A few years ago, I bought a couple of blue lasers from Sci Fi Lasers. I know that there were many problems with the 'company' but I was one of the rare people who didn't have a problem. Right, my lasers are now in poor shape and don't work so well. I need to get them repaired. Does anyone know how I go about getting the damned things working again. As a complete ham fisted novice, I doubt that I can do it so if anyone has a bit of knowledge, expertise or even just a pretty good idea what to do, I would be very grateful indeed.
Hi wabsnazsm,
Well I also thought I was one of the lucky ones that got a working laser from Sci Fi Lasers..
It worked at first but it never put out a tight beam. I was new to lasers and just thought thats just how the stronger multi mode diode did as far as beams.
The beam and spot got worse and worse quickly and I kept trying different lenses.
It was when member "Lifetime17" sent me another blue build that I realized just how nice the beam and spot should be.
I sent my Sci Fi build to Rich<"Lifetime" and thats where the horror to his builds were shown.
The diode window was cracked, it had no name or numbers on it and it obviously had ALOT of hours on it from where ever it came from.
He used no shrink wrap on the diode pins, just some plumbers tape that fell off and it had single stiff wire that you see on a wall socket.
He also used some very cheap LED type of driver..
"Lifetime17" decanned the diode, meaning he took of the part with the glass and put a better driver and wires in it. He got it working better but decanning a diode is risky and again it had many hours on it.
Well the good thing you have going is having the hosts which I believe are the 501B hosts, heatsinks and the modules that go in them.
M140 or PTLB450B1 blue diodes are plentiful and cheap now and so are the laser drivers.
Back when Sci Fi was found to be a scammer "Lifetime17" and another member "Pman" took it on themselves to fix those who had defective Sci FI lasers.. They aren't really active lately and Pman for a long time.
Post a few pics of yours to see what you have for now..