How should I mod my green laser pointer?

[ROCKET100]

Hi everyone,
I bought this 5 Mw green laser pointer from ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Green-Beam-Laser-Pointer-Pen-5mW-532nm-Perfect-Finish_W0QQitemZ280358593947QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item4146aca59b#ht_3738wt_941

I heard that people pot mod their green laser to make it more
powerful, but that decreases the diode's life drastically. I want my
green laser to be able pop balloons but not have a short diode life
time. Is there anyway to mod it without shortening the lifetime?

Thanks!

- Henry

[Billy Crook]

There's a million ways to mod anything. I doubt there is any way to
make a laser diode brighter without decreasing the life. You might be
able to remove the polarizer/filter. Tweaking the potentiometers just
until the beam starts to split is how I made mine so bright. It uses
more electricity, gets hotter, and I'm sure reduces the life some.
Mine doesn't pop baloons either.

[ROCKET100]

On Nov 5, 8:00 pm, Billy Crook <billycr...@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 18:56, ROCKET100 <battery...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > Hi everyone,
> >   I bought this 5 Mw green laser pointer from ebay:

> >http://cgi.ebay.com/Green-Beam-Laser-Pointer-Pen-5mW-532nm-Perfect-Fi...

>
> > I heard that people pot mod their green laser to make it more
> > powerful, but that decreases the diode's life drastically. I want my
> > green laser to be able pop balloons but not have a short diode life
> > time.
> > Is there anyway to mod it without shortening the lifetime?
>
> There's a million ways to mod anything.  I doubt there is any way to
> make a laser diode brighter without decreasing the life.  You might be
> able to remove the polarizer/filter.  Tweaking the potentiometers just
> until the beam starts to split is how I made mine so bright.  It uses
> more electricity, gets hotter, and I'm sure reduces the life some.
> Mine doesn't pop baloons either.

So if I used this mod: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf3M-_RUSCM

How long do you think it would last?

[Cory Kennedy]

I say, at that price, buy 2 and experiment with the mod.  Then report the results. Namely, how long it lasted.

[Bill Swearingen]

Hey Henry,

The "Ebay Laser" as it is called in the scene is very well known and documented on pot modding.  A simple search for http://www.google.com/search?q=pot+mod+ebay+laser will show you a lot of the results that people have had. My opinion is that if you start pot modding your laser, you can expect your diode to die in about 1-2days. 

Truth be told: You will never pop a balloon with a 5mw green laser.  I have a 135mW greenie that I built (some of you saw it at the bar the night that PS:One guys came to town) which can pop a balloon, but does not do it consistancy.

a few things about green lasers:  THEY ARE DANGEROUS.  Yeah I know I didnt really understand this when I began playing with them (a few months before the laser graffiti night) but as I have grown to understand HOW they work, I finally grasp why they are so dangerous.  There is no such thing as a diode-based green laser.  What you have is a IR laser that has been pumped through a set of crystals to appear to your eye as green.  Because cheap lasers do not include an IR filter, if you were to point your greenie at the wall you can see a small green dot. What you are not seeing is the much larger surrounding circle of focused InfraRed light. (While our eyes cannot see IR, they can MOST CERTAINLY be damaged by it)  This is why they are so dangerous.

If you want my advice:  Dont mod your greenie.  Keep it and do neat things with it.  If you want a laser you can pop a balloon & Light a match with, build a blu-ray laser.  The blu-ray beam is just a few nm from the ultraviolet spectrum (the opposite end from IR) which is much better at burning things.  Dont tell anyone but I have enough pieces to build about 50 complete blu-ray lasers (diodes, cans, hosts, batteries, etc).  If you are interested in building one I suggest you read my article on i-hacked and then ask me for some newer advice if you want to get going.  (I found a much cooler host) 

Have fun & be safe -- lasers are cool.

-Bill

[oren...@gmail.com]

Lasers can cool:


http://www.rp-photonics.com/optical_refrigeration.html

On Nov 6, 7:15 am, Bill Swearingen

<hevn...@cowtowncomputercongress.org> wrote:
> Hey Henry,
>
> The "Ebay Laser" as it is called in the scene is very well known and

> documented on pot modding.  A simple search forhttp://www.google.com/search?q=pot+mod+ebay+laserwill show you a lot of the

> results that people have had. My opinion is that if you start pot modding
> your laser, you can expect your diode to die in about 1-2days.
>
> Truth be told: You will never pop a balloon with a 5mw green laser.  I have
> a 135mW greenie that I built (some of you saw it at the bar the night that
> PS:One guys came to town) which can pop a balloon, but does not do
> it consistancy.
>
> a few things about green lasers:  THEY ARE DANGEROUS.  Yeah I know I didnt
> really understand this when I began playing with them (a few months before
> the laser graffiti night) but as I have grown to understand HOW they work, I
> finally grasp why they are so dangerous.  There is no such thing as a
> diode-based green laser.  What you have is a IR laser that has been pumped
> through a set of crystals to appear to your eye as green.  Because cheap
> lasers do not include an IR filter, if you were to point your greenie at the
> wall you can see a small green dot. What you are not seeing is the much
> larger surrounding circle of focused InfraRed light. (While our eyes cannot
> see IR, they can MOST CERTAINLY be damaged by it)  This is why they are so
> dangerous.
>
> If you want my advice:  Dont mod your greenie.  Keep it and do neat things
> with it.  If you want a laser you can pop a balloon & Light a match with,
> build a blu-ray laser.  The blu-ray beam is just a few nm from the
> ultraviolet spectrum (the opposite end from IR) which is much better at
> burning things.  Dont tell anyone but I have enough pieces to build about 50
> complete blu-ray lasers (diodes, cans, hosts, batteries, etc).  If you are
> interested in building one I suggest you read my article on

> i-hacked<http://www.i-hacked.com/content/view/272/90/>and then ask me

> for some newer advice if you want to get going.  (I found a
> much cooler host)
>
> Have fun & be safe -- lasers are cool.
>
> -Bill
>

> On Thu, Nov 5, 2009 at 6:56 PM, ROCKET100 <battery...@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > Hi everyone,
> >   I bought this 5 Mw green laser pointer from ebay:
>

> >http://cgi.ebay.com/Green-Beam-Laser-Pointer-Pen-5mW-532nm-Perfect-Fi...

[ROCKET100]

On Nov 6, 7:52 am, "orenb...@gmail.com" <orenb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Lasers can cool:
>
> http://www.rp-photonics.com/optical_refrigeration.html
>
> On Nov 6, 7:15 am, Bill Swearingen
>
>
>
> <hevn...@cowtowncomputercongress.org> wrote:
> > Hey Henry,
>
> > The "Ebay Laser" as it is called in the scene is very well known and

> > documented on pot modding.  A simple search forhttp://www.google.com/search?q=pot+mod+ebay+laserwillshow you a lot of the

What about this? : http://www.ehow.com/how_4768641_green-laser-pointer-power-mw.html

Could somebody explain how to do this?

[Cory Kennedy]

Thanks for the info Bill.  I havent checked your article yet, but want to take my 360 external HDDVD drive laser and do the same thing.

Ill read up, and see how far i get on my own, when/if i hit a stopping point then ill be back to comment. ;)

Thanks,
Cory

[Craig Berscheidt]

I didn't know about the wavelength doubling on green lasers.  I had a project with Wiimote tracking where I tried to use recycled CD laser diodes as light sources, but it didn't work out as planned.  I could see a bright spot using a CCD camera on the surface I was trying to use, but I could never get the Wiimote to track it.  I wanted to try it out again with a proper IR laser module, but now I'm wondering if a cheap low wattage green laser might produce a nice reflected IR spot at the proper wavelength for tracking.

-Craig