Quick Guide: Laser 301 Lens Cleaning

[ARG]

I'm sure everyone know this cheap laser.

I've had one for a while now, and the lens got quite dirty, giving a nasty splash.

Take off the head part from the laser, use force as it may have some glue on it.

Heat up the focus ring, as it has lots of glue on it. Get out your oven mitts so you can twist it while it's still hot. I used a SMD reflow gun to heat it up.

The inner focus assembly will unscrew from the head easily now.

There will be some glue holding the lens in the focus assembly. If you gentle pick at it it will peel off easily. Screw the lens out and with a microfiber cloth rub it with IPA.

This cleaned up my dot nicely, hope this helps. :beer:

 

[SkOrPn]

I have this laser also, but the dot becomes scattered after 5 feet or so and not so tight, quite ugly in fact. It is new and rarely ever used. My cheaper 5mw pen from DX has a much nicer tighter dot. I thought there was nothing I could do about it but after reading this I am wondering now if it just left the assembly line with dirt on the lens.

I will follow your take apart instructions. Any advice for a new laser with a horrible dot?

EDIT: Ok, well it does not appear to be a dirty lens. I think the little adjustable copper lens holder is in the wrong placement, as I have to screw the adjustment ring all the way down tight just to get a somewhat focused dot, although even at its tightest point the dot is still scattered. And when I unscrew the focus ring outward it becomes a flashlight, haha. Now I have to figure out which direction the lens needs to go, either further into its host or further out of its host. Also, mine does not seem to have any glue on any of the threads, and I don't like that lol.

Any guides on how to adjust this little copper lens holder on these 301's?

 

[ARG]

There should be some notches in the lens barrel where you can stick a screw driver or small pliers into to twist it.

 

[SkOrPn]

There should be some notches in the lens barrel where you can stick a screwdriver or small pliers in to twist it.

Lol, sorry did I say copper? I meant brass lens barrel. Yes, most of these have a flat head screw driver slot, but none of them have instructions on what direction the lens has to go if received out of focus. It either needs to move further away from the diode, or further inward. I suspect it needs to move further away from the diode, so I guess I will start with that. In fact, I think I will screw it to the middle of the threads and then test it.

EDIT: Ok, well it was just a simple focus problem apparently. After messing with it, the lens needed to be adjusted closer to the diode. I managed to get a fairly tight dot with the focus ring all the way in. Turning the ring out causes the dot to enlarge itself, so I assume that is how it is supposed to be. Not sure why the dot was messed up but after taking it apart and putting it back together the dot is now exactly how I think it should be... weird...