PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please sub

[Alaskan]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Wow, beautiful! Tks for posting those pix diachi.

Here's Brad's photo of the spectrometer, I had a hard time finding it again because it was a link, kept going back too far in the thread. Thought it was an embedded pic.



Atomicrox, no problem getting a spectrometer, I bought plenty of these units, 15 total I wanted to make sure we nabbed some for members who might want them later, if this spectrometer works out well, if not, I have lots of DPSS project parts!

 

[diachi]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Wow, beautiful! Tks for posting those pix diachi.

Here's Brad's photo of the spectrometer, I had a hard time finding it because it was a link, kept going back too far in the thread.



Atomicrox, no problem getting a spectrometer, I bought plenty of these units, 15 total I wanted to make sure we nabbed some for members who might want them later, if this spectrometer works out well, if not, I have lots of DPSS project parts!

Kinda want to see if I can fit one of my FC diode bars in one of these housings, with room left over for some optics, Vanadate, KTP etc... Squeeze 3-4W of 532nm out of a host that size.

 

[Alaskan]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

If you do that I will duplicate it, I have all of the parts I need already.

 

[diachi]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

If you do that I will duplicate it, I have all of the parts I need already.

I only have the diodes, I think the coatings are damaged on my KTPs so they may no longer be good. Still need vanadate, mounts (a milling machine would be nice to have for that...) and mirrors. Still haven't got around to redesigning my diode driver so that it actually works either.

Not sure what bars you have (i.e. a FAP, or raw FC bars like the ones I have, a FAP would be too large I think), I have two of those shown in my signature, they may fit.

 

[paul1598419]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

I haven't been thinking about the laser yet, but maybe I should. There are a lot of good parts in one of these. I imagine when more arrive I will be able to make at least one working 473nm DPSS laser. Of course, after I've got the spectrometer working.

 

[Alaskan]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Paul, I'd like to see you do that, I will follow that later too

diachi, I have some FAP800 units, but I was thinking of using one of my 15 watt C mount diodes, if I can find a way to get its output to be more rounded. I've heard they aren't very good pumps because the power at the edges and center can warp the crystal some causing problems. I was really thinking of everything else, I have a selection of KTP crystals already coated and a few very nice large vanadate crystals too. Lots of other small parts needed too, mounts, TEC's, etc.

 

[CynicalBrad]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Yep, there weren't any photo's of the spectrometer in there, although that is of interest to me too. I really wanted to see that DPSS module the most right now, I didn't want to ask Paul to open it up, he's already volunteering enough of his time, but truth be known, that was what I wanted to see the most right now.

Although I am hopeful the spectrometer can be used in a range useful to us for VIS, even better if it can go longer, but I'm not too hopeful for even the full vis range right now. I've been wanting a spectrometer for a couple of years, so perhaps my peaked interest in the DPSS portion shouldn't be on the top of my mind.

Top down pics of the innards of the 473nm setup.

EDIT: Same layout as the pics attached to post 4 on that PL thread and their pics are better quality.

 

[paul1598419]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Well, I got the spectrometer out today and then started looking at the pdf files and other information sent along with it. It uses an RS232 connector for interfacing with a computer with applicable software to run this thing. I see a possible problem in that the "free software" to run it might not work at all. This would necessitate someone purchasing the software from the manufacturer. It could, in theory, be shared among all the users of this spectrometer. Well, back to the fight.

 

[diachi]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Well, I got the spectrometer out today and then started looking at the pdf files and other information sent along with it. It uses an RS232 connector for interfacing with a computer with applicable software to run this thing. I see a possible problem in that the "free software" to run it might not work at all. This would necessitate someone purchasing the software from the manufacturer. It could, in theory, be shared among all the users of this spectrometer. Well, back to the fight.

Why wouldn't the free software work? :undecided:

 

[paul1598419]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

I haven't looked at it yet, but after reading what the seller has done in attempting to get it to work gives me pause. They opened the spectrometer and it came up with a large binary compression dump of data at a baud rate of 9600 bps. This caused errors and "distortion of data". It was found that if it was closed and reopened at a baud rate of 115,200 bps they were able to link to MS Excel. I have gone to the B&W Tech website and found BWSpec which looks like it was made to run this without problems. I am still trying to figure out what they sent and if it is even compatible with this spectro. So far, I am not encouraged.

 

[jnrpop]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Hi legends,
I've created another thread for all the talk/info/results/mods for the 473nm B&W units......just easier for future reference having its own thread, or so i'm thinking

Gathered what quotes i could from members so far :beer:

here it is:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f42/b-wtech-473nm-unit-spectrometer-mods-info-101467.html#post1494375

 

[Alaskan]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

2 (Two) High Power M140 Laser Diodes 4.2W 2.1W ea. Blue 465nm | eBay

H140? Never seen that one before, says 2.1 watts at 465 nm. Another ebay scam seller or legit?

 

[jnrpop]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

2 (Two) High Power M140 Laser Diodes 4.2W 2.1W ea. Blue 465nm | eBay

H140? Never seen that one before, says 2.1 watts at 465 nm. Another ebay scam seller or legit?

He says not the M140 in the descrip, but writes M140 in the title

Just read casios 2011 press release for their H series projectors...this caught my eye:

Quote:
Laser & LED Hybrid Light Source
CASIO’s new projectors achieve high brightness without the use of a high-pressure mercury lamp containing mercury, a substance which has a negative effect on the environment, by projecting three colors through a DLP chip – red emitted by a high-lumen red LED, green converted from blue laser light, and blue emitted by a high-lumen blue LED.* The light source has a lifespan of approximately 20,000 hours, reducing maintenance and cutting operating costs. In addition, the projectors reach maximum brightness in no more than five seconds, and no cool-down is needed when turning them off.

- green converted from blue laser light :thinking:

CASIO projectors ? Press

 

[diachi]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

He says not the M140 in the descrip, but writes M140 in the title

Just read casios 2011 press release for their H series projectors...this caught my eye:

Quote:
Laser & LED Hybrid Light Source
CASIO’s new projectors achieve high brightness without the use of a high-pressure mercury lamp containing mercury, a substance which has a negative effect on the environment, by projecting three colors through a DLP chip – red emitted by a high-lumen red LED, green converted from blue laser light, and blue emitted by a high-lumen blue LED.* The light source has a lifespan of approximately 20,000 hours, reducing maintenance and cutting operating costs. In addition, the projectors reach maximum brightness in no more than five seconds, and no cool-down is needed when turning them off.

- green converted from blue laser light :thinking:

CASIO projectors ? Press

Green is from a spinning phosphor wheel partially covered in a green phosphorescent material. It has gaps for the blue to pass through and phosphors where there aren't gaps. When the blue hits the phosphor you get green light.

Edit: Just ordered for myself:

570 assorted 0805 capacitors
3400 assorted 0805 resistors
1 LTC1257 SO-8 - 12 bit DAC
1 LTC1257 DIP8 - 12 bit DAC
5 TLC271CP DIP8 - Op-Amp
10 TLC271CD SO-8 - Op-Amp
5x IRF540N - Power MOSFET

Gotta love eBay sometimes. Hoping those are all of the other parts I need to get my driver up and running, though I'll need to do some more design/testing. Been a while since I hand soldered SMD stuff too, thankfully I'm not bad at it.

 

[Alaskan]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Love ebay to find parts like that at reasonable prices, if you dig deep enough. What driver is that you are building, for what? On tht "H140" my guess is it's an M140 at 445 nm, not 465.

E: I'm probably going to start miffing some folk off using this thread to chat about ebay stuff instead of posting links to goodies.

 

[diachi]

Re: PERMANENT THREAD: Ebay& other internet FINDS of interest- read all the OP please

Love ebay to find parts like that at reasonable prices, if you dig deep enough. What driver is that you are building, for what? On tht "H140" my guess is it's an M140 at 445 nm, not 465.

E: I'm probably going to start miffing some folk off using this thread to chat about ebay stuff instead of posting links to goodies.

20A digitally controlled diode driver. Going to try and get it working with a single MOSFET instead of a bunch of BJTs. Original design used a 100 position digital pot for control, this one's using the 12 bit DAC with internal 2.048V reference. I've made some other "improvements" too, I'll need to make a few changes to the schematic and ask a couple more experienced people to look over it for me.

20A continuous may be pushing it for a single IRF540 in linear operation, but we'll see.