65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED HELP

deezdrama05

Enlightened
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Feb 21, 2005
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Ok I have a leadlight 105 and on my quest to achieve a super bright beam that would burn things finally worked out and after alignment,potmod,and resistor replacement I got 65mw at a stable 440ma. And unit never to produce any significant heat. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I was happy as hell to get this out of a pointer but it only lasted for about a day. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif
Just yesterday I took my pointer apart to fix my button because I couldnt use the black plastic shroud that hold the circuit board stable because I used the big resistors with the leads on each end. Anyway I noticed the circuit board was slanted down alittle from pushing on the button too hard so I pushed it back up very lightly and the circuitboard just gave as if the diode legs snapped. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif
I pushed the circuitboard back down straight and checked everything out and it seems everything was ok. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
So I loosened the lock ring to check the diode out, I got the circuit board off and sat it on the table and then dropped the brass tube on the floor. I found 1 brass shroud that goes over diode and 1 lense with brass ring around it.
Ok so I checked were the diode legs attach to the diode and everything seemed fine so I put everything back together and tried it out. And it was only a very dim dot. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif
So after flipping the lense 5-6 different times I still cant get a good beam. I read on here somewhere the concave part goes towards the diode so I took it apart and cleans all lenses with alcohol and made sure concave part was facing diode. Now after assembling again I only get 15mw compared to 65mw it did have. I tried cleaning everything again,aligning the diode,adjusting the pot but cant get anything close to my 65mw. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif Is there a lense or something missing? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif The brass tube with IR filter on it has a lense built into it that I can see when looking in the tube, then ontop of it I put the lense with brass ring,then the diode with brass shroud over it. Is there something I lost? I thought maybee the diode legs were presure fitted inside the diode and it came loose so when its all together and I push the button down I wigled the board up and down but it doesnt help. Also I get alot of artifacts. And another strange thing is I took the 220 ohm resistor off and it still works the same. I checked current draw and its close to 400ma (originally 440ma) but I just aint getting nothing for power. Damn it I just want my original 65mw back and ill stop messing with it. Anyone know if im missing a lense or something? Or anything I can do to get my pointer working good again? PLEASE HELP!!!thanks
 
I thought that someone posted yesterday to this same question and showed you the order that everything went back together? I guess if everything is back together as it was, it's possible that you just burned it out. The same thing happened to my leadlight the other night. For the past 2-3 weeks it has been working at about 45-50mw after doing all the mods; then the other night I powered it up and after about two seconds power output dropped way off and now it is running at about 7-10mw and nothing I try will increase it. I'm porbably going to order a higher powered diode for it and see it that fixs it.

Jack
 
they did but I still dont know if I lost anything as all i could find on the floor is the lense with brass ring and the diode shroud and inside the tube is a mouted lense similar to the one with brass ring. Thats just too much of a coincendence that something would burn out right after this problem happened. I had a stable 440ma output and you could leave it on for a full minute and would not get warm at all.
 
hey bootleg can you point me to a place to get a good higher output diode that will fit in my leadlight?
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

ifix lasers charges either somewhere around $50 for a 350mw diode, and around $350 for a 500mw with installation...
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

are these any beter than the sony diodes that are stock in leadlights? I can get a whole new pointer from vital spirit for the price of the diode. I just dont know if ill get lucky enough to get another one that will hit 65mw
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

the 2 lenses on the right in the picture that look the same are they oc mirrors or just one of them is and the other lens widens the beam? I only got one lense to come out the other one seems like its built into the brass tube. does the domed part of the ocmirror face the diode?
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

No - flat surface against the diode... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

ok, I got it all together right and the only thing I took out was the mirror and diode, I never messed with the chrystals or anything else but now my beam is badley off center it comes out of the edge of the endcap hole, Ive taken it apart several times and messed with it but it doesnt align right and only puts out about 20mw now. Another wierd thing is that I took the 220 ohm resistor off and it still worked fine. Shouldnt that stop all current to the pot??? And since then ive bridged the resistor gap with solder but it is still the same. Any ideas??? thanks
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

How could running this with 220ohm resistor,no resistor, and bridged resistor gap all give the same output?
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

[ QUOTE ]
deezdrama05 said:
How could running this with 220ohm resistor,no resistor, and bridged resistor gap all give the same output?

[/ QUOTE ]

Weird... it is a 105 isn't it?
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

Related Question.

What holds the lenses in the barrel of a Leadlight 105? Are they held by the diode ring? Does rotation of the pump beam optics matter?
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

yes its a 105 and i followed your tut on resistor swap and initially it worked fine- man my beam was super bright I miss it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif and it pulled 60-65mw at a stable 440ma and never got hot, and I always used duty cycle. When I pushed down on the circuit board I bet I loosened a pin from the diode or something cause it just dont make sense why I cant get my output that high anymore. But yeah its a 105 And right now after I messed it up it pulls about 15-20mw at 400ma and with resistor,without,or bridged gap makes no difference. Pretty wierd. Could it be that the 3.3k resistor is bad - what would happen if I removed it and bridged the gap? Maybee I have a bad resistor elsewhere on the board. Or loose mca. I dont know I just wish I would of left it alone-it was awesome for the day it lasted before I dessicrated it.
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

I was wandering that too if the oc mirrors are rotating and if this effects output, But inside mine the only thing that was loose or not secured was the ocmirror- and yeah once the diode lock ring is tight it also is secured.
 
Re: 65mw to 15mw after messing with lenses NEED H

Hey lasermod - Im pretty much at a brick wall about this pointer, knowing about what happened and about it having same output with or without a resistor - what would you now test or mess with to try n figure this out? Im now clueless
 
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