Stupid Herc

[Murudai]

Well my bloody Herc 400 is acting up again. It seems the beam is hitting the aperture, causing a huge amount of beam artifacts and lowering the power alot.

Attached is a picture from my phone showing what it looks like. I had a look at the dot under glasses and it looks almost like it's mode hopping, with the double dot. Reminds me of what my ancient WL Executive Fusion 125 used to do, it would mode hop after being on for a while and the beam would hit the aperture, causing the same effect.

Is there any simple way to fix this? I've already lost a lot of money getting this Herc (as some of you more astute forum readers may know the full story) so if I have to send this back to LaserGlow I'm just getting my money back, I'm sick of all this crap and it's too risky/expensive to ship it back into Australia.

 

[Asherz]

So if I have to send this back to LaserGlow I'm just getting my money back, I'm sick of all this crap and it's too risky/expensive to ship it back into Australia.

I'd go with the money back if you can, you've been having so many problems with this laser and it shouldn't be acting up as much as it does for the price.

Hopefully you get it sorted.

 

[Don't Laze Me Bro]

On the other hand it is a freaking hurk, so if you can talk to laserglow and see if they will pay shipping and fix it for you for FREE. If so (they should, it is new) then just take the new herc and be happy! still wish I had one! another option is if you get the money back, get a nice RPL 450!
-Dustin

 

[f22warzone]

Can you take off the shutter and place a magnifying glass in front of it to see if it is in fact mode hoping.... just a quick rundown not trying to be insulting or anything just trying to help but have you changed out the batteries ? And have you played with the pot on the thing as I know some you have to turn back down in order to get a nice beam or so I think I have read.

Best of luck to you ….. You might be interested in my project…. Instead of buying herc for what is it 2k right now with their deal…. I am contacting frank to get another 1.5W lab unit and then making a back pack power supply going to be awesome and should be under 2k for 1.5W of power : )

 

[RA_pierce]

Check that the shutter is not blocking the beam.

And as F22 said, try adjusting the pot.

How long do you leave it on before it switches modes?

If this is the same Herc you bought second hand, sorry. There really isn't much that can be done since it is probably out of warranty.
I would try selling it as is to get some of your money back... or you can try repairing it yourself.

Edit: I just read your other post. This is a brand new Herc. :/

I think you should first determine if the laser operates in TEM00 normally. It is not uncommon for high power lasers to operate in multiple modes.
For example, my PGL operates in near TEM00 only after warm up, and then returns to another mode after a couple minutes. Power always stays above 500mW, however, and rarely drops below 600mW. Also, I've noticed that the highest peaks from this laser are achieved when it is NOT operating in TEM00. I do not consider this a defect- rather just the "personality" of my laser.

On the other hand, if your laser is switching modes from it's normal operating mode to a condition that makes the laser inadequate for it's designed purpose, you may have a "defect."

Run the laser a bit more and try different things (different ambient temps, pot settings, batteries, run times, etc.) to determine whether or not the problem is the laser, or the operating conditions.
If it is under warranty, ask Laserglow if there is any way they can cover some of the shipping costs.
Even though I'm sure you are very frustrated...
Be polite. You will get better results that way.

Good luck.

 

[Murudai]

I'm always polite to customer service, these forums are where I come to be annoyed

I've tried batteries, fiddling around with it, etc. It seems to stay in TEM01 all the time. I guess another possibility is that it's been knocked out of alignment somehow, but I couldn't possibly think why, plus I've seen lasers knocked out of alignment before and the divergence gets messed up horribly, and it's fine for this laser.

I used my beam expander to have a look, and it certainly looks like it has two dot profiles. I couldn't figure out how to take off the shutter.


The laser is outside the 7 day money back policy, but I've figured out that I could just ship the head of the laser rather than the body and case, which will save on shipping and won't have any problems getting back into the country. So that'll work, I'll contact LaserGlow and see what they can do. I'll be very annoyed if this isn't covered by warranty, as that'll be yet more money gone down the drain.

 

[Razako]

Damn you've had nothing but bad luck with hercs:cryyy: It's very odd because almost everyone else here who has one loves the thing. Hope they make it right and fix it for you.

I bought mine used like 2 years ago and it's still going strong. The only problem I've had was the tailcap interlock/switch going bad so I bypassed it in a rather crude way.

 

[FireMyLaser]

My Aries make the same artifacts you described. Only mine does this at start-up and it takes about a minute to stabilize at TEM00. It annoys the heck out of me so if anyone know how to fix it I'd be interested. I suspect its the climate, where I live its cold, where you live its warm... so we get these issues?

 

[Murudai]

For gods sake... I was running the laser of mains power for a bit to see if that made any difference after it had been running for a while. When I went back to it the power was right down, and I could barely touch the heatsink it was so hot. 100% duty cycle my ass.

 

[ElektroFreak]

Wow, really? That's crap. Are Hercs TEC cooled?

 

[Razako]

For gods sake... I was running the laser of mains power for a bit to see if that made any difference after it had been running for a while. When I went back to it the power was right down, and I could barely touch the heatsink it was so hot. 100% duty cycle my ass.

Now that's gotta be defective or something. I can run mine off the adapter for hours and the heatsink just gets a bit warm to the touch.

Send it back for repairs asap.

 

[RA_pierce]

It sounds like maybe the fan is defective.
It could definitely be a heat dissipation issue.

For gods sake... I was running the laser of mains power for a bit to see if that made any difference after it had been running for a while. When I went back to it the power was right down, and I could barely touch the heatsink it was so hot. 100% duty cycle my ass.

 

[Murudai]

That would explain the TEM01 too, and the messed up beam would hit the side of the shutter.