Red DIY DVD laser burner.

Burns,
I have a DX 30 and it only draws 260. mA. Not enough!
It's quality, but I've read it burns matches, but not for me. That's focused!

You can give it more volts for a cure.
Let us all know what you find.
[smiley=beer.gif]

First off this is my first post and hello everyone!

Here's a table I made for different loads on the charge pump current regulator in the 41-4262 dorcy 1 watt LED flashlight

Load Current(mA) Voltage
8.11ohm 350 2.85
9.08ohm 350 3.07
10ohm 340 3.20
open circuit 0 5.05

As you can see the circuit does a good job of maintaining constant current until the resistance gets too high and the charge pump can't keep up. Luckily our GB diodes are acting approximately like 8 ohm resistors so we are well within the performance range of the flashlight's charge pump.

To comment on kdubbz burning out multiple diodes I am not surprised. My first attempt I used a 33ohm shunt resistor in parallel with the diode to draw some of the current away from the diode. I wound up with 280mA through the diode and burned it up after about 1 hour total on time keeping duty cycle under 1 minute. This was with a large copper heat sink press fit onto the back of the laser module similar to kenom's aluminum spacer. For my next attempt I'm ordering some peltiers which i will cram into the head. I will have a copper heat sink going from the diode to the cold side of the peltier and as big of an aluminum heat sink i can fit going from the hot side of the peltier and glued into the head with thermal epoxy. I will post results when I have this built in a couple weeks to see if I get satisfactory cooling. If it works out I'll post my circuit and the peltier I used along with pics. BTW I have both a mill and lathe and make the heat sinks myself.

As for AJ_Dual's comment, 350mA reducing the diodes life by 95% may not be that liberal of an estimate. In mine and kdubbz's cases we reduced the life over 99%. I'm not sure how anyone is having success running with the full 350mA and not burning up their ld rapidly. I would suggest trying a 1/2 watt 20ohm resistor in parallel with the diode which should give about 200mA flow through the diode and 150mA through the resistor. This value is a based on the results I got with the 33ohm resistor. You'll still want a cap in parallel with the ld as well. I would guess it would still be a good burner at 200mA and last much longer, maybe hundreds of hours.

Well you all that have toasted diodes. feel bad not at all. I've toasted 4 in the last 9 lasers I've made. All of these diodes have personalities of thier own and some just go easier. Don't give up and keep reading. We all learn a little bit more each and every time we make a mistake and it's continuing to go on that makes us better.
;D ;D ;D ;D

Kenom - So in your opinion, are the open cans worth the risk?

-mrb

They are. I'm purchasing some known drives with open cans so that I can experience the difference myself. I've yet to get an open can in any of the drives I've harvested so I cannot personally say that they are better. hemlock Mike however will tell you nice stories bout how much he's acheived with an open can. Now we've all see the thread on CPF showing the 400mw from an open can. Senkat however noticed that he was not using the ND filter so the reading was not being accurately filtered. So was wildly high. Choose yourself from the info available here. Talk to mike and Gazoo who have used open cans. Ask them if they think it's worth the work and hassle. I think it is.

Kenom,
When you get one working, you will never go back...lol. Enough said.

I just suceeded in popping a black baloon at 25 FT. with my latest DIY dorcy JR.

I found a way to get the included lense out without drilling/cutting it out in case someone wants to use it for the cover or as a stencil to make a different cover. I'll be honest, I'm not sure what exactly did it though :-[, but I put it in boiling water for a while, put some isopropyl alcohol around it, and punded the crap out of it. I think it was glued in, so I was trying to melt or dissolve the glue. I think all that softened it and the pounding with the end of a regular old Bic ballpoint pen finally got it out. It did take a long time and a lot of force to get it, but it finally came out ;D. I think I'm just going to drill a hole in mine to use as the cap and possibly paint or Sharpie it black if I don't like the looks of the clear. I think this will end up being a more water/dust/other-crap-resistent cover since it will fit in and work with the included o-ring better. If anyone wants to do this, good luck and keep at it as it may take a while.

With my Dorcy mod all I did was use a large hex/torx driver and hit it with a hammer from the side... it popped the plastic sideways and was as easy to pull out as it is to put it back in

--DDL

Just a thought...

If anyone wants to reduce the current into the LD using this dorcy torch you could try a basic resistor based current divider (suitable resistor in parallel with another suitable resistor + LD). I haven't tried it with the boost circuit b4 but if someone is in the process of making a laser with the mini dorcy you could try this setup with a plain LED first and see if it works.

And, this is the cheapest I have found (I need an online shop -> I'm in Aus):

www.drillspot.com/products/289871/DORCY-INTERNATIONAL_41-4262_1WALU-3VLith-Flashlight

If anyone know of a cheaper place let me know.

Thanx

** DDL EDIT: Fixed Link **

That's pretty cheap!!

Nice find

--DDL

eXcellent find!!  I'm still paying $19.99 for mine.  Luckily like the dorcy metal gear, target hasn't stopped carrying these.  So far I've bought them out of stock 5 times!~!!!!!  Maybe dorcy will see target's sales on this particular flashlight and not wanna discontinue it!

yes8s, i'm not sure if that website you mentioned ships worldwide, as I recall reading somewhere that it won't accept international shipping addresses..please let me know if they do send it, as i'm also from Aust and have been looking for a place where I could purchase some more of these. Cheers

Trist i live chatted with them online this morning an they said they won't ship these particular Dorcy flashlights here to Australia

I read somewhere that maybe we can make a deal with SenKat : or someone else (if you/I are getting GB diodes) to get them to purchase and send out these torches on our behalf (we'll pay them ofcourse) Just ask maybe...?

:-/ We may need your help fellow US LPF members.. :-/

I'd be happy to buy and ship for anyone interested. you pay shipping and real cost of the light.