Found really cool, cheap optical assemblies if anyone wants one!!

[Britishkid]

Hey guys so in a surplus store I recently discovered I found a whole box of these optical assemblies for crazy cheap. Perhaps somebody could help analyze it and help me decide what to do with it. Given the quality of the diode holders and the optics it might be worth the $15 just to salvage the parts.

There are literally sacks of these in that amazing store so if anyone wants any I would be happy to go and get some to ship to you if you could reimburse me the cost+shipping.

To be clear THESE ARE CURRENTLY $20 Unless the supply changes but I will update with any changes

EDIT: In addition to the original 6 that I bought it turns out that there are only 3 more and since it's not black friday anymore they are back to $20

Claimed so far:
1st six:
1x Trendkilla254 - reimbursed and shipped
2x 10fenny - Paid, shipped
1x 94Z28 - paid, shipped
2x Hakzaw1 - pending reimbursement and shipping

Provisional dibbs on last 3:
1x icecruncher

2-3x Dr_Evil

THERE MAY BE ONLY A FEW LEFT DEPENDING ON Dr_Evil and Hakzaw1! Call dibbs and ill let you know if anyone drops out

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So i'm not sure but to me it looks like some sort of beam-combining apparatus to make a red:infrared laser. The diode modules are just press fitted into the mounting blocks and are exactly the same size as a standard 9mm aixiz module housing. The optic looks like some sort of dichroic mirror, looks almost brand new and is only held in place with a small set screw so it does appear that we could convert this setup to combine other lasers instead.

another interesting thing I cant fingure out is that if you can look carefully you can see that theres a photo diode in that housing where the beam exits it but facing outwards which makes no sense to me except perhaps to detect if the mirror at the other end is reflecting the light straght back.
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Now this is a first-surface mirror mounted to a uniphase(I think?) stepper motor with five leads + common which I would love to get control of somehow. Does anyone know how to do this?

I even got pics of the documentation for the infrared diode!!

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What I find strange about the diode is when I started thinking about a driver I noticed it runs off a really strange voltage. Does anyone know whats up with that?

This shop also had a ton of discounted bulk optics!! Heres a pic of the things I got.

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They weren't all in good condition although some stuff was brand newstillwiththefilmonnew. Now I think these are dichroic lenses but I cant prove it as I currently dont have a working laser of any color except my 1.6 watt handheld 445nm lol. in testing all but the last one completely reflected the blue which I took as suggestive that they might selectively block different wavelengths. I noticed they also had different colored hues on the lenses when I look through them

What do you think?

 

[Dr_Evil]

Looks like some sort of scanner. Could be for barcodes or part of a sensor system for detecting objects.I'll take 2 to 4 of them depending on the cost.

 

[94Z28]

I'd be in for one, pm me price if available.. the combining ones.

Also, get you an Arduino Uno to control the stepper motor they work great and easy to code..

Good find!

 

[Britishkid]

hmm, and you think it scans by reading the reflecton back to the photodiode? I think that makes sense in a way...

good idea on the arduino and I actually already have one! Dont you need a lot of power to run steppers though? I would be surprised if the board could drive one although im sure that control shouldnt be a problem...

As for the cost, I think i'm just going to go down there a try to get like, a sack of them on black friday to get the price down further . In the end perhaps I could just get them all and scrap them to sell the parts although this was kind of my goodwill offering to the community more than anything else so making money wasnt the original intent

 

[Britishkid]

pm'd you both. I dont ship things very often so I have no idea how i'm going to do that or how much it might cost. these things about a foot long but are surprisingly light. They do come in that hard plastic shell and a big antistatic bag so i'm not very worried about things getting broken at least.

The units themselves will probably only be about ten bucks each on black friday but i'm going to give them a call and ask. Accurate counts would be nice.

 

[diachi]

Regarding the voltage of the IR diode - nothing weird about that at all. That's the typical voltage of an IR diode around those wavelengths.

 

[Britishkid]

oh really? i've never really read up on IR diodes I just assumed they would be around the same as the shorter wavelengths...I suppose it would only take a very small driver then. Are they easy to come by and do you know any to recommend?

 

[Dr_Evil]

How tall are they? I bet 3 to 4 of them could fit inside one of these.

https://store.usps.com/store/browse...egoryId=flat-rate-shipping&productId=P_O_FRB2

Shipping would be 13.45 each. Due to the size, that might be the cheapest way when sending 3 to 4 of them. I've tried sending stuff before that was large but lightweight. Shipping was still higher in my own box due to the size of the item.

 

[diachi]

oh really? i've never really read up on IR diodes I just assumed they would be around the same as the shorter wavelengths...I suppose it would only take a very small driver then. Are they easy to come by and do you know any to recommend?

The voltage doesn't affect the size of the driver, at least not at the voltage ranges we deal with. An LM317 should be able to go that low just fine if you want to DIY. Lots of other options out there too, as long as they can cover that voltage/current range they are fine.

 

[Britishkid]

OK I just went and actually measured it. 2 3/8" x 5 2/8" x 10" and I would say at a guess that it weighs less than 2lbs (amazingly, I do not own scales of any sort!). So i'm afraid it wont fit that box but perhaps there are others which are a bit more square?

 

[Britishkid]

The voltage doesn't affect the size of the driver, at least not at the voltage ranges we deal with. An LM317 should be able to go that low just fine if you want to DIY. Lots of other options out there too, as long as they can cover that voltage/current range they are fine.

interesting. So if I were to get a driver that was rated for higher it would only provide as much current as the diode pulls?

 

[diachi]

interesting. So if I were to get a driver that was rated for higher it would only provide as much current as the diode pulls?

Rated and set current are different things. It'd provide as much current to the diode as it's set to provide.

Laser diodes generally want a current regulated supply, not a voltage regulated supply.

What that means is that a current regulated driver will adjust the output voltage until the set current is reached. So if the set current is higher than what the diode is rated for, the driver will ramp up the voltage until that current is reached - often killing the diode. So if you set the current correctly, the driver will provide whatever voltage is needed for that current to be drawn.

Is that making sense?

 

[Britishkid]

Rated and set current are different things. It'd provide as much current to the diode as it's set to provide.

Laser diodes generally want a current regulated supply, not a voltage regulated supply.

What that means is that a current regulated driver will adjust the output voltage until the set current is reached. So if the set current is higher than what the diode is rated for, the driver will ramp up the voltage until that current is reached - often killing the diode. So if you set the current correctly, the driver will provide whatever voltage is needed for that current to be drawn.

Is that making sense?

Ahhhhhhhhhhh yes much more concise than many posts ive seen on the topic *cringe*. I finally understand!!

Thanks!

 

[10fenny]

I'd prolly be down for one.. Portland eh? I will be returning there soon.. I used to live in sellwood

 

[Britishkid]

Yeah man its in hillsboro you HAVE to go. Im confident that you will at least salivate + possibly experience bladder failure. Its massive. They have several boxes of working 660nm-ish HeNe tubes, an entire wall of mysterious optics and a bin of suplus 1-50mw 660nm coherent diode modules worth probably hundreds. Ill be taking pics next time i go to share the bounty

 

[Britishkid]

Ok I was able to get a bunch of them today so you guys can take them if you want them or if nobody else wants them i might put in the effort and try to part them out. I havent heard back from those I pm'd so if they dont message me in the next 24-48hrs then they are free game.

Im honestly quite surprised by the lack of interest in these but no matter. When i post the coherent modules (i believe the stingray model, fan version but can be changed to line) with Built in driver, flicky power switch and on/off led i bet people will be more interested.��

I've also had the idea that if you arent that bothered about keeping the mirror and servo assembly at the end intact then i could just cut the plate down to just the beam combining assembly which would save on shipping.