Melles Griot Laser Module

[daedal]

We need Mike (MechEng3) to chime in here with the details of his 7-element optical solution to the fat beam of a 635 nm diode.

Come on Mike! Spill it! We all want to know what needs to be done to tame this beast...

Adam

That would be pretty cool... I took apart the whole thing to see what's inside... NOTHING! Not a single optic to fix the beam besides the doublex convex lens they have as a collimator. I even have better ones, but they didn't fit...

Mike... Please?

Thanx;
DDL

[Laser Ben]

Mo,

Enjoy the module!

[buffo]

Wait a minute Mo - are you saying that the module you bought from LaserBen did not have the anamorphic prism pair in it as shown in the picture Ben posted above?

Adam

[MechEng3]

Daedal....please PM me. We will discuss this then. As I had told Adam the lens arrangement I have was purchased form a company overseas...not sure I remember the specifics. It is compromised of 5 original elements with 2 added achro's. It worked pretty well...but it is still a brute to harness the stacked beams, or for better words...a 1000um stripe width. Then the emmitter had a few drop out on me so the project is on the back burner. The diode was a 1.5 watt 635 "C" mount. Unknown previous hours...I picked it up used. It is a task to opticly make toothpicks out of 2 X 4's! I have spent many hours in GLAD software....it is doable......but more costly than it's worth in most cases. 660nm seems to be the best overall....heck you can slap a 1 watter together for less than $300 now so that is where I went. Time has become a valuable thing...I have spent too much time building/researching and not enough time making shows. I have had the QM2K for 2 years and have only 1 show I have cobbled together. Time for a change.... to enjoy another part of the hobby.

[p1t8ull]

Fail!

I couldn't do it... It'd be fine for all of 2 inches (down from 230mW to 65mW by the way) and then would get back to fatter than before... I moved everything and even refocused the laser many times... no luck...

I'm back to looking for a new solution...

--DDL

Unfortunately you found out that all a prism pair can do is what any telescope collimator will do but to one axis, the same diameter/divergence rules apply
Like Mike, I have had enough of spending time and money chasing tight reds for now, the main things learnt are that aligning 30 diodes gives you a severe headache, and that 642nm diodes are the way forward... for now at least.

[MechEng3]

Resultant calcs from cylindrical lenses....that work...with a few mods.

[Laser Ben]

Wait a minute Mo - are you saying that the module you bought from LaserBen did not have the anamorphic prism pair in it as shown in the picture Ben posted above?

Adam

Adam,

I thinkwhat he is saying is that the only collimation on the diode is a pens before it goes into the prisms. The module did come with the prisms as were shown above. The entire module is based around the prisms meaning that every part is bolted to them. If they wern't there, the entire module would be a pile of parts.

[daedal]

Wait a minute Mo - are you saying that the module you bought from LaserBen did not have the anamorphic prism pair in it as shown in the picture Ben posted above?

Adam

I took apart the CNI 635... Ben's module was just as described

Sorry about the confusion...

--DDL

[mixedgas]

Ben:

Would it take a 5.6mm diode (like an open can red 650nm like you would get from a 20X dvd burner), or would you have to machine up something to hold the diode in, inside the module?

Docjohn

The nice folks at MI Lasers sell 5.56 to 9 mm adapters.

Steve

[daedal]

Resultant calcs from cylindrical lenses....that work...with a few mods.

Oops... The brain tumor just kicked in... what am I looking for?

I can see some specs for optics in this, but how do I search for/buy this stuff? Does it all have to be custom-made?

--DDL