Laser Collimator woes...

[justin138]

Hello all,

Well, I thought as the weather is going to be bad for a few days, I'd try and sort my laser collimator out. The laser diode bit isn't in the housing parallel as confirmed by pointing it at a wall whilst it was in a test jig and rotating it. The thing is, a few tweaks of the three bolts holding the diode in place and it's well and truly messed up now.

Soooooooooo..........does anyone have a foolproof method for aligning the laser as I have fiddled with the bolts to no avail.

Thanks in advance,

Justin

[George]

http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=520

[justin138]

Excellent link Upgrader, thank you. I tried rotating 90 degrees, marking on the paper then marking the centre of the four dots then aligning the laser to that but to no avail. I would have thought that the four dots I marked would give a square but it was a wonky shape with no parallel sides. Wonder if my jig was to blame, it was a catfood box with some cutouts in it!

Will try the one in the link and have another crack before I give up and give it away to someone with more patience than me!

Cheers

Justin

[justin138]

Thanks to the excellent link posted by Upgrader, the laser is now collimated and back in service.

Moral: Don't use a catfood box as a jig for your laser, do the job properly!

Cheers

Justin