A nice, very durable, 635nm laser!

[Emc2]

Hello, this message is for those individuals who want a bright red 635nm laser in a very durable housing. I have several of these, they are approx 4mW (not high power by any means) but they are quite bright due to the amount of laser light exiting the aperture. These lasers are designed and made by my friend Howie Glatter and they are for telescope mirror alignment. The beam is not round but bar shaped, 1.5mm x 4mm. He sells them in a 2" and 1 1/4" sizes. I know that many of you (myself included) are on a budget and realize that paying $175 (2") and $140 (1 1/4") is fairly high for a low power laser. But like I said, they are extremely durable and are aligned so precisely so the beam comes out perfectly straight, also the laser module is precisely aligned (within a hundredth of an inch) so it exits directly through the center of the lens. The lens by the way is just over 1/8" in diameter and that allows quite a bit of laser light to exit. I like to carry the 1 1/4" ones with me for ease of use. The 2" model is bulky and heavy, but very nice. I play with these when I don't want to break out the 200mW red.

Here is a photo that I took in my studio, smokey atmosphere is present to show the beam, and the housing of the laser as you can see is made from solid aluminum stock. I'm not sure what brand of laser module he uses, but he makes these in his home in New York. here is a web ling to his site.

Howie Glatter - Laser Collimator

Photo:

They also come in green! On average, the green is 30-40mW.

Feel free to ask me about these lasers, I doubt very many of you will actually be interested, but I though I'd just throw it out there.

Todd

 

[TacoHerder]

holy crap those look cool! :drool: I would totally drop $140 for that laser. What type of driver does it use? also how are they powered?

EDIT: oh ok, i read it runs off a CR123A battery.

 

[Emc2]

holy crap those look cool! :drool: I would totally drop $140 for that laser. What type of driver does it use? also how are they powered?

EDIT: oh ok, i read it runs off a CR123A battery.

Hey TacoHerder,

Yes its a CR123 battery. I am uncertain of the driver, but Howie puts a lot of effort and quality control into these lasers. They even come with a 1mm pinhole attachment which aids in telescope mirror alignment. When this attachment is in use, the spot is round at a distance, without it, the beam spot is elliptical. There is some diffraction radiating from the laser spot, but it is dim and minimal. I took some shots with my iPhone 4s, not the best tool, but the app I used to shoot the photos is called NightCap which allows the camera to work in very low light. So these photos actually look worse that what your own eye will see.


pinhole attachment

bare laser beam