my laser and laser building questions thread

[jors]

http://www.laser-man.co.uk/projects.html

[pliskin]

Thanks a lot for the link. That's a very nice site with lots of photos and info.
I think I have a good idea about most of the things I need now.

But I couldn't find info on that site about questions which bother me the most now:

1) Whats the temperature to aim for for each diodes? Spec sheets mention min and max temperature only. And how does both high and low temp affect diode performance.
And the next question which comes to mind, what kind of cooling to use? He doesn't seem to be using finned heatsinks+fans which commercially sold modules do.
In one of his builds he mentions using a TEC cooler in the bottom of the base plate for cooling everything, but nothing specific.
2) Couldn't find any info on optics, both what to use directly in front of a diode as well as to "shrink" the final combined beams

Can't find these info in Sam's laser FAQ either, though he also has some very interesting articles and learned a lot from there.