Optotronics 150mw pen laser... beam skattering/broken??

[Prototype]

Off topic but welcome back roosl! Where have you been man?

 

[SpaceCase]

It will be repaired and if it hadn't been dropped, no worries, the cost should be much less

thank you

Are you saying you can still repair my 150mw even though it is passed warranty? I would be willing to pay upwards ~50-60$ if you could get it back to the way it was ... the laser was never dropped, i made sure to handle my $200 laser carefully, as with all my fancy gadgets

If not, that's alright too... i guess i should have not used it in the fog, assuming that's whats causing the scattering beam. (which was my bad) :[

 

[electron]

I believe he's talking about the RPL, not the pen sized ones because those are all glued together.

 

[Deleted member 10578]

Are you saying you can still repair my 150mw even though it is passed warranty? I would be willing to pay upwards ~50-60$ if you could get it back to the way it was ... the laser was never dropped, i made sure to handle my $200 laser carefully, as with all my fancy gadgets

If not, that's alright too... i guess i should have not used it in the fog, assuming that's whats causing the scattering beam. (which was my bad) :[

Hi SpaceCase,
There is some misunderstanding as your product is one of the pen pointers while the poster who has the broken laser getting sent back for repair is the RPL series, a more expensive laser which can be disassembled and repaired.

It sounds from your description and picture that your laser in not broken, but only has a dirty lens.
Here is how to take care of that.
----------------------------------------------

To clean them you need to find some small foam cleaning tips(do not
use cotton or Q-tips), the foam cleaning tips can usually be found in
electronics specialty shops or camera shops.

Here is a link to the procedure I use that I posted on the LPF awhile back.
http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/dirty-green-dot-48691.html#post664819

To keep it clean avoid cigarette smoke or any smoke around the laser
as smoke is very sticky.
If you try to burn something with the laser, keep it at least a few
inches away from the end of the laser so that any smoke created will
not get near the lens.
The lenses are multicoated optical glass which is very soft and easily
scratches, so it's best to only clean them on rare occasions when the
get very dirty because if they get scratched during cleaning and it is
across a portion of the lens that the beam is going through, it will
really mess it up.

Hope this helps

 

[SpaceCase]

Hi SpaceCase,
There is some misunderstanding as your product is one of the pen pointers while the poster who has the broken laser getting sent back for repair is the RPL series, a more expensive laser which can be disassembled and repaired.

It sounds from your description and picture that your laser in not broken, but only has a dirty lens.
Here is how to take care of that.
----------------------------------------------

To clean them you need to find some small foam cleaning tips(do not
use cotton or Q-tips), the foam cleaning tips can usually be found in
electronics specialty shops or camera shops.

Here is a link to the procedure I use that I posted on the LPF awhile back.
http://laserpointerforums.com/f45/dirty-green-dot-48691.html#post664819

To keep it clean avoid cigarette smoke or any smoke around the laser
as smoke is very sticky.
If you try to burn something with the laser, keep it at least a few
inches away from the end of the laser so that any smoke created will
not get near the lens.
The lenses are multicoated optical glass which is very soft and easily
scratches, so it's best to only clean them on rare occasions when the
get very dirty because if they get scratched during cleaning and it is
across a portion of the lens that the beam is going through, it will
really mess it up.

Hope this helps

awesome! turns out it was a dirty lens :]

My laser is almost perfect now! (still have the button depressed, which is kind of a safety issue, because you just need slight pressure to activate the laser and does not "click" anymore)

 

[electron]

Isn't Jack great?? Free advise on a Laser that is out of warranty and a resoucre to get the supplies needed.

Told you he is one honest stand-up guy and businessman.

 

[sir leal]

I KNOW IT LOOKS LIKE A NOVEL BUT ITS NOT AND THE IMPORTANT POINTS ARE ADDRESSED AT THE END SO FEEL FREE TO SKIP ON DOWN IF NECESSARY. THANKS.

ok let me attempt to address this one thing at a time. first of all my girlfriend was the one who wrote the initial email as i was away on business. i suggested that she give the warranty the once over before making contact with optotronics and in doing so she saw that dropping/abusing pretty much dominated its list of dont dos. shes pretty sharp and to save time, chose to volunteer an answer instead of waiting for the question. i fail to see anything odd about that. by the way, i hate to spoil the fantasy jack was getting all worked up about but im quite certain she has better things to do with her time than what you are trying to suggest here jack. i would hope the same were true for you but unfortunately that doesnt appear to be so judging by whatever you were attempting to prove with your email time lapse chart that clearly identifies us as being ...what? busy? i must be missing something unless you were fishing for an apology for not getting back to you faster maybe? ok sorry. but with me being gone on business adding to her already demanding schedule i was surprised that she found the time to get as much done as she did. ok now lets address the screws issue. you have to take into account that this is a girl trying to answer a question about a laser and its inner workings that she was briefed on 3 weeks earlier. i know that amount of time far exceeds my attention span especially when it pertains to something i have no interest in to begin with. regardless, here is her explanation to jack.

he was changing the batteries and when he took the battery out the metal housing surrounding the battery came out with it and he said the screws looked stripped out and it no longer worked. the light was not dropped though. i am on my way to send light and battery and charger back and will send you the tracking number as soon as i return home in next few hours. i will include insurance on the package as well.

thank you

notice how she referred to it as a light? cute huh?


here is jacks response,

This description concerns me as I personally make sure every accessible screw is tight before shipping them to customers. It would be very highly unlikely that a screw could become stripped let alone two of them. The only time this problem has come up is when the owner attempts to disassemble the laser because both screws are checked and coated with a light amount of thread-lock to make sure they never work themselves loose. If it has been found to have been opened up (and by your description I don't see any other way this can happen to even one screw let along two, it is not a repair that is covered under warranty, in fact disassembling the laser voids the warranty.

ok now first things first. what actually happened was when i went to swap the battery out with a fresh one i turned the unit upside down for the battery to slide out and it did just that. so did some other things to my surprise. the screws that came out were tiny im just guessing but it seemed as though there were no more than two or three threads on the things. my first thought was of how cheap it looked with those tiny screws. i was not at all surprised it had come undone after getting a good look at the screws though. they were only holding on by a fraction. jack you said you have screws similar to the ones i am talking about. would it be possible for you to post a photo of one or two of them along with your next response please? ok now heres the part jack is exploiting incorrectly but effectively i have to admit. its also where i made a crucial mistake that when jack describes the end result makes me look bad(this is understandable due to jack having home field advantage but anyone who knows me personally would back what im saying without having to hear a word of it) so my mistake came when i attempted to put the screws back in myself and in doing so must have turned the screwdriver two times instead of the one and a half times which is about the amount allotted by the screws threads(both of them). this is completely my fault i am solely to blame for that. but that is the extent of my fault other than being completely disappointed at the time and then losing track of the screws.

OK NOW WE HEARD WHAT JACKS CONCERNS WERE NOW LET ME EXPRESS MINE.

jacks statement above claims that these screws are "coated with thread lock to ensure they never work themselves loose". but a couple of lines before that in the same paragraph he says that he "personally makes sure that every screw is tight before shipping them to customers". it doesnt make sense to me that you would double check and even go as far as to retighten (how else can you assure tightness) these screws that you claim can never work themselves loose. does that sound right to anyone? and another thing , upon doing so wouldnt jack be voiding the warranty himself then? its very easy to pass judgement based on what you read. especially when it is written by someone with knowledge on that subject such as is the case with jack here. i may not have all the terminology and experience on the subject at hand under my belt. and you will never ever ever see me in a return line at a store it just doesnt happen. i enjoy the crap out of these lasers and wouldnt harm one for anything. if i had dropped it on accident or if i werent present at the last time it worked as well as there less than a minute later when it no longer worked i would not be here now, i swear that on everything i care about. and just for the record i have a 5mw laser , and a 120mw laser that ive had since long before spending 750 bucks on this one. if i were going to disassemble one, (which i didnt) this would not be my choice for the guinnea pig. nor does it make sense to think that i was attempting to make it stronger by taking it apart. if that were the case i could have just done that with the 120mw and saved my cash instead of buying this one right? i have to also apologize for the stupid "start a campaign" comment. i used to own a restaurant and without fail a couple of times a week i would get told by customers angry for a variety of silly reasons that they were going to "take their business elsewhere" or "tell all their friends" not to eat there and although thats probably what it must have sounded like i was saying, its not at all what i intended. i just got a little carried away as i tend to do when im in a situation where i know im in the right about something and ill tell you right now you can bank on this being one of them. by the way jack one more thing, you said that if the laser wasnt broken as a result of being dropped that the cost should be much lower than your estimate of 120-150 dollars. i agree with you except for one thing. shouldnt the cost be covered by the warranty when that fact comes to light? or was the warranty voided when i didnt utilize the honey option and instead went with vinegar? like im going to kiss your butt while you call me a liar. yeah thats gonna happen alright.

 

[electron]

I would love to read all of this, but OMG even on a 30" monitor, those are the longest sentences I have every seen...........Pass.

 

[Laha]

hey bro. sorry to hear about your laser and i wish i had an answer but honestly i am just getting in on this topic because i just myself had the pleasure? of dealing with jack at optotronics. the end result of which led me here to see if i was not alone in my concerns about this guys integrity or at the very least what value he places on customer service. my 220 mw laser stopped working when i was changing out the battery one day and the housing surrounding the battery came out right along with it. when i contacted jack he immediately got on the defensive saying i must have attempted to disassemble the laser and thus voided the warranty in doing so. when i assured him this was not the case and said that would be obvious once he actually looked at it. i sent it in and he immediately agreed that the failure was not due to me having taken it apart but referenced a tiny nick on the base of the housing and said it had been dropped and that was why it had stopped working. he went on to say that the internal components that had come loose would not prohibit operation of the laser. the only problem here is that i was present and in possession of the laser the last time it worked up until 30 seconds later when it stopped working and there were no traumatic incidents other than a normal battery swap that took place in that time frame. sorry about the length here, the reason i even started writing this though was to inform you that there is in my belief a possibility that your suspicions about the answer you recieved may be valid and if i have to pay to fix my laser that was not dropped because i voided the warranty by dropping it i will begin a campaign against this guy to prevent anyone else from being ripped off by purchasing from optotronics and wanted you to be aware of it because there is a good possibility something could arise from it that addressess your issue and may be of some help to you hopefully. again sorry but when i know im in the right i get a little carried away. good luck buddy.

Hi,

"campaign against this guy"?
Don't put yourself in a position to lose face!
I also had an RPL from Jack broken close to the end of the warranty period. Jack and I spent several days to find out what could be wrong testing all solutions. Finally it turned out that the diode got broken.
I sent it back and with a little extra on top he gave me an upgrade, a laser with more power functioning excellent since than.
Also he will be helpful any time if you need any advice although he is very busy.
I can only praise him for his exceptional customer service. He is a honest and straight guy. Opinions like yours do not make me feel good they are funny to read.

I encourage anyone to deal with him! :thanks:

 

[Cyparagon]

i dont hang out in forums looking to voice my opinions. ever.

Oh, that's rich. Positively affluent!

 

[Laha]

sorry to disappoint you but let me tell you whats really funny. people like you who think with such a narrow minded view that you are willing to put yourself out there based only on the results of your previous experience. you have the nerve to think that because you didnt have any problems with jack that noone else could possibly either? and anyone who does is automatically wrong and in your opinion only stands to lose face by standing up for themselves. that funny feeling you are experiencing is nothing to do with me or my opinions lets get that straight. i dont hang out in forums looking to voice my opinions. ever. everything i said here in the last two days were facts. facts that were related to my personal business dealings and noone elses other than the guy this thread was started by and that was only because i thought he may stand to benefit from what i had to say and that is exactly what happened. let me suggest that from now on you worry about your own humiliations and let me worry about mine. we will then see who loses face. bet that.

This is a forum where opinions should flow freely. Opto has a great reputation here with a lot of happy customers. This is the other side to your story. If you think this is narrow minded fine. You are very new here so go ahead make yourself feel at home in the forum, I hope you will enjoy it! :na: