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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

DIY - 15-20mW 635nm pointer

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Jul 8, 2007
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Just completed another mod; my Jetson's laser pointer!
hyperred_4.jpg


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
hyperred_1.jpg


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:
hyperred_2.jpg


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.
hyperred_3.jpg


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.
hyperred_7.jpg
 
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Joined
Apr 29, 2008
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Awesome!
The driver looks nice, "super stable laser output"
It's in a very sleek host which looks very cool.
But where did you get that 635nm diode?
 
Joined
Jul 8, 2007
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The diode is the sdl-7501. I've had these diodes for years now, got a good price on a bunch of them.
--> fractalfreak . com / wx / sdl-7501.pdf

I'm planning on making some keychain pointers, and maybe a few larger ones like this. Offering them for sale eventually.These diodes make an excellent pointers.
 

caleb

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Nov 27, 2007
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flogged said:
The diode is the sdl-7501. I've had these diodes for years now, got a good price on a bunch of them.
http://www.fractalfreak.com/wx/sdl-7501.pdf

I'm planning on making some keychain pointers, and maybe a few larger ones like this. Offering them for sale eventually.These diodes make an excellent pointers.
where can i but these, almost exactly what im looking for.
 
Joined
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I noticed the meredith assembly would get about body temperature warm after 15-30 minutes.

I went to a hardware store today, and located a fat brass washer to use as a heatsink. Not a perfect fit, outside diameter of the washer was a bit too large, as was the inside. I thermal epoxied the washer into place, connecting diode housing with flashlight head. This should allow heat to escape from the diode to the aluminum flashlight body. This thing runs very cool now. I've had it on for 5 hours straight, and the case is only a few degrees above ambient temp. No duty cycle. May get over 10 hours of battery life on alkalines. One advantage of the apc supply is constant brightness for many hours before fading.

I did a horrible glue job. One of the hazards of working after drinking :)

hyperred_5.jpg


After some black sharpie touch up

hyperred_6.jpg


Good bright red, with a long runtime :D
 
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caleb

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Nov 27, 2007
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flogged said:
Then I'd be afraid to ship you any LD's or pointers :(
there is nothing illegal with shipping laser components. plus, a diode has many more uses than just a laser.

also, i found some 7mw ld's on ebay. do you think there is much point in replacing a 5mw ld in the aixis module with the 7mw. could i crank it to 10mw.
 




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