broken laser :( what to do!

[RA_pierce]

Wait, your laser still have the expander lens intact, right ?

I mean, you're talking about the front lens, but the expander (the little negative lens just in front of the crystal assembly) is still intact and in the correct place, right ?

And about the FL of your lens, you can see it, also approximatively ..... try to focus the image of a lamp (distant some meters from the lens) on a white wall ..... when you get the image of the lamp focused on the wall, the distance from the lens and the wall is approximatively the FL of this lens.

The expander lens should be build into the module and not exposed when the head is removed.
Also, if the expander lens was removed the beam would be more collimated, so if the output diverges a lot, the expander lens must be there.

ReaperZ, what lens are you using?
If I may make a suggestion... If cleaning the original lens (carefully) does not help, you can try looking for another lens.
If you have any GGW blu-ray sleds lying around there is an assortment of AR coated lenses inside. I've found that a couple collimate the green output very well. Also, the AR coating for 405 does a pretty good job passing green.
You can always give that a shot if you don't have any other source of spare lenses (if cleaning the original doesn't help).

 

[HIMNL9]

With "cleaning the original", i suppose the original lens is not damaged, but simply dirt from glue, right ?

If so, and ofcourse if the lens is made in glass, you can easily take away all the glue, also if superglue, with acetone ..... just put the lens in acetone (in a glass container), and left it there for all the time you want ..... acetone don't ruin AR coating, but take care of all the glues, with enough time