"Meat Plow" wrote in message
news
On Thu, 07 Dec 2006 23:21:29 -0800, aasdf Has Frothed:

Thanks for the replies guys. Didn't realize this would generate so
much controversy. I'm just a shmo who had a piece of equipment he
thought wasn't ever going to work again, and certainly wasn't willing
to pay half the purchase price to get it fixed. I definitely am not an
engineer nor would I recommend any electronic repairman do what I did.
But I didn't have any fancy gadgets that you mention to analyze the
system, I just had a philips head screwdriver. I don't even know what
that pot does! I assume it turns up the power of the laser. But I was
just thrilled it worked at all that I figured I'd put it here for
anybody who is my situation. It was a little project to distract
myself from studying for finals

Keep up the good work and thanks for the informative replies!

aasdf

LOL some of these guys get a little over zealous. I knew from your initial
post that you really had nothing to lose by what you did. And I support
tinkerers and experimenters in the right situations. I'm self taught
myself. 51 yrs old that soldered his first joint back in 1969 when I was
taken in by a hobbiest and taught the rudimentary skills. I've done
factory service for a whole slew of brand names since then. I specialize
now in professional audio, mostly high wattage solid state power amps and
tube amps.


I know what you're saying Meat, but I think you are missing the point of
what I was saying. Any of us on here that are professionally involved in
electronics service, could see the post and the poster for what it was, and
I really didn't have a problem with him getting his (old) unit going by
tweaking the pot - we've all done it. But by the same token, there are other
amateurs that come on here to learn, and if they are going to do that, they
might as well learn properly, as I am sure that you have done over the years
after your hobbyist start. No one would advocate twiddling with pots that
you don't even know what they do, and in the case of a laser power pot, it
is one of the surest ways to compound whatever the original problem was.
That was all I was trying to say for the benefit of learners who wanted the
professional take on whether or not it was a good idea to attack this pot as
a means of diagnosing a bad laser. Just as a matter of interest, we're about
the same age so have come through the rapid advancement of microelectronics
together. I don't know about you, but I find it harder and harder to keep up
as the years roll by. I don't know whether its that the technology is
advancing so fast, or whether I've lost the enthusiasm of youth, but I seem
to find myself just not wanting to be bothered with it all any more. Was the
time when I read nothing but technical journals. These days, I get more out
of reading the newspaper ... ;~)

Arfa