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Just completed another mod; my Jetson's laser pointer!
Hacked a $20-25 LED flashlight (2 AA) I'd purchased at Target. Put a 15-20 mW 635nm diode in there, housed in a Meredith assembly with a glass lens. The small ns102 is being used as the power supply ()
http://www.nvginc.com/ns102dri.htm
So yes this hack does have a proper regulator. This diode has already seen a few years use, prior to this transplant.
It was easy and enjoyable to mod this flashlight. A stout aluminum body comes apart in three places - back, middle and top. The first segment, near the business end, housed an optical thingy which sculpted the output of the LED (lumileds). The middle segment held the PCB containing the switch, regulator & LED. The PCB was held in place with a little spanner, so it was easy to extract it, disable the regulator and tap the batteries directly.
Image of flashlight, before I ripped out the LED to reach regulator & switch
I then cut a hole in the plastic lens on the front segment of the flashlight. This held the diode in the Meredith ldc-10 assembly, + the ns102 regulator. the regulator just fit when screwing these two pieces back together. I finished gluing the assembly after screwing these two bits together, so the wires would not get twisted.
Before mating switch with diode:
Very happy with this one. Feels solid, clicky is good, pointer feels good in hand. Plenty bright, there's a beam shot below. This diode consumes 70mA, so even using AA alkaline batteries it should last hours. Runs cool.
I was planning on selling it.. but after completing it I'm now too attached to it. Looks very orange compared to my 125mW DVD burner. my 125mW 655nm red does not appear more than 2x as bright, so this diode looks at least as bright as a 60mW DVD diode. Comparing 635 to 655 nm, 655 is a deep cherry red. 635nm looks more orange, it's a rose or pink color. Not a dramatic difference, but it's noticeable when comparing the two next to each other.
Here's the final pointer (as of 2012), after thermally mating a large brass washer to the diode housing and removing the black plastic to reveal its sexy all aluminum body. Still functional.
Hacked a $20-25 LED flashlight (2 AA) I'd purchased at Target. Put a 15-20 mW 635nm diode in there, housed in a Meredith assembly with a glass lens. The small ns102 is being used as the power supply ()
http://www.nvginc.com/ns102dri.htm
So yes this hack does have a proper regulator. This diode has already seen a few years use, prior to this transplant.
It was easy and enjoyable to mod this flashlight. A stout aluminum body comes apart in three places - back, middle and top. The first segment, near the business end, housed an optical thingy which sculpted the output of the LED (lumileds). The middle segment held the PCB containing the switch, regulator & LED. The PCB was held in place with a little spanner, so it was easy to extract it, disable the regulator and tap the batteries directly.
Image of flashlight, before I ripped out the LED to reach regulator & switch
I then cut a hole in the plastic lens on the front segment of the flashlight. This held the diode in the Meredith ldc-10 assembly, + the ns102 regulator. the regulator just fit when screwing these two pieces back together. I finished gluing the assembly after screwing these two bits together, so the wires would not get twisted.
Before mating switch with diode:
Very happy with this one. Feels solid, clicky is good, pointer feels good in hand. Plenty bright, there's a beam shot below. This diode consumes 70mA, so even using AA alkaline batteries it should last hours. Runs cool.
I was planning on selling it.. but after completing it I'm now too attached to it. Looks very orange compared to my 125mW DVD burner. my 125mW 655nm red does not appear more than 2x as bright, so this diode looks at least as bright as a 60mW DVD diode. Comparing 635 to 655 nm, 655 is a deep cherry red. 635nm looks more orange, it's a rose or pink color. Not a dramatic difference, but it's noticeable when comparing the two next to each other.
Here's the final pointer (as of 2012), after thermally mating a large brass washer to the diode housing and removing the black plastic to reveal its sexy all aluminum body. Still functional.
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