Unfocusable 200mW 520nm kit build, need help or happy to pay for repair please

[Serac]

Hi and thank you for taking the time to read this and possibly try and help.

SUMMARY:
I am hoping to get help trouble shooting this as I have already tried everything I could think of. Also I am happy to pay someone to repair it if necessary but I do really want to understand / learn what the problem is and not just get it repaired. Basically in my opinion it seems to be out of focus and or not putting out enough power, very wide spread at 10 feet and the beam is barley visible in a dark room. I have tried focusing it fully in and out and flipping the orientation of the lens (in addition to other trouble shooting). This is my first build and my only laser greater then 5mW. I bought this for help star gazing and was hoping it would be a little visible in day light hence the goal of a ~200mW green laser.

PROBLEM:
-unable to focus, wide spread at 10 feet when lens screwed all the way in or out
-beam barley viable in a dark room
-performing way under power of ~200mW?


SPECS :
Diode: 520nm PLP520-B1 5.6mm 120mW green multimode
Driver: MicroBoost set at 450mA's
Lens: G2 lens
Power : ~ 200mW
Battery: AW 18650 Protected 3100 mAh Rechargeable Lithium
Host: Solar Force L2T


Pictures of Beam focused as tight as possible 10 feet from wall dark room:

MORE / LARGER PICTURES:
Please see additional / larger pictures pictures at:
https://sites.google.com/site/l2thost/

TROUBLE SHOOTING DONE:
-Lens screwed to the extreme in and out positions of the module, spring removed, EZ focus adaptor removed, both of two possible lens orientations tried
-I thought maybe I over heated the diode while soldering turing it into an LED. But I sent it back to the diode supplier, they checked it and said it was fine.
-so because of this it was soldered together twice, as I just sent the module back to get checked and not the entire assembled unit
-should not be a bad lens as the provider of the lens and diode checked and the whole module is working fine

The only laser related tools I have for trouble shooting are a multi meter and a soldering iron.

Thanks for reading this

 

[jeffreythe00]

How close to the bottom of the threaded lens holder is your lens? I feel as though your lens is too far away from the diode. Does the lens seem to be curved or mostly flat? It's also possible the lens is backwards.

Here's a picture of my G2 lens for my 520. You can see it has roughly 1.5mm of space between the bottom of the lens nut and lens.

http://i.imgur.com/HLQHKvG.jpg

 

[Pman]

Sure looks like you are getting good ouput. Have another lens you can try? Wondering if your lens is complete. Are you saying it won't focus at all or not to infinity?

 

[Encap]

From your pictures I would have guessed there is no lens in there at all.

Apparently a 3 element lens works best on a 520nm makes for much better divergence ---you can get one from DTR here https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/glass-lenses

There is also a G7 lens that people report a being good for 520nm see here: http://laserpointerforums.com/f49/new-g7-lens-445nm-462nm-520nm-92729.html

 

[Serac]

Sorry about the delayed reply I thought I would get to look into your suggestions friday or earlier...

@jeffreythe00
looks exactly like yours in the picture you provided (all the way at the bottom). So based on what you said I think it is backwards. I will see if I can get it out an flip it around.

@Pman
it does focus but the change in the output is barley noticeable across the whole focus range. Glad to hear you say the output looks good. So hopefully I can flip the lens (not the lens holder) around and that fixes it? I have no other lens to try.

@Encap
if flipping the lens does not work or I not happy with the output I’ll try the other lens you suggested

Thanks for your help....will post the results

 

[Serac]

oops
@jeffreythe00
hard to tell but guess it looks flat while yours in the pic seems curved?

 

[Serac]

fixed THANK YOU
as I said I had tried flipping the holder but did not know the lens could be backwards in the holder
:bowdown:
:thanks::beer:

 

[jeffreythe00]

Awesome! Glad to hear its working! Enjoy your laser as those 520nm diodes are really AWESOME!

 

[APEX1]

use a magnifying glass..