Star spattered laser dot

[b3nault]

Hi,

I have a laser pointer, takes AAA batteries, and it has a very prominent star spattered dot. If I twist the laser pointer, the star pattern follows. It is a lot more prominent when I have fresh batteries in it.

Any idea what could/can be causing this?

Hopefully it will be an easy fix.

Thanks for all your help!

 

[Greenmechanic]

More then likely, it's in the laser itself. IE: crystals loose/misaligned, lens loose, etc.
Best case scenario is dirt on the lens. You can try to carefully clean it with a Q-tip slightly dampened with denatured alcohol.
If you can twist the body of the laser IE: Grab one end in one hand and the other in the other hand, then twist, (not rotate it) and see the "artifacts" change, then it's one of the above.
You can try cleaning the lens first, but I'm sorry to say ,I think your laser is defective. I buy them all the time on e-bay for 1 cent and a lot of them are just plain crap. I've bought some really great ones for that price also. So you might be better off buying another one. (if cleaning the lens doesn't help)

 

[Emc2]

Get a Q-Tip with some good lens cleaner and clean the lens, gently. This is caused by contaminants or lint over the front of the lens. If you put the laser in your pocket like many people do, don't because lint gets on the lens. Lasers don't belong in the pants pocket, you can also try some pressurized air and blow the lint out, if it is lint that is.

-Todd

 

[Seoul_lasers]

My O-like 200mW has the same problem and now has rings of light. I took the optics out and discovered that the focusing lens is defective! .. the raw unfocused output is a perfect TEM-0.

A Little pissed off!

 

[b3nault]

Thanks for all the help.

It is a 100 mw pen style, so maybe I will send it back and see what they can do.

Ugh.