WTB: help a poor college student! 445nm diode or groove2 for my first laser build!

Here we are putting a high power 445nm Laser in the hands
of a new student Member.... (for all we know he's in 6th
grade).

Did anyone mention that he also need an appropriate pair of
Laser Safety Goggles/Glasses....

I hope his budget is not all used up......


Jerry

Hey xXDUNNXx, You will need a pair of appropriate safety glasses for this wavelength/power laser. Also We are going to need to see some identification...j/k If you succeed in repairing your laser be sure to realize that a 600mW laser is much stronger than a 200mW laser although both can cause irreparable eye damage if used improperly.
Here is a link to some goggles Laser Safety Goggles OD+5 OD+6 405nm 445nm 532nm | eBay

Thanks guys esp yobresal...I just got out of work...I had JUST enough for the groove2 and the lens! I can't wait till I get everything in and I can start the build. Exept the lens is coming from china -_- Only issue I forsee is that I've seen on the forums that heating the pins are bad for the diode...so how do I solder it? Just melt solder to the tip and flux the pins and pcb connections? And also...I have some arctic mx-4 leftover from my g73...and superglue...can I mix the two and use it to heatsink the board to the head? And as far as the goggles...I plan on getting some asap...by the time everything gets here I'll have a little money for them...

Only issue I forsee is that I've seen on the forums that heating the pins are bad for the diode...so how do I solder it?

Click to expand...

Meh. I have yet to kill a diode from soldering leads onto the pins.
Just pre-tin your wire and pins and be quick about it, don't cook the diode for a long time....
And ideally have the diode heatsinked inside it's module when you are soldering on the
leads if you are not yet comfortable of performing a quick job on the pins.

xXDUNNXx said:

Thanks guys esp yobresal...I just got out of work...I had JUST enough for the groove2 and the lens! I can't wait till I get everything in and I can start the build. Exept the lens is coming from china -_- Only issue I forsee is that I've seen on the forums that heating the pins are bad for the diode...so how do I solder it? Just melt solder to the tip and flux the pins and pcb connections? And also...I have some arctic mx-4 leftover from my g73...and superglue...can I mix the two and use it to heatsink the board to the head? And as far as the goggles...I plan on getting some asap...by the time everything gets here I'll have a little money for them...

Click to expand...

This method is also used when making wire-to-wire solders with small wire
Soldering diode pins takes a fraction of a second

Pre-tin BOTH the pins and the wire or solder pads

Use a small bit of flux on BOTH the pins and the wires/pads BOTH for the pre-tin and the final solder joint

I don't care if you use rosin core solder. USE THE FLUX!

Use a set of "extra hands" to align the pin with the wire/pad.

Make sure that they are side-by-side, touching, and secure

Get a small bit of solder on the tip of your soldering iron

"Touch" the melted solder on your iron to the pin to wire/pad joint

The solder will all flow together in a fraction of a second.

I recommend that you also use some shrink tubing to protect and reinforce the joint

You DO NOT "heat the joint" as with other solder jobs
You DO NOT place the solder source anywhere near the solder job

Only the melted solder on the tip of your iron should approach the pin to wire/pad joint

If the solder does not flow immediately, back off and start again. Recheck all of your placements and supports

If you are new to soldering, I recommend that you get yourself an old PCB and some scrap wire (etc.). Practice the above procedure until you can get a good solder in a fraction of a second.

Peace,
dave

okay, that sounds easy enough. I was actually on the neutrons robotics team for northeastern and i did most of the soldering jobs on all the electronics so I should be able to handle that.

Anybody on the Arctic MX-4 + superglue idea?

And which way does this lens go into the head when i recieve it...445nm Coated Glass Collimating Lens/M9P0.5 Metal Frame - eBay (item 260674686121 end time Jul-04-11 08:34:27 PDT)

and to anyone interested....i figured out the PERFECT way to mod the dilda for any small driver....if you take apart the clicky end of a 1 mode flashlight (broken coast led lenser) it houses a small circular circuit board with the spring...i desoldered the switch and replaced the + pad on it with a wire to feed the driver. i then cut the board to size and glued it in place.

shiny spot is the spring

The backside with the + connection ready to go once i get my parts in...

Here we are putting a high power 445nm Laser in the hands
of a new student Member.... (for all we know he's in 6th
grade).

Click to expand...

I am a sophomore in college studying computer science if the forum would like to know...but besides that, thanks for the heads up....I am aware of the dangers of lasers, high powered lasers, and especially 445nm lasers. I can assure you that as long as i do not own glasses this laser will NOT be used to burn anything, point indoors, or do anything that i would possibly endanger my eyes/health. It will be used in a legal manner outside.

lasersbee said:

Here we are putting a high power 445nm Laser in the hands
of a new student Member.... (for all we know he's in 6th
grade).

Did anyone mention that he also need an appropriate pair of
Laser Safety Goggles/Glasses....

I hope his budget is not all used up......


Jerry

Click to expand...

I am a sophomore in college studying computer science if the forum would like to know...but besides that, thanks for the heads up....I am aware of the dangers of lasers, high powered lasers, and especially 445nm lasers. I can assure you that as long as i do not own glasses this laser will NOT be used to burn anything, point indoors, or do anything that i would possibly endanger my eyes/health. It will be used in a legal manner outside.

Sorry for the double post. I just figured out the correct way to quote posts.