Another project red?

[logsquared]

Nice report, very interesting to follow.
Is there a way to close the "gap" between the upper en lower row dots ?
From the 1st photo it's a bit hard to see the beampaths.
Do the mirrormounts just rotate on that nylon screw, driving by the long screw ?
(Just to see if i understand it right ?

Keep up the good work ! Nice. Very nice.

After some more adjusting it became obvious to me that the gap between the rows is from crappy mirrors. The edges have a slight chamfer. It is this edge that is shading the top row.

You are correct. The mirror mounts rotate on the nylon screw. The long screw pushes the mount about the nylon screw. Also, there is a set screw in the rear of the mount that moves it up and down.

I just set up a mirror on the far wall of my shop to bounce the beams back. This gives me about 60' of throw. It also makes it easier to see the beams while adjusting.

At 60' the 4-40 screws in the rear of the mount are more than adequate to control the beams positions. The longer "pusher" screw is a little more difficult due to play in the threads. They are cheap hardware store 4-40 screws. Hopefully i can make it to the supply house to get some better machine screws this week. Overall the whole mount positions good with minimum crosstalk.

I am going to let is sit for a day or two and set how bad the beams walk off. If things stay in allignment i will find somewhere with a longer area and set the beams to overlap at hopefully 150 feet. Then i will epoxy them in place. After that i plan on temperature testing to see how far the beam walk between say 30 - 100 deg F. If i can get away from TEC i will be jumping for joy.

[logsquared]

Very nice setup you have there, pleae keep in mind the centre of a beam contains the most power.

At some beams it looks like you only use the left half of the beam. It does not matter if you cut the sides of the beam because there is little power on the sides, but focus on the centre of the beam.

Thanks.

This was just the very first alignment. I have since been able to center the beams much better. Curiously, the total power only increased very little.

If you look at the picture of the expanded beams lines can be seen between the spots. These lines and the area between the top and bottom rows form a "window". This window is set by the machining of the whole unit and the edge quality of the mirrors. I can move the beam side to side in the window but only slightly up and down. Also, i can't adjust the width of the window unless i change the machining. The outside "corner" spots don't pass by other mirrors. So, they appear to have a semi-round shape. But as you said, there is no real power there.

[MechEng3]

Here are a couple of pix....Mo please PM me.,, I need an e-mail to send you a blueprint. It is burning in ..... should have it done soon.

[allthatwhichis]

...............


I got a box I can put that in...

[MechEng3]

Well I have a crystal set ordered...diode has been here. Should be able to cobble up 650mw of 532nm to go with it. I was planning to put them both in a box......I was hoping to get hold of a couple of BDR-205 diodes sometime...stable at 500mw each....then RGV in a big way....may not happen though...cash is getting tight with hopefully the last of doctor visits over soon. I may BST the 3/4 watt laser...not sure yet...

[FourDee]

Nice work!
How many drivers are you using to power the diodes?

[MisterWilling]

Well I have a crystal set ordered...diode has been here. Should be able to cobble up 650mw of 532nm to go with it. I was planning to put them both in a box......I was hoping to get hold of a couple of BDR-205 diodes sometime...stable at 500mw each....then RGV in a big way....may not happen though...cash is getting tight with hopefully the last of doctor visits over soon. I may BST the 3/4 watt laser...not sure yet...

I have a couple of those bdr-205 on the way, from what I have read around they are rated at 320mW so I'm shooting for around 400mW per diode for a decent life. Hopefully 800mW 405 compliments my 200mW 473 enough to make a decent white.
Keep these updates on these reds coming, I abandoned my multi-diode setup for my first scanner but I will definentally need to build one after all the info from you guys for my second scanner

[p1t8ull]

Nice work!
How many drivers are you using to power the diodes?

And which common cathode driver is it - if it's CC as it seems?

Nice build Mike, it's getting me all itchy watching this progress

[andy_con]

nice build.

am i correct in saying that all the diodes a touching and your using one driver for each set? so all the diodes could blow at the same time?

[MisterWilling]

If I were to build a similar rig but instead have the aluminum block black anodized(free at my shop) and wire the cathode to each diode independently; would that provide better protection against blowing all of the diodes at once?