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FrozenGate by Avery
50mW aiXiz Green Labby
- Thread starter daguin
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I bought an Axixz 15 mW "DC" lab laser several months ago, then when I saw daguin's post I bought the 50 mW AC unit, Today I proved that both are AC! and they do high output, the first one, (not DC! and marked 50 mW), does 125+ mW and the second does 75+ mW both after a little turn of the pot! At $45 & $70 shipped I am pretty thrilled! BTW the beam quality is very good, tight small dot & TEM 00 on both!
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o0 Big problem, i ordered one of their 50 mw unit at 65 dollar and received it today . Im a little dissapointed, because the max current which flow to the laser diode is 460 ma, the same as my other greenie ! im a bit far from 720 ma !
I compared the power to my 100 mw laser from DX (probably a 70), and the aixiz beam is weaker than the DX one. I will ask Aixiz, plus i have a strange label which show "30 mw".
+ the laser module is not the same as you guy !
idea ?
I compared the power to my 100 mw laser from DX (probably a 70), and the aixiz beam is weaker than the DX one. I will ask Aixiz, plus i have a strange label which show "30 mw".
+ the laser module is not the same as you guy !
idea ?
I placed an order on 19 August, via "Buy It Now" on Ebay. (I bought mine right before I saw mauswiesel's post about receiving a weird/bad/unexpected laser... had I seen mauswiesel's post first, I might not have ordered mine.) I paid within seconds, like I always do. A few minutes later I received an automated email from Aixis/Ebay thanking me for the money, then heard nothing from them for 15 days.
On 3 Sept I sent Aixis a polite note telling them that unlike my previous purchase from them (a 10-pack of modules, also via Ebay) I never received a notice that they were shipping my laser. That day and the next I got a couple of emails from various Maricles, who converged on the "it was back-ordered, but you somehow managed to call the exact second it became available so we're shipping it out tomorrow" story. (Stranger things have happened, I guess, but still the "you slipped through the cracks in our operation" story seems more likely.) To their credit, once they knew there was a problem they jumped right on rectifying it; they shipped on 5 Sept and I got it today, 8 Sept.
My laser is the 'new' type Dave shows in post at the start of this thread. The board is identical to the one he shows in the picture, including the little section where some resistors and transistors are unpopulated, and the interesting bits where a nominal zener diode (ZD2) is populated with a ceramic resistor and where the optoisolator (U2) has the board routed out underneath it.
The laser is listed as 'tunable', and there is a pot on the board. Mine had a sticker over it, but I figure if they advertise it as 'tunable' they can't really bitch if I turn the pot and something melts, so I took the sticker off. The pot was set 9/10ths of the way clockwise, i.e. almost at the maximum. Turning the laser on and turning the pot the rest of the way did not appreciably increase the brightness, but I'm viewing this with an uncalibrated eye so it could have changed a little. Turning the pot the other way brought the brightness down to zero right before the pot reached the end of its counter-clockwise travel.
I don't have an LPM, so I don't know what power it is putting out, or if it is even putting out the nominal 50 they claim (the auction actually says "the power level is variable in the 0-80mw range although we cannot guarantee the exact spread or level"). I'm guessing that someone dialed the pot in to the position it was in when the sticker was applied, so if I assume that was 50ishmW then this particular laser does not have the upper range noted by other buyers. (On the other hand, never having seen a known-quantity 50mW or higher, I have no idea where it is at.)
It doesn't sting the skin, and it is collimated pretty well so I haven't messed with the lens at all... the beam appeared to be less than 2mm for as far as I could shine it indoors, and the spot was so bright (haven't got my goggles yet) that I can't even guess how big it was at 20 feet. It's pretty clearly a nice gaussian though and no mode-hopping was evident.
I need to wire up a permanent power cable and put the electronics in some kind of box; I'm also going to extend the heatsink with a machined fan assembly. Since it's going to be plugged in to the wall anyway, I might even include a small TEC. It doesn't heat up at all right now, but I have the strange feeling that I am going to be pushing this laser farther than its current drive electronics permit.
On 3 Sept I sent Aixis a polite note telling them that unlike my previous purchase from them (a 10-pack of modules, also via Ebay) I never received a notice that they were shipping my laser. That day and the next I got a couple of emails from various Maricles, who converged on the "it was back-ordered, but you somehow managed to call the exact second it became available so we're shipping it out tomorrow" story. (Stranger things have happened, I guess, but still the "you slipped through the cracks in our operation" story seems more likely.) To their credit, once they knew there was a problem they jumped right on rectifying it; they shipped on 5 Sept and I got it today, 8 Sept.
My laser is the 'new' type Dave shows in post at the start of this thread. The board is identical to the one he shows in the picture, including the little section where some resistors and transistors are unpopulated, and the interesting bits where a nominal zener diode (ZD2) is populated with a ceramic resistor and where the optoisolator (U2) has the board routed out underneath it.
The laser is listed as 'tunable', and there is a pot on the board. Mine had a sticker over it, but I figure if they advertise it as 'tunable' they can't really bitch if I turn the pot and something melts, so I took the sticker off. The pot was set 9/10ths of the way clockwise, i.e. almost at the maximum. Turning the laser on and turning the pot the rest of the way did not appreciably increase the brightness, but I'm viewing this with an uncalibrated eye so it could have changed a little. Turning the pot the other way brought the brightness down to zero right before the pot reached the end of its counter-clockwise travel.
I don't have an LPM, so I don't know what power it is putting out, or if it is even putting out the nominal 50 they claim (the auction actually says "the power level is variable in the 0-80mw range although we cannot guarantee the exact spread or level"). I'm guessing that someone dialed the pot in to the position it was in when the sticker was applied, so if I assume that was 50ishmW then this particular laser does not have the upper range noted by other buyers. (On the other hand, never having seen a known-quantity 50mW or higher, I have no idea where it is at.)
It doesn't sting the skin, and it is collimated pretty well so I haven't messed with the lens at all... the beam appeared to be less than 2mm for as far as I could shine it indoors, and the spot was so bright (haven't got my goggles yet) that I can't even guess how big it was at 20 feet. It's pretty clearly a nice gaussian though and no mode-hopping was evident.
I need to wire up a permanent power cable and put the electronics in some kind of box; I'm also going to extend the heatsink with a machined fan assembly. Since it's going to be plugged in to the wall anyway, I might even include a small TEC. It doesn't heat up at all right now, but I have the strange feeling that I am going to be pushing this laser farther than its current drive electronics permit.
WackBag
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I just received the 50 mW unit from Aixiz. It was also a little confusing on their shipping. I received a shipping notice then the next day received another notice saying the shipping was cancelled??? I tried to contact them through their website and Ebay but never received a reply. I paid for it on the 7th of September and received it today the 12th. So I'm not sure what is up with their email and shipping confusion??? However, It was nicely placed into an anti-static envelope and then covered in bubble wrap with styrofoam eggs in the empty space in the box. I hooked it up to power and measured the output using one of Bauer Electronics 140mW LPM's. Without removing the sticker over the pot it measured 115 mW's with a nice TEM00 1.5mm beam. I then removed the sticker and turned the pot full up. The laser begin to modulate (pulse). I then turned it down till the beam was steady. At full strength I measured 130 mW's of power. It is a pretty amazing beam. I think this is a great deal, I can't wait to get it into some type of enclosure. Perhaps something with a small fan. Does anyone have a suggestion of where to purchase a small metal box with a fan and on/off switch?
EDIT: I just got an automated email from Aixiz. It makes sense...the hurricane is causing major problems for their operations. No personal email, phone, power, etc. I hope their company comes out all right!
Email Below...
I apologize for this automated response. Due to hurricane Ike which will directly impact us our operations are shut down until Tuesday.
We expect to lose power, internet, phone and ability to communicate to our customers and ship products. We may also sustain structural damage to our facilities, but we are hoping for the best.
We hope you understand this issue as it is a matter of safety for our staff.
I will personally respond to your inquiries as soon as we can and we have access to the information we need to resolve any issue.
Thank you,
Chuck
Chuck Maricle PhD
AixiZ Service and International
5107 Del Monte Drive
Suite 7
Houston, Texas 77056
USA
EDIT: I just got an automated email from Aixiz. It makes sense...the hurricane is causing major problems for their operations. No personal email, phone, power, etc. I hope their company comes out all right!
Email Below...
I apologize for this automated response. Due to hurricane Ike which will directly impact us our operations are shut down until Tuesday.
We expect to lose power, internet, phone and ability to communicate to our customers and ship products. We may also sustain structural damage to our facilities, but we are hoping for the best.
We hope you understand this issue as it is a matter of safety for our staff.
I will personally respond to your inquiries as soon as we can and we have access to the information we need to resolve any issue.
Thank you,
Chuck
Chuck Maricle PhD
AixiZ Service and International
5107 Del Monte Drive
Suite 7
Houston, Texas 77056
USA
P
pgstl07
Guest
These lasers are NOT IR filtered in the standard sense, however they do not leak IR in the same way cheap green laser pointers do. This is due to the construction of the modules which only allow IR to pass directly through the crystals. This means that the IR is contained entirely within the beam. In order to stay safe, you only need avoid direct exposure to the beam itself, which you should do anyway. If you measure the output of these modules on most power meters the reading will be for both green and IR output. I'm not sure about the ratio, but I believe that the green output is dominant. One person on this forum stated that after running the beam through a dichroic element to sparate the green from the IR they only lost 4mw of output. What this means is that only 4mw was IR, the rest green.
The time to be concerned about IR is when it is not confined into the output beam (as often occurs with cheap green laser pointers). If stray IR is emitted from the output lens in any other fashion, you could get hit with a stray beam and not even know it until it's too late. This is due to the fact that IR is invisible, and will not provoke a blink reflex.
Also, yes, obtaining an IR blocking filter and placing it externally would be a simple fix if you are concerned about eliminating the IR. You will lose a small amount of total output power, but you would get an almost pure green output.
If you use these modules as they come, without IR filters installed, you may want to make sure your safety glasses are rated for BOTH 1064nm and 532nm.
Personally, I don't consider the IR emissions from these modules to be a huge problem, since they are well controlled and confined to the beam. This greatly reduces the danger involved, and for the price... why complain?
The time to be concerned about IR is when it is not confined into the output beam (as often occurs with cheap green laser pointers). If stray IR is emitted from the output lens in any other fashion, you could get hit with a stray beam and not even know it until it's too late. This is due to the fact that IR is invisible, and will not provoke a blink reflex.
Also, yes, obtaining an IR blocking filter and placing it externally would be a simple fix if you are concerned about eliminating the IR. You will lose a small amount of total output power, but you would get an almost pure green output.
If you use these modules as they come, without IR filters installed, you may want to make sure your safety glasses are rated for BOTH 1064nm and 532nm.
Personally, I don't consider the IR emissions from these modules to be a huge problem, since they are well controlled and confined to the beam. This greatly reduces the danger involved, and for the price... why complain?
P
pgstl07
Guest
After mounting a 2mm thick Schott BG38 IR filter in the beam path, I've noticed a negligible and almost undetectable drop in output. Since I don't own a power meter, I base this observation on the fact that even after filtering out all residual IR, the beam is still powerful enough to pop balloons and cut electrical tape just as fast as before IR filtering. Any losses that have occurred could be attributed to beam reflections bouncing off the incident side of the IR filter.
The bottom line:
The IR output of these units is negligible. I would estimate somewhere on the order of 3-5mw of IR is emitted without an IR filter installed. While this is more IR output than can be found on much more expensive lasers, it is such a small amount that an IR filter is optional. A direct hit with 3-5mw of collimated IR could be dangerous, but the only place that you'll find any collimated IR from these units is in the output beam itself. Needless to say, if you happen to take a direct hit from the main output beam from these modules, you'll have a lot more to worry about from the green output rather than IR.
After some rather extensive testing, including almost a month of continuous operation, I've come to the conclusion that these modules are an excellent deal. The unit I have tested has had no problems despite being powered on for 3 1/2 weeks non-stop. It did mode-hop twice, but I've determined this to be caused by poor driver circuitry resulting in a briefly underpowered diode (a transformer on the board seems to be the culprit). Also, fan cooling is required on the driver board, since the main power transistor (heatsinked) runs much too hot. The actual laser head itself has performed flawlessly. I would say that the driver boards included with these modules are not the best quality, so if you end up with a bad one, you can power the module with a different type of laser diode driver. An LM317 driver would work well,for example.
All told , for around $70 incl. shipping, you can't go wrong with these units.
The bottom line:
The IR output of these units is negligible. I would estimate somewhere on the order of 3-5mw of IR is emitted without an IR filter installed. While this is more IR output than can be found on much more expensive lasers, it is such a small amount that an IR filter is optional. A direct hit with 3-5mw of collimated IR could be dangerous, but the only place that you'll find any collimated IR from these units is in the output beam itself. Needless to say, if you happen to take a direct hit from the main output beam from these modules, you'll have a lot more to worry about from the green output rather than IR.
After some rather extensive testing, including almost a month of continuous operation, I've come to the conclusion that these modules are an excellent deal. The unit I have tested has had no problems despite being powered on for 3 1/2 weeks non-stop. It did mode-hop twice, but I've determined this to be caused by poor driver circuitry resulting in a briefly underpowered diode (a transformer on the board seems to be the culprit). Also, fan cooling is required on the driver board, since the main power transistor (heatsinked) runs much too hot. The actual laser head itself has performed flawlessly. I would say that the driver boards included with these modules are not the best quality, so if you end up with a bad one, you can power the module with a different type of laser diode driver. An LM317 driver would work well,for example.
All told , for around $70 incl. shipping, you can't go wrong with these units.
pwnstar
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I know this is an old thread but are there any more of these on ebay? I cant seem to find em
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pwnstar said:
check here:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:VRI&item=120335967802
Kage
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I just ordered one of these yesterday. They have more than 10 left. 
http://cgi.ebay.com/50mw-tunable-53...1606517QQihZ023QQcategoryZ53141QQcmdZViewItem
http://cgi.ebay.com/50mw-tunable-53...1606517QQihZ023QQcategoryZ53141QQcmdZViewItem
I ordered one for me a few days ago. When it gets here (and when and if my snoctony 50mw gets here) I am going to do a comparitive review between the two. It will be especially nice now that I have a decent camera again (canon powershot A590).
-Brett
-Brett
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Brett Miller said:
Just thought I'd show you this: http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1215481487/140. In reply #143 you'll see a picture of a 50mW Aixiz/Snoctony module opened up from the rear. If you take out the two tiny screws holding the back cover on you'll be able to pull out the pump diode. If you look down into the cavity, you'll see a tiny piece of glass (pictured). If you remove this piece of glass you'll notice a substantial increase in output. I'm not even really sure why they put the piece of glass in there (it really doesn't make any sense), but these modules do much better without it. In the posts immediately before reply #143 you can see more pictures of the open module.
If you're concerned with this modification shortening the lifetime of the laser, I have four of these modules at home. I have made this modification to two of them several months ago and so far they have both run great with absolutely no problem.. This way you can increase the output without adjusting the pot. Adjusting the pot *will* shorten the lifetime of the laser for sure.
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Brett Miller said:
Definitely not a filter.. It's in the wrong place. A filter would be mounted between the crystal set and the output lens, not between the diode and the crystal set. To be honest, no one seems to know why it's there..
Good point...and I should deduced that from the pictures. I would have realized it if I had been the one doing the surjury myself. Hey...I wonder...you you know if the AixiZ 50mw has such a "vestigial" lens?
I got my 50mw Aixis labby in the mail today. See the reviews section.
-Brett
I got my 50mw Aixis labby in the mail today. See the reviews section.
-Brett
ElektroFreak said:
Just thought I'd show you this: http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1215481487/140. In reply #143 you'll see a picture of a 50mW Aixiz/Snoctony module opened up from the rear. If you take out the two tiny screws holding the back cover on you'll be able to pull out the pump diode. If you look down into the cavity, you'll see a tiny piece of glass (pictured). If you remove this piece of glass you'll notice a substantial increase in output. I'm not even really sure why they put the piece of glass in there (it really doesn't make any sense), but these modules do much better without it. In the posts immediately before reply #143 you can see more pictures of the open module.
If you're concerned with this modification shortening the lifetime of the laser, I have four of these modules at home. I have made this modification to two of them several months ago and so far they have both run great with absolutely no problem.. This way you can increase the output without adjusting the pot. Adjusting the pot *will* shorten the lifetime of the laser for sure.[/quote]
Thank you for this tip! I also have one of these modules....will be doing this mod this weekend!
Ted