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A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v labby

Brett

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I had been using my 15mw Aixiz labby (it's outputting quite a bit more than that I am quite sure...just how much I won't know until my Laserbee gets here) with various setups that I had just basically rigged up, making the whole thing precarious and fragile.  Finally, I decided to use this aluminum box I had sitting around for a better enclosure.  I wanted to add a toggle switch, plus some kind of port for external power from a wall adapter.  I ended up just using a Female RCA for that, since I had several solder type panel mounts in my junk drawer.   I've had that box so long that I can't even remember what it's original function was, but it was some sort of device I salvaged somewhere.  I've even used it for other projects in the past, but for now, it was going to serve my Aixiz labby.  It had a few holes already in it which used to contain potentiometers and a few other things, so the toggle switch and the RCA already had proper holes.  I had to widen out the one through which the laser beam would exit, since it wasn't quite positioned right.  Then after I heated up my hot glue gun and Weller soldering iron, everything took shape quickly.   Here are some pics:

 

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Brett

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

At this point, I had hot glued the 5vdc driver board and the heat sink in...here it is important to note that I placed an additional 2nd strip of perfboard under the module to provide insulation from the anodized aluminum case. I felt this was necessary since the C-mount IR pump diode usually has a + case which is tied to the heat sink. The - electrode of the power supply (as you can see in the first pic) is tied to the case, so there would be a short. If I was building a more powerful >100mw laser enclosure I would probably switch the power polarity around to correct this so as to allow the heatsink to gain additional heat release through contact with the case.

 

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Brett

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

Here was the initial test...everything working great, toggle switch is on in the down position.

 

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Brett

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

Here's a beam shot which also shows the back of the device. The markings are coincidental...although the "IN" right above the power connector worked out in my favor, however, the 9v 40ma marking over the switch is incorrect and irrelevant.

 

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Brett

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

Here's one last beam shot.  The nice thing about this project is that it only took me about an hour to and hour and a half to complete last night and now I have a labby which doesn't have to inconveniently sprawl out all over the place.  

My next move will be to make a 3xAA battery pack which terminates in a male RCA, which can mount on the top of this unit.  Then I will have the option of portable or wall adapter use.  This laser gives a nice visible beam at night and is spectacular in fog.  It is every bit as impressive as my Snoctony 50.  It will be nice to have portable 532nm dpss without the super high price of most other places.
 

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JLSE

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

Nice project! And soon you shall know its output ;)
 

Brett

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

DEFNET said:
I very much like it, and that case is the perfect size, what will you be using it for?

Thanks for your compliments on the build...I've mostly been using it as my general purpose heat sinked portable, except it's much cheaper than most heat sinked portables I've seen.  This laser has been rock solid stable, and the driver is excellent...it's really one of the best deals Aixis has (assuming these units are all comparable to the one I got).  I am now using it with a 3x AA battery pack and it's been going strong for two weeks of intermittent use on a set of Duracell Alkaline batteries.  It seems to put out a very consistent bright visible beam over the lifetime of the batteries.  When my laserbee gets here we will know what it's power rating is, but one thing's for sure, it looks more like 40 to 50mw to me rather than 15.  Unfortunately the case I used for this project wasn't quite large enough to house the battery pack on the inside, so I hotglued it to the top.  It has about a 2.5 inch cable with an RCA male on the end.  I can now use my RCA terminated wall adapter or battery pack to power this laser. It comes in handy for many different things...yes it has IR, but I have goggles.

-Brett
 
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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

Hey Brett....
                  nice Labby build.... but why would you go contrary to standards... :-?

As a common electrical standard... a toggle switch is always "ON" in the up
position.... just like a house light switch...  :cool:

BTW... don't forget to post the power of your Labby when your LPM shows up.. ;)

Jerry
 
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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

I'm with Brett on this one, toggle switches along with house switches have always been down for on in my world.  ;)

Nice labby setup too :D
 
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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

Viracocha said:
I'm with Brett on this one, toggle switches along with house switches have always been down for on in my world.  ;)

Nice labby setup too   :D

Brett is in the US not the UK and the norm... I believe... is the same as Canada... (UL... CSA...) :-?
with a House Light Switch Position... UP=ON and DOWN=OFF...  ::)

It could very well be that the Electrical System norms in the UK are different... :)

Anyone in the USA/Canada... please correct me if I'm off base here... :cool:


Jerry
 

JLSE

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

lasersbee said:
[quote author=Viracocha link=1230707972/0#9 date=1231850157]I'm with Brett on this one, toggle switches along with house switches have always been down for on in my world.  ;)

Nice labby setup too   :D

Brett is in the US not the UK and the norm... I believe... is the same as Canada... (UL... CSA...) :-?
with a House Light Switch Position... UP=ON and DOWN=OFF...  ::)

It could very well be that the Electrical System norms in the UK are different... :)

Anyone in the USA/Canada... please correct me if I'm off base here... :cool:


Jerry[/quote]

The only time ive ever seen a switch flipped down to turn on a light is when a single bulb is controlled by two switches. When you have a light above stairs, with a switch on the main floor, and another on the second floor. Other than that, not really.
 

Brett

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

I guess if I was going to sell something I had put in a case with a switch such as this, I would worry about conforming to U.L. or some standard, but mainly that switch was just a victim of someone who was in a hurry to have a portable heat sinked 532nm laser to run around the yard in fog with.

Here's the power I measured from the laser while being powered by 3 AA batteries, which had seen about a week or two of intermittent use (battery back measured 4.41v on my Fluke DMM).  I measured its power for about 5 mintues.

Not bad for a module that was spec'd at 15mw!
 

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Brett

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Re: A quick and dirty enclosure for my Aixiz 5v la

Here is the laser operating for 5 minutes (under measurement) with a Radio Shack adjustable wall adapter set for 4.5vdc....actual measured voltage: 5.5v

...despite the discrepancy between voltages and power readings, the beam still looks about as bright to my eyes and still very visible under battery power. At $46.00, that 15mw rated module is a really good deal if they are all like the one I got, I wish I could get a few more drivers like this one too!
 

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