Well. Ive discovered the interior makeup my pointer. After dropping it 20ft onto a cement surface, ive been trying to fix it. And so far its going well. The diode is fine, its solid state. And Ive also discovered that you cant just "straigten the diode out". It was a manufacturer defect in the little bugger. It doesnt shoot exactly straight.

Anyway, Its quite an amazing piece of electronic equipment. Wish I could take some pictures, but I dont have a digital camera. Oh well. Just thought it was kinda cool.


Fixing away!

Later
T

Ta-da! I fixed it! I really actually fixed something! How about that?
Only one thing. The lens in the front that is supposed to be there to diffuse the beam, isn't working. Thus, I can't really see the beam too well. But the dot on the wall lights up my entire room even more so than it did before. Now it's a Retina Burner. I mean before It wouldn't have destroyed your eye if it accidentaly got shined in there. But now.... oh boy, oh boy... Its a fricken LASER...(Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation). Just love how we use Laser as a word when really its both a word and a thing-ma-bob-what-cha-ma-callit...lol dont remember the name for that thing


Anyway, enough babbling. I just viewed Mars with my 10" scope, go check out the astronomy section for a thread I made, its sweet.


Later,
T:bugeye:

Are you sure the lens is there to <b>diffuse</b> the beam? Most bare diode lasers have a naturally divergent beam, which needs a lens to collimate it.

Well you see there is about 3 different lens'. There is the one in the very front, one right ontop of the diode which itself is encased in a small unopenable tube, then one inbetween. And this all fits together into a larger tube. My guess, from turning it on without that extra lens on the outside, was that its purpose was to diverge the beam so that you could see the beam when, for instance, pointing out stars... which is what I used it for. Now its more concentrated and that lens doesnt seem to be working like it used to, maybe I wiped a coating off of it by accident... oooops.


Later,
T

Ah, ok. I think you'll find that the lens attached to the diode itself is for collimation. The other two constitute a telescope which makes the beam wider but still keeps it collimated. The distance between these two lenses is quite important if you want a non-divergent beam. If you can adjust the distance, a good way to do it is to put a card in front of the beam at various distances from the pointer (e.g. 50 cm, 1 meter, 2 metres etc.) and adjust so that the spot size is constant at all positions.

Well see thats my problem. The beam is focused now. And Now I CANT see the beam. Which is bad when your trying to point out stars... so I should just play with it a bit and try to get it just right so the beam diverges a bit and I can see it?

Later,
T:cool:

Avatar thinks of all the heaps of money if he had such a laser in 1940 :cool:

Amazing...i did not the word LASER is a acronym.

Yeah! Thats it! An Acronym.


Later
T:D

Most bare diode lasers have a naturally divergent beam, Wouldn't that make it NOT a laser?

Originally posted by Gifted
Wouldn't that make it NOT a laser?

Technically, yes. However, nothing is perfect. Over short distances one is safe :)

I noticed that over 300 feet my laser diveraged to a size of about 5 feet :bugeye: That is about 0.95 degrees.

James Sibley

Anyway, Its quite an amazing piece of electronic equipment. Wish I could take some pictures, but I dont have a digital camera. Oh well. Just thought it was kinda cool.

scan it!

Will a properly functioning laser pointer, green or red, harm your eyes or is the beam too scattered?

Will a properly functioning laser pointer, green or red, harm your eyes or is the beam too scattered? I believe that they put warnings on them NOT to do that for a reason.

Yeah, a laser pointer can damage your eyes. Never look directly into one, and try to avoid flashes.

Well see thats my problem. The beam is focused now. And Now I CANT see the beam. Which is bad when your trying to point out stars... so I should just play with it a bit and try to get it just right so the beam diverges a bit and I can see it?

You're trying to point out stars with a laser pointer?

You can't see the beam unless there is dust or smoke in the air to scatter the light, diverged or not.

Or am I missing something?

True, but even on a completely clear night in arizona, with no clouds and 0 humidity, there are still particles in the air. So, you can still the the beam no matter what... trust me, ive done it.


Later
T

But only if it's diverging?? Why?

I can see the beam right now, but it is alot harder to see. When its diverging, its hitting more particles and so it creates a brighter beam.


Later
T:cool: