Got it sorted out I think. I figured out that the diode has a voltage drop of 5.5V. So I bumped up the input voltage on my driver to 7V just in case and now I'm pushing this thing to 230mA and got 200mW on the dot! more than 230mA and the output power will drop instead of going up. I know, it's still not that good when you look at the mA over mW ratio. This must be because of the Meredith acrylic lens and I don't have the glass one unfortunately . I'm gonna try measure its power output before optics. Anyway, I'm gonna try run this 405nm DIY labby at this current level for 24 hours to see if good cooling can prevent it from dying.
Cheers.
Cheers.