The oldest I'm not sure, but it's probably in a CD-ROM drive in a Macintosh sitting out in
the garage.
The one I've had the longest is in another CD-ROM dri . .. wha? They're still lasers. :umbrella:
Oh, you mean a standalone laser. Well, the oldest and longest is a 660nm 3xLR44
keychain. I have no idea how old it actually is, but it was made in the days of all brass
keychain lasers. Probably early-mid 90s vintage
It's a very nice host. Too bad the lens is glued in so well that even big channel locks will
not budge it. It is badly in need of a cleaning. There are even pieces of brass down in
there from repeated attempts.
The diode itself is a bare die so small that it's almost invisible. I should've taken more
pictures when I had it all apart. The light just seems to come from nothing.
It is all press fit. I had to make a special jig just to get it apart. That project involved
multiple drill bits and a thick piece of steel.
I'm going to take a measurement of its output once I get the LPM up and running. I
suspect it is slightly over 5mW. I remember seeing a calibration table for Scientech LPM
heads somewhere, but I can't find it anymore. Does anybody know what I'm talking about?
It's a CATALOG NO. 380101. There's a story behind that as well, but another day.
