The Big Green Thread (I'm gonna regret posting this in the morning)

[mixedgas]

Planters, email #5734 sent.. I'm not seeing bounce notices... Then I sent you one on the work email... Are you receiving or stuck in a spam trap?
I'm running into more and more cases where providers block whole IP blocks...

Freebies:

http://soeagra.com/iaast/vol2/1.pdf

http://www.sintecoptronics.com/ref/DPSSYVO4.PDF

http://een.iust.ac.ir/profs/Sadr/Papers/omd5.5.pdf
(page 5)
Steve

[steve-o]

If 1000-1800$ worth of parts is too much for you, please don't cry. This is not going to be cheap. Some of us may get creative and do it for less. But it is a risky, expensive project.

methinks 1-2K $ for 2 to 5W of 532 is a very very very good deal
Thanks for the info Steve !

[planters]

Steve,

I agree and I suspect that will turn out to be about right...eventually, but be prepared that there may be a few thousand consumed in nailing this down. Knowing that, I am still all in.

[steve-o]

I would be willing to throw in CNC time to manufacture some of the aluminum parts. I could also put some of the drawings together in Solidworks for review before anything gets cut.

Ivan

Sorry we didn't acknowledge your post sooner Ivan. Thanks very much for your offer to help

-edit--
@ Planters.. uhhhhh a few thousand for R&D I can't afford.. for the final parts BOM I can .. soorry .. Times are tough here right now .. I'm glad you're rich (?) and willing to take the big dive-in for the good of the team :]
..I'll chip in what I can ..

[planters]

Steve-o,

Not a few thousand EACH. And sure, sell one of my Yachts, no problem.

Seriously, I do think when all is said and done that to design, dial in and build a laser that, and I agree wholeheartedly with Steve R. here, that looks more like something from Coherent than CN will take a few thousand $. Much more than that though if you consider the intellectual contribution of a couple of dozen pretty competent enthusiasts this represents the threshold that will make this doable. How many lasers might be built? Five, ten...one hundred? This is pretty exciting. No?

[Meatball]

Is the goal here to design and then manufacture a mazda miata of ready to use lasers? Is the goal more towards a kit based on the general design of the miata, which would just be privately built by those who could afford parts?

Systems of this nature are just that - a system. No two will be exactly alike. When starting from discrete components, each system would have be tuned and optimized for any sense of consistency and reproducibility. Coherent has robots that turn and tune the mirrors to within parts of a mm of precision for their optimization. We would have to be able to do something similar.

The end design may have to incorporate flexibility and easy adjust-ability. Just like how Steve mentioned the tech that showed up at work. The end user should also have some knowledge of the unit enough to adjust it on their own once the system arrives in its final environment.

Even just tuning every temp control circuit per temp controlled unit will need to be made somehow universally simple to do for each optic.

"Open source hardware" is the only term that comes to mind.

I would like to contribute where there is some need for circuitry implementation, digital logic function implementation, programming in C, or PCB layouts. Its all I can afford to contribute off my resume for the moment, should there be a need.

[ArcDevilz]

Sorry we didn't acknowledge your post sooner Ivan. Thanks very much for your offer to help

.

No worries. This can be an interesting build and it seems like there are enough competent people on board to make it happen. There will be various areas that need to be covered. From the gathering of components ,electronics etc. Could take a few months could take a year but it would be great to be able to assist.

[planters]

Is the goal here to design and then manufacture a mazda miata of ready to use lasers? Is the goal more towards a kit based on the general design of the miata, which would just be privately built by those who could afford parts?

I am not sure, yet. What I think will happen is that as the design choices are narrowed down then a working example(s) will have to be built. Almost certainly, modifications will become necessary and maybe even obvious and then an improved design will emerge. I believe this process will continue indefinably as long as there is some interest and some gains continue in performance and/or simplicity. Meanwhile, a general sense that a good enough (although evolving) laser system is available and this includes a growing list of posted suppliers of sub-components such as drivers, crystals and optical mounts etc.
With this body of knowledge, similar to what exists for the Mitsu diodes for example, you decide; do I want a turn-key laser as edison does for the laser modules or do I want to assemble everything from scratch like Solarfire? Or, as I have done, using what's available as a springboard, build a highly modified system with cooling and spatial filtering.

"Open source hardware" is the only term that comes to mind.

Yes. Up until now the only choice has been an actual miata from Mazda.

Sorry we didn't acknowledge your post sooner Ivan. Thanks very much for your offer to help

I second this. These offers and source posts are critical.

[mixedgas]

Quote:
Is the goal here to design and then manufacture a mazda miata of ready to use lasers? Is the goal more towards a kit based on the general design of the miata, which would just be privately built by those who could afford parts?


One other issue. I have a carefully cultivated European source of quality, but low cost, crystals through my work. They are glad to sell one offs from stock, and actually have a published, on-line, price list. Unlike Asian vendors, these good folks have laser engineers on staff, in Europe and the USA. 50,000 laser hobbyists calling them, asking for free samples, price reductions, having "issues" with burned crystals etc is not going to make them our friend. It will certainly end my friendship with them.


So how do we handle that? If I publish the details at PL, they're gonna get megaspam....

Same for my diode vendor. I have a USA based diode vendor for 808. reasonable pricing, and their stuff works. It can take them a week to get back to me.

Its hard enough to get quotes for legit applications, getting a call back can take 2-3 days. These folks are busy making money, and they do not tolerate amateurs well. Thats fine in my business. Its not so fine to dump immature, impatient, less then professional, people into the "SYSTEM". I'm not characterizing all PLers this way. But we have all seen group buys and issues with software support. As well as folks here who really overestimate their skills or feel they are entitled to things above their means.

Ideas, welcome. Group buys for 5000$ worth of diodes and crystals are a little steep for me to handle.

BTW, its CASH/Credit Card UP FRONT when you place orders. They really are not set up for "over the counter" quick transactions. You may need to wait two weeks to get your parts. Even though they are in stock. These guys are NOT going to Fedex you a part overnight, nor take Paypal. Also, 10 pieces is not going to get you a price reduction, don't even ask. The published price is the actual price for small orders.

This takes patience and planning.

This post is called honesty and transparency. Steve

[ArcDevilz]

BTW, its CASH/Credit Card UP FRONT when you place orders. They really are not set up for "over the counter" quick transactions. You may need to wait two weeks to get your parts. Even though they are in stock.

This post is called honesty and transparency. How do we get a sole point of contact?

Only idea I have right now is that you "buy in" to the laser production group.

Steve

These are all good points. Maybe the best way to work this out is by designing one module as Planters recommended. This can all be done in cad. If we can work out a coherent enough design and then have a group buy in as you recommend to buy enough components to make one and then figure out a way where anyone interested in a kit when all is said and done. Maybe a list of components needs to be drafted. A drawing that illustrates what direction etc.

Ivan