1mW 593.5nm Pen to TEC " Lab " Module .

Hey ,

This is something I have always wanted to try ; to turn a yellow pointer into a tec cooled bench laser module so after getting a 1mW 593.5nm pointer . that's what I did

I didn't take picture of the dismantling of the pen as it would make some people on here cry :/ , I removed the module with the use of a file and a vice and towel .

The TEC driver is a simple logic level mosfet , 10K pot and a 10K thermistor , the mosfet is used as a variable resistor . as the temperature increased the thermistors value drops increasing the mosfet gate voltage causing current to flow more though the TEC and vice versa ,

I removed the driver from the laser module and added 2 short wires to it . The TEC and module are glued to each other with arctic thermal glue and the thermistor is glued to the side just above the TEC surface and the drivers button was jumped and the driver its self was glued to the heat sink with arctic thermal glue .

Tec driver is fed from 5 Volts and the laser diode driver is fed from 3 volts @ 500ma draw .

Output is pretty stable over a 15 minuet run .

Pictures ...


IMG_0234 by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr


IMG_0228 by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr


IMG_0229 by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr


IMG_0230 by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr


IMG_0231 by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr


IMG_0232 by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

Very nice Twirly! I had considered doing something similar when I had my Rigel-6, though I was looking to have an exterior heatsink machined that would friction fit the OD of the pointer and then use a similar TEC thermal regulator for extended active thermal regulation as needed. In the end I wound up having to sell that 593.5nm pointer and never got to try the conversion project. It's the only laser I really miss terribly. (of all the ones I've had the only other I miss is the 750mW 405nm handheld, but that was a bit too dangerous).

Sigurthr said:

Very nice Twirly! I had considered doing something similar when I had my Rigel-6, though I was looking to have an exterior heatsink machined that would friction fit the OD of the pointer and then use a similar TEC thermal regulator for extended active thermal regulation as needed. In the end I wound up having to sell that 593.5nm pointer and never got to try the conversion project. It's the only laser I really miss terribly. (of all the ones I've had the only other I miss is the 750mW 405nm handheld, but that was a bit too dangerous).

Click to expand...

Thanks ! , originally I planed to do it with a 589nm pointer module , but the 593.5nm showed up so I went for it . I did think of doing a push fit heat sink with TEC's but as the TEC's and artic glue happened to be around I did it the way I did , just to never be taken apart again xD .

I have added a second TEC on the top of the module with its "hot" side on the module , I did this purely for the experimentation of it as I can control the temperature above room temperature and also gives better warm-up time over using the modules heat output alone .

I have found this module is a PTA when temperature is a issue , it will only give off green when its to hot or to cold and there is a sweet spot for the SFG to happen in this module ( its at it in pictures below , Edit - around 25.1C* )


IMG_0238[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr


IMG_0239[1] by TwirlyWhirly555, on Flickr

Very nice "ghetto" tec lab build!
+1 :beer:

Jim