- Joined
- Jun 20, 2015
- Messages
- 255
- Points
- 43
NOTE- This is pic heavy. Please forgive me if the format comes out incorrectly, my intent is to have the pictures grouped in thumbnails so your screen doesn't get bombarded with pages of slowly loading partial images, only for them to finally load and then figure out that you really didn't need to look at any of them ;o)
Hi there! This is my first post, though I have actively been reading LPF over the last 3-4 years... keeping up with diode releases, looking at builds and learning from others. The first LOC build I made was a product of many many 10's of hours on this board reading about power supply design on the DDL thread, diode mounting, heatsinking and everything else I felt unclear about before beginning design. I love this hobby and want to thank everyone who has contributed on this board with questions, valuable information, amusing builds and eye candy.
On to this build-
I wanted to build a lab style laser with the ability to run at full or reduced output.. sometimes it's useful to NOT be operating at 2+ watts for many, many good reasons and thought it would be nice to have a deeper shade of blue to boot. I chose to use an M462 over the NUBM07E after way too much time spent learning about the 07E's beam characteristics and beam correction specifics, G-ball removal controversy and temperament before deciding that I wouldn't be happy with it without beam correction, that I'm not fully comfortable running it with it's G-ball removed and that I'll just save all that for the next build.
I wanted a linear regulator. I honestly don't fully trust Buck regulators to deliver output that will lend to the longest life possible for the diode and be trustworthy under almost any condition.. I'm sure they're great but I'd just rather build it myself and stay away from high frequency switching. Speaking of that, filtering high frequency line noise, squashing spikes and smoothing supply ripple is what the regulation circuit I built is all about. I wanted to be able to use a switching supply to the unit and be confident that the nasty, noisy SMPS garbage would be stripped down to humiliation, filtered, smoothed out and rock steady stable by the time it reached the diode.
In my opinion it's worth running 5% lower output if it amounts to 25% or possibly greater life for the diode, so I have one bank of resistors to program the LM-350 regulator(similar to LM317 but 3+ amps max instead of 1.5) at 1.74 amps at the high output mode... negligible power loss from 1.8A but should lend to a much longer life, another bank setting the LM-350 to 284mA for the low output. Everything is overbuilt... which means 5W resistors, intake and exhaust fans, LM-350 in TO-3 steel packaging ($!), high quality Panasonic and Nichicon low ESR ripple smoothing capacitors @ 11000 µF, polypropylene filter caps, tantalum bypass caps, RF choke and ferrite beads on power input and regulator output, solid core 14 gauge copper traces and silver solder is used throughout. Speaking of the solder, if you've ever worked with silver solder you'll understand why the joints look the way they do. It's a bit of a bitch.
The diode was purchased from the wonderful DTR, awesome G7 lens from Podo and a Z-Bolt diode heatsink directly from Z-Bolt.
There's a Lasorb on the way for it.
On to the pictures :0)
Hi there! This is my first post, though I have actively been reading LPF over the last 3-4 years... keeping up with diode releases, looking at builds and learning from others. The first LOC build I made was a product of many many 10's of hours on this board reading about power supply design on the DDL thread, diode mounting, heatsinking and everything else I felt unclear about before beginning design. I love this hobby and want to thank everyone who has contributed on this board with questions, valuable information, amusing builds and eye candy.
On to this build-
I wanted to build a lab style laser with the ability to run at full or reduced output.. sometimes it's useful to NOT be operating at 2+ watts for many, many good reasons and thought it would be nice to have a deeper shade of blue to boot. I chose to use an M462 over the NUBM07E after way too much time spent learning about the 07E's beam characteristics and beam correction specifics, G-ball removal controversy and temperament before deciding that I wouldn't be happy with it without beam correction, that I'm not fully comfortable running it with it's G-ball removed and that I'll just save all that for the next build.
I wanted a linear regulator. I honestly don't fully trust Buck regulators to deliver output that will lend to the longest life possible for the diode and be trustworthy under almost any condition.. I'm sure they're great but I'd just rather build it myself and stay away from high frequency switching. Speaking of that, filtering high frequency line noise, squashing spikes and smoothing supply ripple is what the regulation circuit I built is all about. I wanted to be able to use a switching supply to the unit and be confident that the nasty, noisy SMPS garbage would be stripped down to humiliation, filtered, smoothed out and rock steady stable by the time it reached the diode.
In my opinion it's worth running 5% lower output if it amounts to 25% or possibly greater life for the diode, so I have one bank of resistors to program the LM-350 regulator(similar to LM317 but 3+ amps max instead of 1.5) at 1.74 amps at the high output mode... negligible power loss from 1.8A but should lend to a much longer life, another bank setting the LM-350 to 284mA for the low output. Everything is overbuilt... which means 5W resistors, intake and exhaust fans, LM-350 in TO-3 steel packaging ($!), high quality Panasonic and Nichicon low ESR ripple smoothing capacitors @ 11000 µF, polypropylene filter caps, tantalum bypass caps, RF choke and ferrite beads on power input and regulator output, solid core 14 gauge copper traces and silver solder is used throughout. Speaking of the solder, if you've ever worked with silver solder you'll understand why the joints look the way they do. It's a bit of a bitch.
The diode was purchased from the wonderful DTR, awesome G7 lens from Podo and a Z-Bolt diode heatsink directly from Z-Bolt.
There's a Lasorb on the way for it.
On to the pictures :0)
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