Cheap but sturdy green laser, 30mW? 'moddable'?

[Nyla]

Hi everyone.

I bought this laser yesterday in a store selling all sorts of lights, led stuff and a few lasers. Even in the light or partial shade you can see the beam, in the dark it's really awesome. It was sold to me as 30mW, but considering even the 15mW one from WL can burn through stuff, and this one doesn't even get anything even slightly warm, i'm doubting it is 30mW. I bought it for HK$320, which is about $41 USD.

Being the impatient noob I am, i decided I wanted it open to see if I could easily mod it. Though, the whole laser part (the other part is the battery holder which screws off) is made from one piece of thick metal (at least 1.5mm) and so I couldn't screw off the end where the laser should be. The other end didn't budge at all either, so I decided to saw off the end. After that I found a little lens on the end of 1cm of black tube that i could screw out. If you look into the lens slightly from an angle it's purple (is this maybe the IR filter?). Under that was a thing with a plastic/glass circle on top with a tiny green speck in the middle. I couldn't get this out in any way (I still wonder how they got it in), until i sawed off another part of the other end of the case. I have it out now, but it's all glued together very very well with a completely transparent adhesive.

Under the flat clear cylinder shaped lens thing with the green speck in it is what seems to be a small whitish tube covered in what seems to be some kind of white thermal paste.

Now, when I took out the PCB (there was really no other way of doing this, the pen is constructed in a way that it can never be taken apart), I ended up pulling out the 3 pins from the diode. I probably can't get these back in, but I'll show you the pcb anyway. The left side is borked up from where I put force on it to pull it out.

My question to you is: does this seem like a 30mW laser to you? Could it have been modded if it were possible to take it apart without destroying it? How come it couldn't burn anything? What's the quality of this laser like, on a scale of 0=china shit, 5=WL, 10=really good stuff

Here's all the pics. The warning label on the pen itself says Class III, output <30mW, 532nm +/- 10.

 

[Nyla]

Re: Cheap but sturdy green laser, 30mW? 'moddable'

Sorry, pictures aren't working and I cant post links either. Here they are in a zip, i'd really appreciate it if you would take a look.

 

[diachi]

Re: Cheap but sturdy green laser, 30mW? 'moddable'

Hi everyone.

I bought this laser yesterday in a store selling all sorts of lights, led stuff and a few lasers. Even in the light or partial shade you can see the beam, in the dark it's really awesome. It was sold to me as 30mW, but considering even the 15mW one from WL can burn through stuff, and this one doesn't even get anything even slightly warm, i'm doubting it is 30mW. I bought it for HK$320, which is about $41 USD.

Being the impatient noob I am, i decided I wanted it open to see if I could easily mod it. Though, the whole laser part (the other part is the battery holder which screws off) is made from one piece of thick metal (at least 1.5mm) and so I couldn't screw off the end where the laser should be. The other end didn't budge at all either, so I decided to saw off the end. After that I found a little lens on the end of 1cm of black tube that i could screw out. If you look into the lens slightly from an angle it's purple (is this maybe the IR filter?). Under that was a thing with a plastic/glass circle on top with a tiny green speck in the middle. I couldn't get this out in any way (I still wonder how they got it in), until i sawed off another part of the other end of the case. I have it out now, but it's all glued together very very well with a completely transparent adhesive.

Under the flat clear cylinder shaped lens thing with the green speck in it is what seems to be a small whitish tube covered in what seems to be some kind of white thermal paste.

Now, when I took out the PCB (there was really no other way of doing this, the pen is constructed in a way that it can never be taken apart), I ended up pulling out the 3 pins from the diode. I probably can't get these back in, but I'll show you the pcb anyway. The left side is borked up from where I put force on it to pull it out.

My question to you is: does this seem like a 30mW laser to you? Could it have been modded if it were possible to take it apart without destroying it? How come it couldn't burn anything? What's the quality of this laser like, on a scale of 0=china shit, 5=WL, 10=really good stuff

Here's all the pics. The warning label on the pen itself says Class III, output <30mW, 532nm +/- 10.

30mW won't burn anything, it might pop a black balloon if your lucky, the 15mW WL laser doesn't burn anything, and I can guarantee that. You need about 50mW before you can burn much. Although if you put a black mark on your skin, and point the 30mW laser at it, it might sting slightly.

Quality I'd say maybe a 7, WL is more like a 0. They sell way underpowered units, the best manufacturers are in china, companies such as CNI, Viasho, and Laser-Wave are all based in china. Companies such as www.novalasers.com and www.dragonlasers.com sell lasers from CNI, and www.optotronics.com sell lasers from Viasho .

I'd say your laser probably was 30mW, but probably not worth while modding, if you want more power you really need to pay for it .

-Adam

 

[Nyla]

Re: Cheap but sturdy green laser, 30mW? 'moddable'

Thanks. The seller also had a 100mW version, but it didn't look much brighter. The spot was brighter, but the beam didn't make much of a difference (at least to the naked eye without actually comparing the two at the same time). How can I test to see if the laser really is 100 real milliwatts before buying it?

You said most good manufacturers are in China, of course they are and I didn't mean to suggest that anything from 'china' is 'shit', but not all manufacturers from China are good there are many overrated, cheap knockoffs from China, as with almost every product nowadays...

 

[diachi]

Re: Cheap but sturdy green laser, 30mW? 'moddable'

Thanks. The seller also had a 100mW version, but it didn't look much brighter. The spot was brighter, but the beam didn't make much of a difference (at least to the naked eye without actually comparing the two at the same time). How can I test to see if the laser really is 100 real milliwatts before buying it?

You said most good manufacturers are in China, of course they are and I didn't mean to suggest that anything from 'china' is 'shit', but not all manufacturers from China are good there are many overrated, cheap knockoffs from China, as with almost every product nowadays...

Well you really need an Laser Power Meter, but if you don't have access to that, bring some matches, 100mW should light a match up pretty quickly.

You'll be needing safety goggles for 100mW, should have them for 30mW as well, but its not vital, aslong as your careful.

Of course, some Chinese manufacturers are great, but there are a lot that aren't good at all.

-Adam