Well I had my GGW LED on me from clicking the tail swich on/off real fast. lol
So I bought a SF-AW210 sled, and made a new heatsink. In it is e-Bay 405-G 10mm module, and a rkcstr Micro-Drive V3 set @ 206ma (with a test load).
Just needs the spring pcb, and the driver heatsink to be trimed in this pic.





Ok so your thinking whats so hot potato¿ unther sf-aw in somthing that looks like a bell?

Well upon completing it, I put it on the LPM and it went up to 270mw befor I freaked out and turned it off. Thinking I had messed up the driver seting while installing it.

So I broke out the DMM and WOW!











The only downer is the splash.

NICE! I have the same Dmm, now go put that laser in a kryton!

Hi,

Isn't 206mA a bit high? I know the general consensus has been that SW-AFs are not as hardy as GGWs and the GGW's, 'Safe', running current is a suggested 190mA, (although this is not clear cut these days). A longer life current is around 170mA for these SW-AFs. Of course your, 'Hot Potato', may well last and it yours to do with as you like but I almost want to set a help line for it. "A star that burns twice as bright, burns for half as long!"

Let us know how the beastie does for lifetime.

What did you use for the heatsink etc?

All the best,

M

Yes 206ma is high I was trying to push it a bit, 210ma is the max if you whant it to last any decent amount of time from what ive read.
If lasts a couple mounths of medium use, it will have ben worth it.

The heatsink is made from a copper pipe reducer fitting and a bronze washer.
The two on the left in this pic are the main pieces, and the three on the left are other early variations of this one.



The copper pipe was widened so the bronze washer whould fit in and then used a couple hammers and a vice to work the copper around the washer.(a long forearm biulding prosces)
Some flux was added to the big rim of the waser, and silversolder was used to try and fill any tiny gaps left. Then ground down the bronze piece.
Added a back end of a aixis module(opened up and sanded down) I allso used a thin strip of copper to hold it in place.



Silver solder was the used to fill the lage gaps. Then ground/cut/sanded excess copper/solder and polished the front. The diode module was pressed in with a small amount of thermal epoxy. then in the first pic in my OP I made a copper piece as a heat sink for the driver thermal epoxyed the driver to it and then it to the main heatsink. Then used regular epoxy to attach a pcb with sprins.

Cool, nice innovation.... The SF-AW210 has its 'kink' at 185mA so under that is considered 'safe' over that is rapidly degrading the diode. I have an SF at 177mA putting out around 230mW, it seems to me you get more power from less current compared to the GGW, and some GGW batches are weak, and cant even take what an SF would.... I like this diode, half the price of a GGW and you can get the same power
But any way im with the other guy, let us know when it dies, it will help advance current research on the SF

Nice work. Clearly a lot of time and effort went into it. Considering the parts and processes involved, it's turned out quite nice too.

I like, 'from scratch', fabrication!

M

I had my SF-AW running at 180mA from flexdrive if I remember correctly, heatsinked quite well in an Aluminium sink, putting out 280mW with 405 lens - it lasted me a month of about-average use before LEDing. Hope yours lasts at least as long.

Damn only a month, tis to be expected but still, mines only 3mA lower than yours, I may have to turn my driver down a tad as I would like it to last a little longer, Ive had mine about a month already, I dont use it for more than a couple min a day, but i still am noticing a little degrading, I wouldnt care except I bought my SF from modwerx for cheap and now he doesnt stock them any more..... Dont want to pay more the $30 for it.....His was $28 and HTD is $40(in aixiz)

We used to pay <$300 for the GGW-H20L burners we had to harvest these out of. Enjoy this cheap bounty while it lasts. These sleds are NOT being manufactured anymore. ALL of these are salvaged, QC rejects, and engineering samples. Treat them nicely

Peace,
dave

This is the cheapest I have ben abile to find, and you get the whole sled.
SF-AW210 laser pickup Has 405nm 6x Blu-Ray laser diode - eBay (item 280485418725 end time Apr-27-10 02:12:56 PDT)

Did not know that.
I will remmeber that on my next build.