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Review of the Wicked Lasers Beam Expander

romogracie said:
Try measuring the divergence again at several hundred meters (the longer the distance, the better) with pseudonomen's divergence calculator and see if you still get 0.049 mRad... :yh:

This Dragon Lasers beam expander video tutorial is pretty informative...


Too bad Dragon Lasers stopped manufacturing it years ago. It would've helped my 1W Spartan's terrible divergence tremendously... :yabbem:
Click to expand...


Got ya.. My next tests will be at 1km, just waiting for the test area to dry up.
 





UGH!!!! Why did you have to show the dragonlasers unit:( I've wanted one for my Spartan bad but they just aren't available. Never see anyone sell one either.
Sore spot with me....
 
Aye, the simple answer is you have the beam focused to wherever you were taking the measurement.
 
I just got my beam expander. I can't change the focus while it's on the laser, and I can barely seem to change the focus while it's off the laser. I can't turn the little ring while it's screwed on because it's a tight fit, and the whole unit never wants to unscrew in one piece, just always in parts. Is it broken, or am I just doing something wrong?
 
BTTT: Measured beam diameter of the Arctic and Krypton lasers (at aperture) both with & without Beam Expander in place; added photo showing how the Krypton's beam is being vignetted.
 
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So..This will reduce divergance by what, 10x? Doesn't that mean the NOHD will increase by a similar amount? Kinda glad I'm not a pilot.
 
I'm pretty fascinated with light modification optics in general, but "beam expanders" are just cool accessories to strap on at will. There would be a market for a generic beam expander that supported many/most of the popular laser host systems and threading. I know I'd pay good money for something that could be used across multiple units. This has been a pretty informative thread - especially the vids added. Thanks for all the contributions.

-c
 
Raiden Gekkou said:
I just got my beam expander. I can't change the focus while it's on the laser, and I can barely seem to change the focus while it's off the laser. I can't turn the little ring while it's screwed on because it's a tight fit, and the whole unit never wants to unscrew in one piece, just always in parts. Is it broken, or am I just doing something wrong?
Click to expand...

Greetings,

No, your not doing anything wrong, they are just poorly designed. The ring is to tighten the lens once it has been adjusted.
It has 3 pieces, the large exterior lens, an internal lens and a retaining ring to tighten it.
I had to put thread sealer tape on the internal lens just to give it a better fit so is easier for it to stay where positioned.
Not really designed well to focus or change the setting when on the laser.
I have an adapter which allows me to attach the expander to a custom 445nm 3w+ build and will take some pics and try to provide some reasonably accurate measurements.

kilter said:
The dot looks pretty bad with the Beam Expander...
Click to expand...

Greetings,

Agreed. The dot looks pretty bad as there seems to be a little splatter around the point when focused to infinity.

I can say this about it though, when focused to infinity I can burn holes in a paper bag at 20', just the same as without the expander and the bag is at 5'.
Will try to take power readings at that distance as well.


cheers,
Moe
 
I have a Dragonlasers beam expander I bought years ago. I just ordered the 1w Spartan from Dragonlasers last month that I hope to get the soon and see how well it works. The beam expander works great on my Dragonlaser viper I've had forever.
 
starlight said:
I have a Dragonlasers beam expander I bought years ago. I just ordered the 1w Spartan from Dragonlasers last month that I hope to get the soon and see how well it works. The beam expander works great on my Dragonlaser viper I've had forever.
Click to expand...

Here's a video a made a few years ago :)



With and without beam expander.
 
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Smeerworst said:
Here's a video a made a few years ago :)



With and without beam expander.
Click to expand...
I've watched that video a bunch of times this week :). my only fear is (because I read it somewhere here on the forum) is the Spartan changed and the expander wont mount to them anymore. It said the front cap isn't removable. I sent a request to Dragonlasers before I bought my Spartan requesting to purchase the beam expander adapter also because I already have the expander. I couldn't add just the adapter to my cart because they we're sold as additions when buying the beam expander. They sent me a link to buy just a adapter for the Spartan laser so I assume they knew what I was buying it for and it will still work. My order was a 1w Spartan and a Spartan beam expander adapter nothing else. I'll post the results here when I know them.

picture is my beam expander with my Dragonlasers Viper and adapter for the Viper
 

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starlight said:
I've watched that video a bunch of times this week :). my only fear is (because I read it somewhere here on the forum) is the Spartan changed and the expander wont mount to them anymore. It said the front cap isn't removable. I sent a request to Dragonlasers before I bought my Spartan requesting to purchase the beam expander adapter also because I already have the expander. I couldn't add just the adapter to my cart because they we're sold as additions when buying the beam expander. They sent me a link to buy just a adapter for the Spartan laser so I assume they knew what I was buying it for and it will still work. My order was a 1w Spartan and a Spartan beam expander adapter nothing else. I'll post the results here when I know them.

picture is my beam expander with my Dragonlasers Viper and adapter for the Viper
Click to expand...

As far as im aware off, you don't even need a adapter for the spartan =)
 
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