CNI Group Buy.

[micheal rosen]

So Michael, to clarify 200$ for the laser and 90$ split between buyers for shipping, yes?

The lowest they can go is 215, then there's $90 + banking split between everyone who orders. Worst case scenario with 5 people is each laser is $260, but I'm figuring more in the $240-250 range +whatever the shipping is to get from me to you/whoever.

Edit: (I'm going to use "you" to refer to any group buyers) after checking with CNI and wester union, if we get 5 buyers then it should come out to $234.60 per laser, + shipping from me to you (which will vary but it shouldn't be much) + whatever fee the service you use to get the money to me is. Overall, it shouldn't add up to more than $255 for people in the US, all charges and fees included).

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

honestly I was never a fan of these 'low cost' models unless you're going low power...and they IIRC dont work very well above 100mW. the sink is just not big enough to accommodate the load without some help.

 

[micheal rosen]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

honestly I was never a fan of these 'low cost' models unless you're going low power...and they IIRC dont work very well above 100mW. the sink is just not big enough to accommodate the load without some help.

In what way do they not work well? Unstable, short duty cycle etc...

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

Well it's kind of all bundled together... If it's unstable that usually means it's too hot, that means lower lifespan and shorter duty cycle. The last of these that I had ever seen didn't work too well above about 150 mW, but that doesn't necessarily make it about bad laser, but don't expect miracles, that little Block just isn't going to dissipate 3W+ ish of pump power indefinitely.... And that's not even mentioning beam quality. Unfortunately if you want to get that kind of power and have any sort of reasonable beam that can last you're going to need to go with an H model. Which is also not designed to have a perfect Tem00, but at least can dissipate the heat. It's made mostly for people who make projectors and such. Those little low cost modules are mostly intended for low-power stuff, usually that go inside of a machine. The laserglow Hercules has kind of a similar problem.

Don't get me wrong I don't think it's a bad laser model, but know what you're buying. The V model would probably be OK at that power if you don't mind semi poor beam quality, and relatively short run times. I just don't want someone ordering one of these and expecting it to be a full on lab laser at that power, it's not. Unless they've made some kind of serious modification to it in the last five years, but I just don't think so. They're just that - a small simplified component to cut costs. Though I did notice you posted its for the 20% stability after I made that post, but 100mW variation or more in power is lot.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

The MGL style ones which go up to 500mW I believe will give you 100% duty cycle, plus they look darn cool!

Maybe consider that one?

-Alex

 

[micheal rosen]

Well it's kind of all bundled together... If it's unstable that usually means it's too hot, that means lower lifespan and shorter duty cycle. The last of these that I had ever seen didn't work too well about about 150 mW, but that doesn't necessarily make it about bad laser, but don't expect miracles, that little Block just isn't going to dissipate 3W+ ish of pump power indefinitely.... And that's not even mentioning beam quality. Unfortunately if you want to get that kind of power and have any sort of reasonable beam that can last you're going to need to go with an H model. Which is also not designed to have a perfect Tem00, but at least can dissipate the heat. It's made mostly for people who make projectors and such. Those little low cost modules are mostly intended for low-power stuff, usually that go inside of a machine. The laserglow Hercules has kind of a similar problem.

Don't get me wrong I don't think it's a bad laser model, but know what you're buying. The V model would probably be OK at that power if you don't mind semi poor beam quality, and relatively short run times. I just don't want someone ordering one of these and expecting it to be a full on lab laser at that power, it's not. Unless they've made some kind of serious modification to it in the last five years, but I just don't think so. They're just that - a small simplified component to cut costs.

Well, yeah, these lasers are going to have short run times but it's not going to be terrible.

EDIT: nevermind, they have 100% duty cycle because they have active cooling.

The MGL style ones which go up to 500mW I believe will give you 100% duty cycle, plus they look darn cool!

Maybe consider that one?

-Alex

Nah, might be far to expensive. I could check, but I'm going for the lowest cost possible here. Could you contact CNI for me, and ask about it? I'd hate to bother them more.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

If I remember correctly the MGL H's we had for our projectors are about $400-500 and infinitely nicer. Problem is I don't know if they make them anymore.

And no they won't be horrible, especially if you give them a huge heatsink, but you will have to turn them off after a while

 

[micheal rosen]

If I remember correctly the MGL H's we had for our projectors are about $400-500 and infinitely nicer. Problem is I don't know if they make them anymore.

And no they won't be horrible, especially if you give them a huge heatsink, but you will have to turn them off after a while

I can cast large aluminum block heatsinks if people want them, probably for like $10 each, however the goal for these was just low cost, and high power. Nothing fancy, and people should know that.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

I can cast large aluminum block heatsinks if people want them, probably for like $10 each, however the goal for these was just low cost, and high power. Nothing fancy, and people should know that.

True enough. But honestly I'd rather go for a lower power with the better being quality if I'm going to be spending that much money on green, especially if you're going to be doing beam viewing or anything useful with it, as a TEM00 beam will be much easier to see because the beam is uniform.

 

[micheal rosen]

True enough. But honestly I'd rather go for a lower power with the better being quality if I'm going to be spending that much money on green, especially if you're going to be doing beam viewing or anything useful with it, as a TEM00 beam will be much easier to see because the beam is uniform.

I can't imagine it would be difficult to see the beam because of instability,it's a >500mW DPSS with a tight beam. My unstable HL-532 100mW has a beam perfectly visible from the side, and it probably isn't even 100mW.

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

Oh it'll be very visible. Easily. My 5mW of 532 is easily visible in the dark. But I do have two 532 lasers of around half a watt, and the tem00 one is definitely far more bright. I am honestly surprised that they can get even that much from something so small. It's fairly difficult to come up with that much. Honestly I'm kind of interested to see how well one of these holds up compared to the old one that we used to have. The two older ones we had started to get fairly unstable after about 150 mW-ish if run for a good amount of time. DPSS has come along way in 5-10 years.

 

[micheal rosen]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

Oh it'll be very visible. Easily. My 5mW of 532 is easily visible in the dark. But I do have two 532 lasers of around half a watt, and the tem00 one is definitely far more bright. I am honestly surprised that they can get even that much from something so small. It's fairly difficult to come up with that much. Honestly I'm kind of interested to see how well one of these holds up compared to the old one that we used to have. The two older ones we had started to get fairly unstable after about 150 mW-ish. If run for a good amount of time.

If we got 4 buyers it would be closer to $243. Right now I beleive starlight is ready to go, olympus might be (waiting for his response) and I have been ready to go from the start.

Also, there's some good news (everyone!) And some bad news.

Good news is: these units include TEC and a cooling fan, so they are relatively stable and have almost unlimited duty cycle.

Bad news: unexpected new fees will bring the price up to $253.30/pc if we have 3 buyers, so I think I need one more buyers to more evenly distribute the fees. If we got 4, with evenly distributed fees over each buyer, it would bring it down to $243.75/pc

 

[ultimatekaiser]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

If we got 4 buyers it would be closer to $243. Right now I beleive starlight is ready to go, olympus might be (waiting for his response) and I have been ready to go from the start.

Also, there's some good news (everyone!) And some bad news.

Good news is: these units include TEC and a cooling fan, so they are relatively stable and have almost unlimited duty cycle.

Bad news: unexpected new fees will bring the price up to $253.30/pc if we have 3 buyers, so I think I need one more buyers to more evenly distribute the fees. If we got 4, with evenly distributed fees over each buyer, it would bring it down to $243.75/pc

Sounds about right. Last I saw everything was on a single TEC rather than two, so they're not as well stablized but can be fairly consistent until the block gets hot. The fan extends the runtime. Though I thin I remember putting additional cooling on one that helped at one point. $250 ish isn't too bad for .5W of green.

 

[micheal rosen]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

Sounds about right. Last I saw everything was on a single TEC rather than two, so they're not as well stablized but can be fairly consistent until the block gets hot. The fan extends the runtime. Though I thin I remember putting additional cooling on one that helped at one point. $250 ish isn't too bad for .5W of green.

Yeah. Plus, they have a flat bottom so you can easily heat sink them if run time is a problem (which probably wouldnt be a problem, since they were tested for %20 stability over 4 hours, so unless you plan on runing it more than 4 hours it shouldn't be a problem really). Overall, this is a steal for a relatively stable, temperature controlled high power green laser. It's not perfect and amazing, but it's not bad, and it's a great deal.

 

[NightExplorer96]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

Yeah. Plus, they have a flat bottom so you can easily heat sink them if run time is a problem (which probably wouldnt be a problem, since they were tested for %20 stability over 4 hours, so unless you plan on runing it more than 4 hours it shouldn't be a problem really). Overall, this is a steal for a relatively stable, temperature controlled high power green laser. It's not perfect and amazing, but it's not bad, and it's a great deal.

I agree with kaiser. $250 for 500mW's of 532nm in a mini-lab format ain't too bad, and really shows how low the price of DPSS 532nm has become.

Even if you don't manage to get buyers, it might still be a good idea to get yourself one so you can be introduced to the world of labbys

-Alex

 

[micheal rosen]

Re: CNI PGL-V-H-532 500mW GB

I agree with kaiser. $250 for 500mW's of 532nm in a mini-lab format ain't too bad, and really shows how low the price of DPSS 532nm has become.

Even if you don't manage to get buyers, it might still be a good idea to get yourself one so you can be introduced to the world of labbys

-Alex

Yeah. I think starlight is in, not sure about olympus, but either way, if we get one more or not it will be worth it considering it's competitors. Once I get confirmation from starlight and olympus this thing will be off.

EDIT: Olympus had to leave, he already bought enough stuff for the holidays. Well, now if starlight is still in we'll need another buyer or 2.

EDIT 2: starlight left, he got screwed over somewhere else and wants to take a break from the forums.

My phones autocorrect sucks more than my spelling!

ALSO, THE GB HAS CHANGED TO A GENERAL CNI GB.
There is a limit to how many buyers, since i don't want to have too many people and mix things up accidentally.