405nm 150mW BLU-RAY ???

And... What should I do with the middle leg?

SNAKExBITE said:

And... What should I do with the middle leg?

Click to expand...

PHR pin-out

What two circuit boards between the pins? Where did you source your diode from?

(^I think SNAKExBITE will be referring to the ribbon soldered to the pins.)

This needs to be removed along with the small piece of plastic under it. Here's a quick video that shows you how -

http://laserpointerforums.com/f51/harvesting-phr-sled-45390.html

There is another method that desolders and removes the ribbon in less than a second but this can risk your diode by killing it with heat as you have to heat all three pins together and be as quick as possible. It's the technique many use but I'm not sure if there's a video for that one.

M

I desoldered the 3 PHR's I got from glenn and I didn't have issues with any of them. Not sure why people say they're sensitive. I didn't have issues and I wasn't treating it as anything special. Granted, you don't just want to hold the iron on one though.

Though by the fact I do component level electronic repair for a living, my soldering skills might have something to do with it. But I really didn't do anything special. Iron was set on 300C where I usually leave it, and I used a spring loaded solder sucker and did each pin individually. The diodes were still in the sled heatsinks when I did it, but only because it was convenient to leave them that way to hold them in the vice.

Thanks for the video! Thats exactly what I needed!!!

^ No problem! Good luck.

@ qumefox - Yes, you have a slight advantage there considering your job!

They can be a bit touchy for heat and as these are often used in first builds it's important to make it clear that heat is the enemy to be avoided at all costs. Otherwise I think you could guess what would happen. Minutes of desoldering and no working laser!

You may have been lucky if you were heating for a while, although I think a man of your calibre almost certainly wasn't, but it might also have been because you desoldered each pin seperately, (nothing wrong with that in the slightest! ). A lot of folks like to hit all three pins at once with a small blob of solder on the iron and quickly flip the ribbon and square plastic off with a pick in less than a second flat. It's a handy technique to learn when you're extracting lots of them but obviously increases the heat risk should you take too long.

M

No I wasn't holding the iron on them for long periods. Second or two at most. Just long enough to melt the solder. But still. I donno. Maybe i've been doing it so long I just can't imagine anyone taking *minutes* to desolder something.

I will add this advice to people though I guess. A good quality adjustable temp soldering iron is NOT *wasted money*. If someone was trying it with crappy fixed temp radioshack irons and happened to get one with a low thermostat... I could see how they could overheat a diode. Another thing. Higher heat (within reason) usually puts LESS heat into what your soldering.. because you don't have to have the iron applied to the part as long to melt the solder. But the best temps etc to use are usually stuff that comes with practice. Though 95% of my non-smd work is done at 300C.

By far the coolest laser I've played with so far!! Thank you guys for all your help!! Now I just need to find a host for it! Any ideas? .... P.S.... A host that can handle 6V...(4AA or 2CR123...etc)

qumefox said:

No I wasn't holding the iron on them for long periods. Second or two at most. Just long enough to melt the solder. But still. I donno. Maybe i've been doing it so long I just can't imagine anyone taking *minutes* to desolder something.

I will add this advice to people though I guess. A good quality adjustable temp soldering iron is NOT *wasted money*. If someone was trying it with crappy fixed temp radioshack irons and happened to get one with a low thermostat... I could see how they could overheat a diode. Another thing. Higher heat (within reason) usually puts LESS heat into what your soldering.. because you don't have to have the iron applied to the part as long to melt the solder. But the best temps etc to use are usually stuff that comes with practice. Though 95% of my non-smd work is done at 300C.

Click to expand...

The advise from qumefox is excellent! :bowdown: He is an individual that does this for a living so clearly the advice is sound. A temperature controlled iron is the way to go.

If you don't have a temperature contolled iron then just be careful.

M

I just thought of a good example of the high heat thing I was talking about earlier. Soldering on a heatsink heh. A lot of component heatsinks on boards, at least in TV's, are usually have tabs that are soldered to the boards, to keep themselves, and the parts they cool, from moving. If you try to solder these normally... It will never work. They conduct heat away faster your putting it in. Cranking up your iron and getting it done quick is the only way to do it. You can heat up a local area to the point solder melts, and finish the job, before the heat has time to conduct away from the area.

Don't do keep the temp cranked up all the time though or you'll be eating up soldering iron tips right and left, and some of the good ones aren't cheap. Reason is, most of them are plated copper. Once you burn off the plating and it's just copper, they disintegrate pretty fast.

Lastly, always tin your tip when your finished with your iron.

Ok. I'm done... and going to bed.