FS: >110mW PHR, >140mW 4x & >170mW 6x Blu-Rays

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

Oh, there is one thing you all should know about these lasers. They have a tiny driver (13x9mm), that boosts the voltage and constantly adjusts it, to achieve constant current. The driver can give the diode the exact same power down to 2.4V.

Due to the way it works, you would not notice any decrease in power (not even on a meter), until the battery is completelly empty. And since you will be using protected batteries (or at least you should be), the battery will simply shut down at 2.75V.

The laser suddenly shuts down, and the first few times it happened, i got very scared, even tho i should know this..

It'll scare you too, but if the laser suddenly shuts down, just press the switch, to to turn it OFF, and put another battery in. The best thing to do is charge one battery, and use the other.

The switch should be OFF when changing the battery, or your laser will blink ON and OFF, while you're putting the tailcap on. Diodes usually don't like this too much, so you might want to avoid it. There is of course a cap directly on the diode, to soften the blow at power ON/OFF, but it's still better to be safe than sorry.

Sometimes, when i show someone a laser of mine, they first point it around, and then they start blinking it. At that point, i usually want to hit them. ;D

 

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

For those of you receiving disguised lasers!​

When you get your laser, the GITD lens cap will be screwed in place with the laser module! This way, it can't be removed by the customs, and it looks like a stupid toy. It's declared as a "Glow In The Dark LED Light", and for people from Oz, i put an actual LED Flashlight on top.


Anyway, just like the customs, you won't be able to remove the lens cap without unscrewing the module by around 3mm.

For this you need tweezers! Unscrew the head from the body, and look into the head. There are two notches on the side of the module, around the battery contact board. Do not touch the contact board, and don't rip it out please!

You need to SPREAD the tweezers just enough, so they fit in the two notches on each side. Then you hold the tweezers firmly in place, with your fingers close to the flashlight head edge, and turn the head clock wise with your other hand (module goes counter clockwise in relation to the head - you unscrew the module).

Turn it just a little, but not enough for the module to come out. When doing this, make sure, that the GITD lens cap is turning as well! If it's not, help it a little. The module SHOULD NOT open in the midle! Module opening is done in a different way, and i do not recommend doing it it anyway!

When you loosen it a bit, and it comes out by 3mm, you can then pull the GITD lens cap out from the top. Since the module is not pressing it to the edge, it'll just pop out.

Then, just screw the module back into the head firmly, and check on the other side, that the aluminum heatsink is flush with the edge, that kept the GITD lens cap in before.. This is important for heat transfer into the massive host body.


I think i'll make some pictures with these instructions. But i thought i'd explain it here, just in case someone receives it before i manage to do that.



When you have the lens cap out and the module tightly screwed into the head, put everything back together, and put the battery in with the nipple (+) facing the head, and the negative pole (-) facing the tailcap.


The laser is protected from reverse polarity, but the battery isn't. It could get damaged by it. Protected batteries usually commit suicide when shorted - the protection PCB burns out.


Also, when you unscrew the head, don't unscrew the tail cap or vice versa! The body goes together in one direction only. You can't turn the middle around and screw the head and tailcap on. The threads are different.


After the laser is a laser again, and has the battery in, start playing with it and enjoy!


Oh, and please play with the laser for AT LEAST a few days BEFORE trying the Liquid Sky lens! Get used to it first!
The LS lens increases your chances of hitting yourself in the eye by a thousand times!

Also, if you take the regular lens out and put the LS lens in, PLEASE be careful, so you don't screw the lens nut in at an angle! The lens nut plastic threads can get shreaded, and fall into the module, and on the diode window, if you're not careful.

You also don't want garbage in there - dust and whatnot.


Some people like forcing things together, when they don't fit (threads at an angle for example). I hope you're not those people, but better safe than sorry. If it doesn't go COMPLETELLY SMOOTH, you're doing something wrong.

 

[lazerguy]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

Well, Igor, as you know I had some "dust problems" with my laser yesterday. But you know what? I fixed it, and now it is at full power again! ;D I really love it, and I will get up some pics of it in action when night falls. It's pretty much a useless laser in daylight, but when darkness falls, it looks simply gorgeous

Hope everyone else will get their lasers soon, you will all love it!

A weird thing about this color, is that it seems to burn white things almost as good as black ones. For example, it could pop a white balloon, light a whiteheaded match, and burn my white wall. And when the laser is cool, it actually burns better than my 100mw green.

 

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

I'm glad you fixed it man.. You were really making me worried there. I mean, i was almost gonna ask you to send it back! I also feared, you may have blown the diode window away with the compressor, cos you didn't wait for my instructions...

Glad to hear it's all back to normal again! So was it dust on the diode or the shreaded plastic from the lens nut?


Yeah 405nm absorbs in most stuff really well. It burns almost anything! Especially at >100mW.

A 100mW green should burn just as well, but it's not focusable, so the energy density is actually higher here, than even with a 200mW non-focusable green, as long as you focus it right.


EDIT: I haven't even tried this yet, and i did not expect it to work, as white paper fluoresces, and converts the 405nm light into bright blue, but i put my protection glasses on, and focused on a white envelope, and it actually burns it!

It burns everything! Even white insulation tape, any color plastic, wood, everything! I can't believe i haven't tried this before.. I just assumed it wouldn't work.

 

[lazerguy]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

It was dust on the diode... q-tips seems to be really good for lens cleaning! If I walk up close to the dot, I can still see that it isn't completely clean, but it's hardly noticeable, so I don't really care.

How long was the warranty of it? I have forgotten...

When I have played with it for some time, I am getting a little tired in my head, like I have a little headache. i think that it is because my eyes can't focust on it very good in daylight. When I shine it on something with the lights on, I can see a small, white-coloured halo around the dot! But when I am walking up close to the dot, it isn't there anymore. This color is a little mysterious.

But should really a 100mw green burn as well as this one? I though photons at shorter wavelenth carry more energy. Or is the difference just so small that it isn't noticeable?

 

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

It's about energy density. If a 100mW green was focusable, it would burn just as well as this - as long as it gets absorbed at the same rate..

But this strange wavelength absorbs much better in most things! I just hanged a white insulation tape from my table, and cut it untill it just fell down, and there was no weight applied to the roll of tape - the half empty roll was enough! This is with a 153mW blu ray, but 100mW should do it as well!


Oh, and i know very well, what you mean about that halo.. When i first saw it, i could see the beam, where it wasn't, i could see the dot, where it was seconds ago, i saw it everywhere.. At the beginning of this thread i said, that 405nm at this power level is giving me hallucinations.

But you actually get used to it, and then you can see it correctly. It took me like a week or so. Until then, you will keep seeing afterimages an halos and so on..


And with smoke, you would probably see the beam in several places at once as well..

It can actually be confusing enough, to make you think something is wrong with it..

 

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

I just cut a round hole into a white piece of paper!  

I really need to make a video!



P.S. This is much easier to do with proper protection goggles of course.. In fact, you shouldn't even try without. Because you couldn't even see the dot from all the blue light created.

I used my green protection goggles (red color), and they work really well for this. I also tried with the yellow ones, and they work great for blocking 405nm, but not for the fluorescence...

 

[daguin]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

It can actually be confusing enough, to make you think something is wrong with it..

I think that I have fielded this type of question more than any other in the laser field.

"I just got my blu-ray built. I think something is wrong. Maybe I broke it. It's not clean/bright/focused/scatters/ad nauseum."

My answer is almost always the same. "Can you focus it enough to burn something or make it 'sting' your skin?" If the answer to that question is, "yes", then I advise they play with it long enough to get used to the "brave new world" of 405nm. It is unlike any laser they have ever used.

Peace,
dave

 

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

"I just got my blu-ray built.  I think something is wrong.  Maybe I broke it.  It's not clean/bright/focused/scatters/ad nauseum."

Yeah, i know what you mean.. But it's easy, when people blame themselves.. Not when they blame you..

I shipped an AixiZ module with a PHR and my micro driver inside it to the other half of the Slovenian laser hobby yesterday..
Today i got a PM, that something is wrong with the diode or driver, that i shipped.. Supposedly it gets warm, and the beam is not as bright as a DX50, and the dot is too big..  :

I explained how to focus it, and suggested to point it at his skin or lips.. Now the diode is suddenly ok.  ;D

 

[lazerguy]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

Although I actually understand that most people who have never had so much experience with them are believing that something is wrong with it. You have to admit that it looks really strange.

I just discovered, that this thing doesn't sting skin, it BURNS it! I focused it at about 20cm away, and put my arm in the beam for a SHORT period of time, to see if it could sting me. Well, the skin started smoking, and I immediately removed my arm. That was painful, I won't put my arm in the focal point again!
I focused the laser across the house, and pointed it at my mom's leg about 10m away. She thought a wasp or something stung her. ;D

As for eye protection... Sunglasses work very well for this wavelenth, and it is a lot easier to focus the laser when I wear them because I can see the actual dot easier.

 

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

Yeah, sunglasses remove the 405nm glare, but they don't block the fluorescence.. So a white paper is still hard to burn. Unless the sunglasses are also dark of course.. Red protection goggles (for green lasers) block everything other, than the dot itself tho..

It does actually burn skin, yes. I've seen that too. :


And i know it looks strange. I did mention, it was giving me hallucinations at the beginning.. It's easy to get confused into believing something is wrong with it..



BTW, how do you like the laser build otherwise? I am testing the heatsinking with my >150mW now, at 172mA, and it works great even at this power level! The heat takes very long to build up, and then it starts slowly crawling into the flashlight body.. And i have a different model, where the heatsink is smaller, and the body thinner!

So at 125mA (which is what all of you got), you can really leave it on as long as you like.. The heatsink is quite massive, and when the module is closed, it works like a single large thermal mass, hugging the diode from all sides, and pulling the heat down into the body.



Anyway, i'm just glad there is nothing wrong with your laser.. When you told me it happened after switching lenses, i knew it has to be some kind of dirt..

Maybe you created some splinters, when you pulled the back part of the LS lens holder out?


In any case, dust on the diode is not that bad, but you really don't want any plastic there, as it would melt and stick to the diode window. BK7 glass probably wouldn't get damaged from it, but removal attempts could actually damage it then.


Do this:

- Unfocus the beam at the wall, so it's large. Then hold the lens in place, and turn the laser. If there are spots in the beam profile, and they turn with the laser, it's on the diode window.

- Then keep the laser in place, and turn the lens. If the spots turn with the lens, the dirt is on the lens.


Otherwise, q-tips are not the best when it comes to cleaning a diode window. The best thing to do about dirt is not to let it in there in the first place! But if you have to clean it with a q-tip, turn the laser upside down, use a completelly fresh q-tip WITHOUT any cleaning fluids or solvents, GENTLY touch it in the middle of the diode, and turn just a little, while at the same time slowly moving the q-tip away.

Then use a NEW q-tip, if you have to repeat it.


Don't let the q-tip touch the threads inside the module, otherwise fibers get stuck there, and then you have to remove them..


Air would be best for cleaning, and there are air blowers available for cleaning the dust of lensess. You should definitelly not blow with your mouth, or you might end up with spit on the diode window.

Compressors can have garbage, rust, oil or water in them, and from too close and too hard, they could even blow the diode window away.

 

[daguin]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

Yeah, i know what you mean.. But it's easy, when people blame themselves.. Not when they blame you..

I've posted this before, that this was the process is what led me here. I had been selling "cat toys" at shows for awhile. I decided to buy a "blu" laser. When I got it, I was very dissatisfied. My cat toys shined a brighter dot on my wall! (no fluorescence in the paint) When I emailed to complain, the sellers response was, "It is rated less than 5mW" I had to begin research to prove he sold me a piece of crap! I found this place. Since then I have obtained a quality LPM. It seems that my "less than 5mW" laser is actually putting out 11mW!! I still use that laser as a pointer during lecture. I can also now light up the trees and telephone poles more than 100 yards away with my own 405nm builds

Peace,
dave

 

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

Hehe, yeah, aint that cool?


Anyway, your high current experiments made me follow your example, and now i have a 154mW blu ray at 172.5mA!

And i'm already calculating combinations of all the SMD resistors i have, trying to reach as close as possible to 190mA..
At the moment i found the right combination for 189.5mA.. I think that's close enough..


Your 190mA blu ray is still alive, isn't it? I have this highly efficient one in >twenty freak diode, that produces less heat and puts out more power, than others.. I have to try! I can't hold back any longer!

 

[lazerguy]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

So Igor... Is the difference between 100mw and 150mw very noticeable?

 

[daguin]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

So Igor... Is the difference between 100mw and 150mw very noticeable?

Does the sun rise in the East? Does a Brown Bear sh*t in the woods? Is a frog's a** water tight?

Peace,
dave

 

[IgorT]

Re: FS: >90mW Blu-Rays, two models: OPEN

175mW!    


If the increase with the custom lens should only be 15%, this one is gonna do 201mW! If it's 20%, it'll do 210mW!   ;D
I can't believe it! Until a short time ago, my most powerful laser was an 186mW red. Now a PHR diode is going to surpass it!


And the best thing is, the heatsink i made for it just handles the 0.85W of heat! And it's smaller than in the ones i sent out, and the host has thinner walls.

At this current, i actually felt the head getting warm. And then the heat slowly started creeping into the host, down into the body, and then the tailcap. So the heatsink works even on the less massive host i kept for myself.. Next i need to make me another one in the new modular host.. There the heatsinking is much better and the host more massive.