Any mess up their laser by turning the diode?

[Uisgdlyast]

Well i turned the diode and ended up with a flash light. To be hnest i dont know if i got any brighter but after hours of twisting the diode and messing with the lens I can barely get it to be a nice tight dot.

I'm curious if anyone else had this happen to them? All i know is that the next laser i buy i'm not going to be messing with the diode.. just the electronics.

 

[ACMarina]

People mess up their lasers all the time, playing with the pot and turning the diode and flipping the lenses. They're tempermental little critters. .

 

[PhotonWrangler]

I accidentally zapped a 670nm red LD once, the first LD I ever had. It cost a LOT of money when it first came out! I had it mounted in an adjustable brass colllimator, and while trying to twist the lens ring, I accidentally twisted the diode mount itself, severly glitching the diode while it was running. In a millisecond it transformed itself from an LD to a really expensive red LED. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mecry.gif

 

[emrbrtn]

have you tried to refocus it? (by turning the black thing on the front?)