I still have this ole 50mW greenie I bought a while back.
its been sitting for a while but I fired it up again and the beam has become much more divergent than it used to be, very thick dot (2 inches at 20 feet) and less visible beam. its a "production" laser, not one I made..i can shake the housing and hear a rattle.
What causes this to happen "suddenly". theres not a strange pattern that would indicate a smudge ...somehow it has "unfocused" itself.
Maybe this would be a good first project? swap it into a new housing with better optics?
or could the diode itself be failing
its been sitting for a while but I fired it up again and the beam has become much more divergent than it used to be, very thick dot (2 inches at 20 feet) and less visible beam. its a "production" laser, not one I made..i can shake the housing and hear a rattle.
What causes this to happen "suddenly". theres not a strange pattern that would indicate a smudge ...somehow it has "unfocused" itself.
Maybe this would be a good first project? swap it into a new housing with better optics?
or could the diode itself be failing
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