DIY LPM Pics and Vid

[Trevor]

A 20W head isn't going to be very useful for much under 1W most likely. At least not using a simple op-amp amplifier. And very few of my builds have been over 1W.. I'm not really a MOAR POWER!!1! kind of person.. My favorite build currently is a little 60mW 445nm pen I built last week.

I've demonstrated useful readings at fractions of 1mW with the Ophir 20-C heads we've got. Thermal stabilization and getting rid of air currents is really important though. ><

-Trevor

 

[qumefox]

Well if it is capable of that sensitivity, i'll probably sell my laserbee then if I can get it decently calibrated and find it's fairly linear.. which the datasheet from Ophir says it should be. I just didn't think it'd be that suitable for low power readings which is really the only reason I haven't thrown together an amplifier for it yet.

 

[tsteele93]

A 20W head isn't going to be very useful for much under 1W most likely. At least not using a simple op-amp amplifier. And very few of my builds have been over 1W.. I'm not really a MOAR POWER!!1! kind of person.. My favorite build currently is a little 60mW 445nm pen I built last week.

I'm starting to find that once you get to >50mW with green and blues you have a pretty bright laser. Then I'd trade more watts for smaller, tighter dots.

No, I mean etch the boards yourself I did the same thing, printed out the reverse of my board with thick toner and a glossy surface, pressed it onto some copper clad, etched it, and drilled the holes! The REAL DIY way!

You guys are ALL doing it the easy way. I get my own Fiberglass and epoxy resin and mix it up and lay it out in flat sheets. While I am doing this, it gives time for the copper smelting furnace to come up to temperature. It heats up the house a bit, but if you wanna do it yourself...

Now the tricky part is getting the boards nice and flat, and of course working with molten copper is tough.

But if you REALLY want to do it yourself...

;-)