Hi guys,
Well I just paid some of my dues on my right of passage to laser wisdom
I just killed my first Opnext HL6385DG diode
I'm using 3x Die4drive Pros on my little RGB test rig and all is well for my green and blue. I started out using a cheap Mitsubishi ML101J27 658nm to get the hang of things and that worked fine.(Thanks Dave)
I've heard about the 642nm diodes being fragile so I used a properly grounded matt and wrist strap to be safe.
I insulated the diode from the baseplate with insulating matt and plastic bushes for the screws.
Everything was going well after I powered it on. I ramped the current up to about 140mA and collimated the beam to a nice dot at approximately 1m with one of McCarrot's red coated lenses and mounted in Dave's diode mount.
I slowly ramped up to approximately 200mA and the beam suddenly went from a dot to a horizontal line/fan about 40mm wide (on the wall, 1m from the aperture).
This line initially had several hot spots then gradually faded in intensity.
Now it is just a faint messy beam
Sound familiar?
Any ideas on what I could have done wrong?
I hooked up the previously working 658nm diode and it worked fine using the same driver.
does this sound like a static induced death or something else?
Any advice from the wise and battle scared elders would be appreciated.
I'm on my first tour of duty and I copped a flesh wound. I'm a bit chicken to climb out of my trench and charge with my remaining 642nm diode
Help........
Edit... I should mention that I'm using Adam's laser bugs. However Only the blue one has a lasorb fitted as he was out of red lasorbs when I bought them.