Low(er) Budget Beam Correction

[LewDude]

This is my first real experience with cydrical lenses - and it's a bit (err a lot-a-bit) rough. But it works, and I thought some of you might get a kick out of it!

The laser pointer is a HL63283HD, 638nm multi-mode RED diode, in an full-copper DTR 9mm module. The host is a C6 from Survival Lasers, and its using the 'standard' copper heatsink sold by them as well. Driver at first was a flexdrive, but I wanted a bit more, so I went with a Survival Laser adjustable driver, set to around 2.2A. The Lens is a G2.

The cylindrical pair was purchased from Techhood/NewGazer a three months ago. (Still has some listed here - link) I got a "red" set and a "blue" set. Per the listing, they look to be 3x.

While I'm currently waiting on a real slick host from Trinh, I went ahead a bought some pre-mounted lenses for that bad boy. So...what was I to do with these cheaper lenses from Techhood....?

Make a CHEAP beam correction "adapter"!!

Balsa wood:
IMAG4926 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

This is used to move the 2nd lens (PCX):
IMAG4927 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

I had some 5-second fix - where the light actually busted apart, so I just used the LED and the power supply:
IMAG4928 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

The lens pair:
IMAG4929 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

After adjusting a bit, I 'locked' down the slider with some tape, and placed the module into some PCV. The tape you see on the laser-end of the PVC is around the inside of the PVC, to make the host/adapter fit more snugly:
IMAG4996 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

IMAG4997 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

IMAG5000 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

The results / BEAM SHOTS up into a tree above my house - it was very wet outside; the beam shots match the construction quality :

Without the corrective pair:

IMAG5003 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

With:

IMAG5005 by Lewie Wilkinson, on Flickr

In the end...it works. I might enjoy this diode a bit more. I'd make things more 'permanent' and cover up the optics chamber to keep dust out.

I hope you didn't laugh too hard!! Thanks for checking it out. It's got me very stoked to get the "community" build host from Trinh!!

 

[Lifetime17]

Hi,
Now thats cool from what you had on hand and basically it works . Good job at backyard correctives ..

Rich

 

[Shotgundrums]

Nice work!! I’ve seen some of those cylinder sets on Techhood and I plan to eventually get to building a corrected MM red. I have an idea on telescoping the lenses. Shouldn’t be too hard with the proper tools. But is quite involved and more than likely would be costly.
SGD :beer:

+Rep

 

[CurtisOliver]

Function over Aesthetics. No worries there. It works and that's the main thing. I just wish you used more duct tape.

 

[RedCowboy]

Can't argue with results. :beer:

 

[Light superglue]

Hi LewDude,

Very cool looking your wooden burner!

My first experience with cylindricals was this - I made a low cost adjustable lens holder from an Al U-profil. Was a little tricky to adjust lenses rotationally but it worked out to make a blaster at the end...
https://laserpointerforums.com/f65/pbsing-2-nubm07e-compact-set-97376.html

But be careful with this diode! In neiboughring thread I burnt one trying to make efficiency chart without proper cooling.

 

[paul1598419]

Hmm. The module isn't a 9 mm one. It is 12 mm. Using balsa wood as your optical bench is likely causing all kinds of angular misalignments in these cyl lenses. You should show the beam profile as a close up as opposed to a far field shot. I give you an A for effort, but I'm also with Curtis on this one. More duct tape.

 

[LewDude]

Thanks for the kudos, friends!

Paul, good catch, 12mm module for a 9mm diode is what I meant.

 

[paul1598419]

Here are some photos of a module with an optical bench made by LogSquared and sent to me free of charge. It has M9X0.5M threads on both ends of the optical bench with a copper module, diode holder for a TO-5 case diode. The detail and effort to detail is very nice and I'm extremely grateful to him for making and sending me this device that he machined himself.

 

[LewDude]

I see someone stole my blueprints from the OP....

J/k - that is pretty slick, and very kind of LogSquared!! That'll get some great use

 

[paul1598419]

Yeah, it is amazing how closely they are in design. The only real difference is the material. :crackup: