"Jim Thompson" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com...
So now I need pointers on how to collimate/focus an IR beam so it
> doesn't spread out too much at 60' range.
>
> Ideas?
Not so much on the collimation, but for testing you'll find that pretty much all contemporary digital cameras will let you "see" the IR coming from your LEDs. By holding a sheet of paper or similar in front of them as a target, you should be able to get some idea of how collimated the beam is or isn't.
You probably already knew this, though. :-)