First BR!

[tuscarora]

Thanks to a recent GB by BluRay (good job!) I got myself an 803T and got it working. It's all attached to a bench supply at the minute, and sitting in a meredith glass module, but still very cool - first time I've had anything but a red laser. I'm running it at 5.2V @ 109mA.

One thing though, looking at the spot on the wall makes my eyes feel a bit funny.. like I can't focus on it properly or something.

Does anyone else notice this about BRs?

BTW My eyes are definitely ok, I checked by looking at other stuffs - haven't burnt a hole in my retina!

 

[tuscarora]

Yeah.. so.. I read through this forum a bit and see that 405nm light is quite difficult to focus on. Interesting phenomenomonom though!

 

[maxkillz]

yea blu-ray seems fuzzy because it's at the edge of your vision

 

[tuscarora]

I noticed some people said they were having trouble focusing them. Seemed fine to me - although I'm not going for a burner, just a collimated beam. Just used three different distances and a vice to hold it steady and it was fine. Har har, my cat's sitting looking at the dot mystified and frustrated at the minute. Just when he'd dealt with that damn pesky red dot..

 

[nvmextc]

Yes BR looks strange, I had it focused to about 6 inches away, holding it like a lightsaber and from closeup you can see the focus point, 2 feet back and it looks like a solid beam again, lol.
I lock the cats outa my room when anything over 10mW is on.

 

[tuscarora]

Yeah I've got a 5mW red to play with the cat. With the BR I made sure that the beam was pointed so he couldn't look into it (it was sitting in a vice) - I wouldn't feel too smart if I blinded my cat. Still, I might keep the cat away from now on, seems like a good precaution.

 

[randomlugia]

If you're going for a visable beam instead of burning, check out this tutorial. http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1225571544

It doesn't burn as well, but the beam is a lot more visable!