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FrozenGate by Avery

520 Diodes & Crooked Output?

FiveTwentyThreeHundredmW

FiveTwentyThreeHundredmW

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I have a SciFi 501B 520, using the PL520 (OSRAM?) diode. The output coming straight from the diode is very angled. With the lens the beam is of course crooked as well. It's bad...the laser otherwise is amazing quality. I own a SF 501B 1.6W 445. Perfect laser.

Talked to a few people who both said 520 diodes naturally have crooked output? As well as artifacts when focused to infinity. I know the divergence and dot are not as good as DPSS, but what about crooked output? Are we only talking about Osram? And only the PL520?

I really want to get into 520s for the visibility and straight-diode stability. But crooked beams ruin lasers for me. Anyone else hear about this?

Are your 520's crooked? I am looking at a Skylasers HL 520 150mW

Thanks :beer:
 





send the 501b 520nm back/ return it for repair or replacement and request a good one---there no reason the beam has to be crooked
 
weird, my HL 520 is not crooked... but can u take a pic and show it ? hard to tell just from text how it looks.
 
Shouldn't be crooked. Never heard of that. Sounds to me as though the diode wasn't pressed in straight.
 
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Depends how much. Some don't realize that there is always some angle but maybe very slight on pretty much all modules. This is why the mounts in light show projectors and the like have adjustable mounts. Most the time it is very slight and in a pointer you would not notice it unless you put it on a table rolled it and observed the spot moving up and down on the wall.

How bad is the angel that is coming out of the module. Also does it change as you turn the lens? If it does then it is mostly in the lens if it stays the same angel when you turn the lens it is mostly in the module.
 
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I have noticed a very slight offset in a lot of my units and I just try not to think about it but I don't remember hearing that 520nm is off any more than any other diode. As DTR said it's normally very slight and I just thought I was more sensitive to seeing it because I've built so many. I inspect my lenses and make sure they are tight after I got one that fell apart on me a long time ago. Do what DTR said.
 
I actually had sold the laser to a friend a month or so ago (who knows safety and didn't mind the crooked beam). I've attached a photo of what it was like. Definitely was way noticeable, and to the point where it's hard to even aim at far away things.

I don't normally throw peoples names around but both Eitan and Blord said 520 diodes can have crooked output. Maybe they were referring to angled beams in general, but I was specific in asking about the diode itself (no lens) and 520.

When removing the lens, the diode looked flush/flat against the module backing. The light coming directly out of the diode itself was crooked. And crooked still when attaching lens. I wish I had taken some photos. I'm thinking bad diode.
 
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Thanks for all your help so far. Higher-power green lasers and I are not working out- :confused: my first two both had super crooked beams, and last month I got a SKYLASERS HL 532 300mW which ended up only peaking about 150mW. Anyone have experience with SKYLASERS returns? Their warranty info is buried deep on some random page I only saw once. Can't find it now but I remember DPSS is 6 months.

Only company that hasn't burned me on greens so far is LaserPointerPro. Go figure. Their $10 "100mW" AAA pen pointers have a sturdy host, thin beam, clean lens and tiny intense clean dot, rarely mode hop, and easily take a 10440 at 4.2V. And the free shipping never took more than 3 weeks. :beer: ha.

Thanks again
 
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