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FrozenGate by Avery

Silver host. Completed (more or less)

Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

No, regular investment cast. Same basic concept as sand casting, only with a plaster/silica compound. I'm a jeweler so I worked it in on a cast at my work. Ty all for the comments :D I will update the post once I have the full laser assembled. Only downside is I am unable to do any quality beamshots. The camera I used for the good pictures is a photo setup at my work, and I would have a *very* hard time convincing anyone of "Look! It can burn things! now just let me turn it on and leave it on in the photo tent while I focus and take a picture...." So cell phone camera is the best I have for a beamshot.

StridAst
 





Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

Interesting idea.. i suppose you should set it with rubys as a laser reference though ;)
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

This is a beautiful and utterly unique artistic host. Obviously, you have some skills as a jeweller or something similar. I like how the vines and leaves wrap around the host. Is one of the jewels going to be the fire button for the laser? As far as overdriving a diode goes, remember that two things can kill an overdriven diode. One is heating, the other is catastrophic optical damage or COD. Too much laser light generated in the diode will degrade and destroy the output facet of the laser diode. For example, if I TEC-cool a PHR-803T diode in a big mount, and drive the diode with a foolish current because I am TEC-cooling it, I will still kill the diode quickly by killing the output facet with too much laser power. I took a PHR up to nearly 300mA in a cooled mount. The result was lots of output power for a few glorious minutes, then death. It never got hot. Please post more pics when you complete this build.
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

i cannot see the second pics...but now im intrigued as i read those posts after the OP and the ones after the second pics!
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

I really like it! Now one has a build that is anything like yours! What gave you the idea of a column?

I vote 320mA for a long life,

or 380ma for power.

That's just about all we can guess about 12x's right now. Not that we can say that it is fact.
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

jesus... this reminds me of those bullets and matching guns made of precious metals/jewels :D I have about $100 in silver, I should make a kick-ass 12x host when I have a bundle lying around somewhere.

Will
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

That looks great. I have a silver lighter that would almost match it. LOL
I have a large chunk of silver, but no experience with casting.
I would hate to machine it, because I would lose about 70% to swarf. Maybe one day?
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

Ok, I updated the pictures in the OP now. The laser is finished, it's got a 12X blu-ray in it, with the flexdrive set at 380ma. I don't have a LPM to check the output with, and I can't use the photo setup at my work for beam shots. I might have to ask one of the vets if they would mind checking the output for me, and snapping a picture or two with it on, preferably someone on the west coast, as I would rather avoid longer shipping times. Any of you vets interested? I could always try my cell phone cam for a beam shot, but somehow I don't think it would be worth the effort.

Got a little tweaking still to do, I'm not happy with the alignment of the focusing ring, as the front end isn't quite perfectly flat. I cut it down a bit in size from my original plans, as I decided against too much weight on the lens assembly, However there is nothing holding it on permanently yet. Overall performance of the host seems to be wonderful. It's yet to get more then barely warm, even after 5 min straight on time. By barely warm, I mean I'm not certain how much was from body heat, and how much was from the laser warming up, but it's clear the heat is distributing well through the host, as I couldn't tell a temp difference from the front to the back even after 5 min of straight on time.

All in all, quite a few things I would do different, but then I expected as much from a first time trying to make a laser host. Nothing is ever perfect the first time you try something new. Even so, I'm loving this laser.
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

I'm not exactly on the coasts, but I'm kinda in the middle. Closer to the west coast then east. Montana's where I reside. (stupid old cowboy sayings) I'd be more than happy to snap some quality beam pics as well as meter it for ya. Just PM me if your willin to let me.
Ken
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

I think I will take you up on that offer. PM sent.
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

looking forward to getting this...
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

Just recieved this laser today and I have to say WOWOWOWOWOW.. Metered at 545mw!!!! I absolutely LOVE the way this laser looks. Nice focus adapter setup so your fingers don't get in teh beam.... How though, do you change batteries?
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

^very nice! Are there no visible threads or anything?
 
Re: Silver host. (work in progress)

You have to pull the cover off the switch, then remove the switch and the battery slides out. I didn't originally plan that but due to a stupid mistake had to make it that way
Basically I forgot a small but important measurement when making it. (live and learn) The contact at the base of the module as well as something to insulate it added a couple millimeters of length that I hadn't thought about when planning it out. So I had to cut out a little framework for the switch, and seal the cap on, which originally would have screwed off. Eventually wear and tear of removing the switch each time I change the battery will mess it up, as well as the flexible cover, however I have multiple extra covers and switches, so it shouldn't be a problem. In the mean time, I am working on finding a better switch design so I can modify it back to the original overall concept with a screw on and off tailcap. I can always modify the tailcap design to fit a better switch.

Feel free to take the switch apart if you want to look inside, just pay attention to the way it comes out, as it goes back together easier one way then another.

Also, curious, did you notice any warmup period for the power output to stabilize? I've seen people on the 12x diode thread such as Hemlock_Mike commenting that it took a little time for the output to stabilize, however everyone who mentioned it is pushing a diode more then I am pushing mine.

At any rate, feel free to play around with it for a couple days if you would like to. But thank you very very much for metering it for me :D Besides the obvious, I've also been wanting to make certain the class IV claim I put on the focusing ring was accurate
 
You betcha. As soon as it gets dark enough for some good beamshots, I'll take some. I really like this host. It catches the eye and just says QUALITY.

as to teh batteries, I'm not gonna mess with it.
 
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