My DIY Blu Ray Laser Won't Work?

It's on an LM317 driver circuit (see picture). Using a 1K ohm potentiometer. Etched on home made PCB. 405 nm Blu Ray diode from xbox sled bought on eBay. Just looks like a low dim when on... HELP!!!

EDIT: No, it should be a burning laser... And did you say I should just get rid of the pot and replace it with a 10 ohm res. w/o a rheostat? So just take the pot out? There's already a 10 ohm resistor there. The pic should be fixed now too. Sorry about that... Thanks guys. PLEASE HELP!!!

EDIT: Oh and im using a 12 v power suppy.

EDIT: Yes it's a 12 v battery. I've got plenty of 18650's and a 4 cr123's. Which should I use? And what exactly is the current problem? Because I have 12 v now. I was before using a 9 v. So use a voltage 3-4 volts lower for higher mah? Why? Sorry, I'm kind of a noob here. Is it because the driver regulates current, not voltage?

EDIT: I just discovered that my pot is 10k ohms not 1k. Is this the problem? I'll stop by the shack and get a 1k pot and 25 rheostat and try both with a 9 v battery.

EDIT: So I re-did my whole driver, and now look at the second pictre. It's not working. With an LED or the LD. There is a jumper that you can not see under the pot that is Cathode. Which way do I turn the pot? Which way is the zero spot?

Picture doesn't work. If you mean the dot looks dim, that's normal for bluray lasers. What heatsink are you using?

What type of batteries are you using?

G3N1U5DUD3K1R4N said:

LM317 ,Using a 1K ohm potentiometer.

Click to expand...

Reference voltage for LM317 of 1.25/1000ohms = 1.25ma,
PHR's have a lasing threshold of between 22-35ma IIRC
Scrap the pot and just use a 10ohm resistor.
I'm guessing you got the pot at Radioshack, If thats the case go back and get the 25ohm rheostat. It's a little bigger but works the same.

I cant see a picture either.
You can't link a picture in your mailbox I don't think.

When you say 12v power supply, do you mean a battery? Because the thing at the bottom looks suspiciously like one of these Evans Cycles | GP GP23A 12V Battery | Online Bike Shop

If it is, that's your problem. at only 33 mah output, that battery will never source enough current to drive your diode well enough to even lase, much less burn anything. You'd need probably at least 4 or 5 of them in parallel to do any good. and even then, they likely wouldn't last too long.

My advice is to get a cheap cr123 or 18650 host, a microboost driver, a correct heatsink for an aixiz module appropriate for the host you choose, then put your diode in that.

qumefox said:

When you say 12v power supply, do you mean a battery? Because the thing at the bottom looks suspiciously like one of these Evans Cycles | GP GP23A 12V Battery | Online Bike Shop

If it is, that's your problem. at only 33 mah output, that battery will never source enough current to drive your diode well enough to even lase, much less burn anything. You'd need probably at least 6 or 7 of them in parallel to do any good. and even then, they likely wouldn't last too long.

Click to expand...

Thats exactly where i was heading with my post above.

25ohm rheostat and 9v battery is what I use on my ddl drivers. 1k pot will only lase at the lowest ohm spot. They usually have around 20 spots of resistance values. So the furthest spot would be 0 ohms the middle of the turn would be 500 ohms
( which added to your 10 ohm would make your total milliamps =2ma)not enough to lase a 5mw red diode.
1/4 turn would be 250+10 ohms = 4ma (still not enough)
1/8 turn = 125+10 ohms = 9ma (still not enough)

25 ohm rheostat + 10 ohm resistor = 35 ohms (will lase)
Rheostat turned all the way down will give you 125ma which I think is a good current for the PHR's, other members here think around 90ma is safe for long life.

On the higher ohm pots like 1k and up it is sometimes hard to find the 0 ohm spot again after it has been turned, which may be why your diode is dim besides the fact of the low ma 12v battery. If you open the battery up it's just a bunch of little button cells.