Another DX 200mW review!?

[Petrovski]

My ordered dilda arrived today! I ordered it on 4 may so shipping took an acceptable 16 days. I won't bother you with much details because those can be found in the earlier reviews of the dildas. Suffice to say the laser was shipped in the same brown paper bag and wrapped in the same pink bubble wrap styropyro described. The unit looks and feels rather sturdy, especially for its low price. The wristband is pretty useless, since it's so small I cannot fit my hand through it. The focusing lens isn't loose in any way, but it screws a bit too easy. I'd prefer a little more resistance, but hey what are we talking about here. The battery cap screws just fine, and the on/off switch on the battery cap is very handy.

Now for some burning: like others stated before this unit will burn almost anything. Matches, wood, dark paper for instance are no problem. Just focus the beam and stuff starts to heat up. I'll measure its real power this weekend and post the results here.

 

[thejunkmonger]

My ordered dilda arrived today! I ordered it on 4 may so shipping took an acceptable 16 days. I won't bother you with much details because those can be found in the earlier reviews of the dildas. Suffice to say the laser was shipped in the same brown paper bag and wrapped in the same pink bubble wrap styropyro described. The unit looks and feels rather sturdy, especially for its low price. The wristband is pretty useless, since it's so small I cannot fit my hand through it. The focusing lens isn't loose in any way, but it screws a bit too easy. I'd prefer a little more resistance, but hey what are we talking about here. The battery cap screws just fine, and the on/off switch on the battery cap is very handy.

Now for some burning: like others stated before this unit will burn almost anything. Matches, wood, dark paper for instance are no problem. Just focus the beam and stuff starts to heat up. I'll measure its real power this weekend and post the results here.  

Mine doesn't even have a hole in the cap for a wrist strap and no wrist strap I think they changed these along the way.

 

[Petrovski]

Hehe well after stretching the strap a bit I can now fit my hand through, buy just barely. I'm not sure why you would need a wrist strap on a laser pointer in the first place. I leave it on though, because it stops the laser from rolling off the table.

More interesting is that I measured its power:

I used the attenuator because without it the measured power is out of range. As you can see, it's not even close to 200mw. I'm not going to bitch about it, because the unit only cost less then $60 and still burns very well.

I also applied some teflon tape on the lenscap screwing thread, this makes it more stable.

 

[nikokapo]

good review, is that a LPM attached to a multimeter??



even if it was 120mW it burns a lot of stuff....like my dad's suitcase

 

[Petrovski]

No, the device that looks like a multimeter is the actual power meter. The object that is attached to it with the blue cable is the detector + built in slide attenuator.

And yep, even at 115mW the DX burns like clockwork. The focusing lens of course also helps.

 

[nikokapo]

ohh!! nice

(i'm guessing it's an optic fiber (the blue wire), isnt it?)



i always had some trouble trying to focus it because there's this dilemma of not staring at the dot and the match not lighting

 

[Petrovski]

Nope it's a coaxial cable with BNC connector. There are several detectors for this model power meter.

Not staring at the dot? You don't have goggles?

 

[IgorT]

I used the attenuator because without it the measured power is out of range. As you can see, it's not even close to 200mw. I'm not going to bitch about it, because the unit only cost less then $60 and still burns very well.

What you should do is measure the current, by replacing the tailcap with a DMM in the 20A range.

There is no reason the diode inside shouldn't be able to do 200mW after the lens.
I think you just have the same problem as i had - the voltage of two 3V CR2s is too low for the driver to actually regulate the current.

The components on these drivers would actually require two 3.6V CR2s to do their work, but due to component variances, some can do it with less than that and work with 2x3V, and others can't.


I also measured a very low power, but after reducing the current, putting in two 3.6V CR2s and carefully increasing the current (while measuring it), i got 200mW at 330mA.

 

[Petrovski]

Thanks for the tip IgorT. What you say makes sense, I guess I'll try it.