggested. I just don't know.

EDIT: To answer the previous question, yes all of the external/casing threads appear to be aluminum but I don't think the focusing mechanism is threaded in the same way.
 
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yeah i thnk you are right-
have not looked at it in a few years BUT- IIRC its kinda a slot with a part that moves as the outside turns- but not really threaded-

Jay has experience in dismantling JLs like the Titanium Bs- heat gun-

gl
 

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I know which direction is the right one because of the location of the buttons and I spent a lot of time manipulating it yesterday while power testing it. I'll just have to try clamping it in the lab tomorrow and maybe using a heat gun on the focusing mechanism to see if it is epoxy or glue or something like he suggested. I just don't know.

EDIT: To answer the previous question, yes all of the external/casing threads appear to be aluminum but I don't think the focusing mechanism is threaded in the same way.

Being that it is only 2 days old -- you should have to go through change to have a perfectly functioning example.
I would just ask Gray for a replacement being that youtried everything you could think of to get the focus to work .

Would guess he will pay the shipping for return of the defective PL-E Pro and send you a replacement.
 
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So I've spent a few hours with it at my lab now. I tried pointing a heat gun at the mechanism for a while and turning it - no dice. I don't want to get too overzealous with it because these diodes can be rather sensitive to heat and while the case will provide some shielding, I'd rather err on the side of caution. Also tried clamping it in a vice with some rubber straps right on the focusing mechanism, and got nowhere. Even clamped as far as it will go, the whole body just freely spins in place. Turns out the external body design with three-sided symmetry isn't very helpful for fixing this problem.

I spoke to our lab director and he took me to our resident machine shop and had the guy there look at it. The consensus is basically that without an idea of the internal schematic, it's impossible to know what to try or what to look for. We have a very good six-sided clamp machine that we can use to give it an enormous tug, but we're as likely to completely crush the body as we are to make any progress, and that's definitely a voided warranty. I have emailed Gray asking about these schematics or some kind of insight, and my worry is that the best case scenario here is that I spend $40 to ship it back and wait another few weeks, and worst case they just refuse to take it back or something. Everyone here is telling me this is what I get for buying Chinese, but the only reason I went to JetLasers in the first place is because they seemed to have a good reputation.
 
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The shape of the beam is very distorted now. Sort of a long rectangle, even where it was previously focused to a nice spot (~1in. from the aperture). Not sure what to make of this; perhaps something inside has completely fallen out of alignment, or the focusing lens is at some kind of angle. Perhaps was not fastened down properly.
 

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my worry is that the best case scenario here is that I spend $40 to ship it back and wait another few weeks, and worst case they just refuse to take it back or something. Everyone here is telling me this is what I get for buying Chinese, but the only reason I went to JetLasers in the first place is because they seemed to have a good reputation.

If you have finish playing games with it----

Email Gray at Jetlasers that you would like a replacement and to return the defective unit.

JetLasers normally will pay the shipping for a customer to return a defective laser --they have even been known to pay for the retutnshipping and give a full refund if a customer is simply not happy with a purchase for whatever reasons.
So your "worst" case fears are covered..
PS the only people that make handheld lasers are all in China so everyone there at your place, has no idea of what they are talking about.

If you damaged the unit and ruin it, then there will be no warranty because of abuse but even so JetLasers wants happy customers and will go the distance to make things right usually.

It is all very simple--there never was any reason to not just ask for a relpacement and to return the laser you have via method JetLasers asks you to use and to address they give you to send it to. You did not have to do anything but inform JetLasers that the focus mechanism locked up and is defective/ faulty.
 
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Well if it was a simple fix there would be no reason to inconvenience JetLasers with an enormous shipping cost, so I wanted to be thorough. Simply demanding a replacement with no effort on my part seems a bit rude. I have already routinely been in contact with JetLasers and we have already arranged for a replacement part to be sent to me. I'm very satisfied, but I wanted to explore multiple avenues. Surely you understand wanting to care for something worth nearly $300, and most peoples' experiences with buying from China is shaky at best. I'm happy to report that this community's trust in JetLasers seems to be - at least so far - very well-earned, and if they follow through and do cover everything both ways for me I will be more than happy to make another purchase through them to show my appreciation.
 

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Understand the frustration as it's new, wasn't cheap and you expected it to work (and not so cool when it fails in front of your girl). I may not own any Jetlasers but most everything I've heard is great. Hang in there.
 

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Well if it was a simple fix there would be no reason to inconvenience JetLasers with an enormous shipping cost, so I wanted to be thorough. Simply demanding a replacement with no effort on my part seems a bit rude. I have already routinely been in contact with JetLasers and we have already arranged for a replacement part to be sent to me. I'm very satisfied, but I wanted to explore multiple avenues. Surely you understand wanting to care for something worth nearly $300, and most peoples' experiences with buying from China is shaky at best. I'm happy to report that this community's trust in JetLasers seems to be - at least so far - very well-earned, and if they follow through and do cover everything both ways for me I will be more than happy to make another purchase through them to show my appreciation.

Don't get me wrong--was not saying you were wrong to try a simple fix. I was trying to tell you Jetlasers are the best of the best and will do whatever they need to to have one more happy customer who got something of value for the hard earned money spent. There is no company with more integrity or better customer service out there. The JetLasers guys are all love what they do and are proud of their work and products which are among the very best that exist. They are not just doing time for $s.
 
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OP......" and my worry is that the best case scenario here is that I spend $40 to ship it back and wait another few weeks, and worst case they just refuse to take it back or something./...

waiting will have NO bearing- & there will be no refusal- something inside is fubarred- stop trying- you have done all you can-- I think Gray will tell you to send the front part back to him-

he has addresses just for this-

double bubble wrap it- mark as -'LED light returned defective - value 30$' -- no real need to lots of packing- they are tank tough and its broken anyway- i bet he will take one look- grab a new front and send DHL express 72 hrs to you no worries- he will also prolly offer to PPal you the cost to ship and yeah it would be a nice gesture on your part to pay that $40 - not that for did something wrong-afaik.
send detailed pics to him- never heard of garay asking for 'proof' pics but- send them anyway-- show the spot where its now fixed too-

-- he may just tell you to keep it- and send another front half to you.. he has done that before- it would be clear that you certainly would not scratch it up for no reason-

"


Everyone here is telling me this is what I get for buying Chinese, but the only reason I went to JetLasers in the first place is because they seemed to have a good reputation."

Well about that^^
That may be true in many cases BUT NOT THIS ONE- I ignore the ignorant- they dont know Gray but we do- and there are 'kindnesses' he has done from his own pocket that VERY few of us have EVER done for 'strangers' especailly... at least the the degree he has..

His rep is 100% PLUS!!
hak



 
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A replacement part is already on its way to me. He has said I'll have to send in the part I currently have, which of course makes sense. They may want to take it apart to see what went wrong. Might help them prevent it happening in the future, which would only be good. Also the more time I spend with the JetLasers website the more I want a 532nm TiB...
 




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