Greenie questions

[dustan]

After lurking this forum for a couple weeks ive ecided to register and ask a couple of questions.

first off, hello, my name is dustan and i am a laseaholic...

Im new to greenies and looking to buy one to mod. after some research i think ill be going with a leadlight, as they seem to be pretty common and easily moddable.

I have a decent understanding of electronics and the ability to solder so thats no problem. now for the questions. Ive been eyeballing the leadlight from (sp?)aberland, $89 i think i remember reading, is this a good model to mod? im looking to get the most i can out of the laser and for me warranty issue.

i remember reading about shorting the pot and replacing some electronics to attain some insane power levels /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

does anyone have easy instructions on performing these mods or tips you may have from doing this yourself?

thanks for reading -Demize

 

[DaFiend]

yes the leadlight seems to be the easiest to mod, and is also made from higher quality components then most other pointers. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

As for warranty, thats going to be a touchy subject. You will find with ALL SUPPLIERS if you tamper with the pointer (in other words, Mod) you wont be able to:

A) Get your money back. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif
B) Get a replacement. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/broke.gif

If warranty is going to be such a big issue for you and still want very powerful pointer, your best bet is to see Arnold at "atlasnova" (abeland1) or Chris at "Wickedlasers". This way you can get a high power pointer, and still have a warranty.But start modding these puppies and bye bye warranty.(and alot more money down the drain then if you mod a stock leadlight.)

But if you are also going to start to short the pot for those "insane" power levels, i think your laser is going to have dramatically shorter lifespan.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sssh.gif So the moral of the story is, if you Mod your pointer yourself, kiss that warranty good bye /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/xyxgun.gif

As for help with shorting the pot etc, just do a search in the forum, i'm sure some thing will come up. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[sbk]

Hello and welcome to this great forum!

You make a good choice with a Leadlight. Inside them there is a lot of optical components the others don't have (I have taking completely apart mine to assure you it).

I wait on a model from Atlasnova (my 2nd Leadlight), but I don't project to mod it for the moment.

However, I have highly modded my first Leadlight, and you can find useful informations on my website.

But I advise you to go slowly with the modifications, if you don't want to burn it after 1 day... So don't begin by directly shorting the pot /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dustan]

sbk, do you have more information on changing resistors, what resistor do you like? i need to change resistors before shorting the pot right.

i dont need to burn things si i can keep the ir filter on i just want to be dazzeled too much /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[dustan]

also where is the best place online to purchase the resistor.

 

[Fussy]

so before you short the pot you need to put a resistor in???? i did not know that!! i was just going to short the pot if i wanted to!! (i probably wouldnt yet but you know!:P )which resistor and how big?

 

[PhotonWrangler]

You're talking surface mount resistors. You'll need a really teensy soldering iron tip for that! Soomewhere in the neighborhood of 1/64"

 

[sbk]

It's the two resistors that stays on top and bottom of the pot. There is marked "102" on the first and "202" on the second. 102 is 1kOhm, I've replaced it by a 270 Ohm. So the current is 390mA now...

I don't know the place to buy these resistors, I have mine from my work, we have all kinds and all values of resistors...

With a standard size (but good quality) solder iron I am able to sold these little resistors, so no problem if you are carefully /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
But sure these are very little components for persons who have never soldered that before.

 

[dustan]

I have soldered to the bios on my playstation 2 very small computerchip legs, it required a magnifying glass to solder, are these resistors smaller than that?

so you only replaced the 102kOhm with a 270 ohm and did nothing with the 202?

 

[Uisgdlyast]

look at a pic of the circuit board, the resistors are SMALL. I managed to solder one on after about an hour, i used an alligator clip. You can use a normal tip just be very very very careful, and you also need really good eyes and a steady hand.

Call electronics stores for the resistor, if you buy then online your looking at getting 500 of them.. and you only need 1, maybe 2 if you screw-up.

 

[dustan]

Also sbk, i understand you are not pleased with your laser from aberland/atlasnova. I agree 300mA is not good for a 5mw laser. Does anyone else have good/bad expirance with the aberland leadlights?

 

[LeaKeD]

I got my LeadLight from Abeland 5 days ago, and also not very pleased. I turned pot fully and Optical power reached 6.6mW max (5.8mW avg). have yet to read the current.

 

[Shiftlock]

LeaKeD, what are you using to measure the laser's output power?

 

[LeaKeD]

The school's PhotoMeter

 

[PhotonWrangler]

A good source of SM components including resistors is DigiKey.com

Another good one is Mouser Electronics

 

[sbk]

dustan, I think you will be able to sold these resistors, I don't used a magnifying glass to solder, and it take me about 2 seconds for solder a resistor...

No I'm not pleased with my new Leadlight from Abeland because it give only 10mW at max current! Very bad optical components alignement and not enough powerful laser diode. But I think (hope) the over lasers he sells are better than mine (just can't be worse at all), I just haven't luck... I've asked Abeland on details on my laser but he didn't respond, that irritate me.

LeaKeD, is your laser significantly more bright than before?

 

[LeaKeD]

sbk, It had No Significant Brightness..

I'm almost tempted to buy from WickedLasers if the next laser I buy from abeland is as bad as this one..

 

[sbk]

I advise you to buy a high spec from abeland, at least you will be sure it will output the specified power...
Wicked laser's seems very good products but you have to pay a certain amount of money!

 

[DaFiend]

Wicked's new page has alot more info then abeland, technical spec's etc. Chris also has a special on at the moment buy 1 high powered laser get a second one half price. Now thats a good deal. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/happy14.gif Overall i'm happy with wicked. still have to get my reds off arnold though

 

[nweibley]

I finished a mod (pot turning) and my leadlight is MUCH brighter now, which is a bonus, but!

I am getting a line of green laser light extending out from the point... it is as If the letter l had a instense dot in the middle.

Did I crack a lense or something? What could be causing this?