DIY Homemade laser diode driver

Skram0 said:

[quote author=amkdeath link=1185701612/750#759 date=1200765936]there are also other options, like the fusion drives, going for $4 ea + 1.50 shipping in the group buys section

those work with bluray and red diodes, and fit in your axiz housin, and are VERY TINY

Click to expand...

I'm trying to figure how the fusion drivers can fit in an AixiZ housing. His dimensions are "0.693" by 1" or 17mm by 25.4mm". But the free space in an AixiZ housing is 0.41" by 0.75" or 10.3mm by 19.1mm and that doesn't count the leads of the diode. I'm thinking of getting a couple to see anyway, but I wouldn't think it'd fit in that housing unless the ones I have are much smaller than the norm.  :-?[/quote]

he said he made liek a revision or something and now they are even smaller, and they DO fit in the aixiz. other options would be the rckstr drives, they are micro sozed, but not out yet, as he is tied up with school.

FITF is also doing a micro sized board, but his boards dont come with components and you must solder them on yourself. the good part is that his boards are 55 cents a piece.

amkdeath said:

FITF is also doing a micro sized board, but his boards dont come with components and you must solder them on yourself. the good part is that his boards are 55 cents a piece.

Click to expand...

FITF? Who's that? Where are those at?

Skram0 said:

[quote author=amkdeath link=1185701612/765#768 date=1201131761]FITF is also doing a micro sized board, but his boards dont come with components and you must solder them on yourself. the good part is that his boards are 55 cents a piece.

Click to expand...

FITF? Who's that? Where are those at?[/quote]

FITF: Fusion is the Future

check the group buys section

Dude, we never said there was something wrong with the circuit. I'm not explaining anything, here's the link to the thread:
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1201137393/0

adgmeijin said:

HI Daedal some body says that your LD circuit was wrong to drive DVD LD burner, i dont believe on that cuz i run your LD circuit with my blu-ray using 6pcs LR44 to have 9V, i have my driver using yours, im planning to use alkaline or rechargeable CR2 batteries to fit 55mm x 25mm dia. battery space, here's my DVD laser burner body with your LD driver inside it. take a look. please help me with this i cant continue my project because of the battery or circuit problem , whatever...

Click to expand...

Seriously this is getting old. In one post you claim Daedal's driver is worthless, then you claim it works. We have pointed out all of the reasons why an open can might not be suited for your host, given you suggestions and so on, and you are not satisfied Furthermore, I suggest rather than starting an argument, you PM Daedal.

ok fine, forget that ... i will try to make it in my own risk.. thank you for your lots of suggestions.

Gazoo said:

Seriously this is getting old. In one post you claim Daedal's driver is worthless, then you claim it works. We have pointed out all of the reasons why an open can might not be suited for your host, given you suggestions and so on, and you are not satisfied Furthermore, I suggest rather than starting an argument, you PM Daedal.

Click to expand...

[smiley=tekst-toppie.gif]

I got here late and I didn't read the 52 or so pages so I don't know if this has been answered yet... I'm using a SONY 16X Laser Diode. I got it from Stonetek.org a while back and I think the product code is SLD1236V or something... If I were to run it of 2 AA's (3V I think) would I need a driver? Could I just use a 5/10 ohm resistor, a 2 AA source, and a 47 uF capacitor wired together? Not even on a board? Or would 3V with 10 ohm resistance fry it really fast? I am really confused because I have never soldered parts onto a board and I wouldn't even know where to put them unless I had an exact picture wit hthe exact same parts. Please help me out. P.S.> sorry about the looong question...

Two 10 ohm resistors in parallel and a capacitor would offer some protection, but it's better if you make the entire driver, here's a list from radioshack of all the things you need in order to make the driver. Just choose between the 1k ohm pot and the rheostat, the rheostat controlls the current going to the diode and is more accurate, but the drawback is that it's huge, the 1k ohm pot is small, but it's a little hard to adjust because 1 single turn is about 70 ohms of resistance. Just choose one.
    [smiley=smiley_down.gif]
    [smiley=smiley_down.gif]
    [smiley=smiley_down.gif]
    [smiley=smiley_down.gif]

And here's a pic of how to wire up the driver.

someone lock this thread plz...

Thanks for the answers I was reaaalllly confused

One more thing. All my radioshack had was a 10 0hm 1-watt resistor, and a 25 0hm potentiometer. Would these parts work? I heard the potentiometer will work but I don't know about the resistor. Sorry if this is a total noob question... I am a noob I guess... thanks for whatever feedback I get in advanced

Yup that works, just make sure you place the two 10ohm resistors in parallel, that way you'll get 5ohms of resistance, like this:

I don't know if I did something wrong. I built this circuit almost exactly, no 100ohm pot so I used resistors in series. I used a 9v battery instead of 2 3v and I used a bluray diode instead of a 650nm red. I tried the resistor at 200ohm with a red laser first, it was bright on the wall. Then I wired the bluray diode and it was very faint and unfocused in the axiz housing, i turned the focusing each way as much as I could with little effect, by this time the diode became so hot the hot glue melted holding it on? I was confused so I thought to try it at 100ohm and then 50ohm with the red laser first then the bluray with the same results, bluray looks no brighter with more milliamps. I then tried kipkay's circuirt (9v and 150ohm resistor) since I didn't think it was going to work i didn't build it in the first place but I figured what the hell now. I tried it and same result, it is dim and unfocused, it also becomes very hot. Any input?

The LM317 is no mystery and very easy to work with. The following calculations always apply since it uses 1.25 volts for its reference voltage, and ohms's laws don't lie.

To calculate the resistor needed for a given current, take 1.25 and divide it by the current. So say you want to drive a SenKat diode with 250 ma's. 1.25 divided by .250 = a 5 ohm resistor.

Another way you could do this is to take 1.25 and divide it by the resistance. 1.25 divided by 5 = .250.

Next you will want to calculate the wattage of the resister needed. We know 1/2 watt resistors are common for use with the regulator. But to figure it out, simply take the 1.25 and multiply it times the current. 1.25 times .250 =.3125 watts.

The rule of thumb for the voltage going into the regulator is it should be 3 volts more than the voltage going to the diode. A SenKat diode running at 250ma's will have about 3 volts across it. Therefore a minimum if 6 volts is needed.
I recommend 6 nimh batteries or 2 RCR123's for use with Daedal's driver.

This is why you need at least 8 volts to run the blu-ray. You will find when you have it hooked up, the voltage across it will be appx. 5 volts. But since it will only draw ~38ma's, you can run it with a 9 volt battery.

To learn more about ohms law go here:

http://www.the12volt.com/ohm/ohmslaw.asp