First laser build have a question...

So I am looking in to building a 2.5w 455nm laser in a C6 host. I plan on using the round battery blank pill from Survival Laser. This way I can easily change between different laser modules in the same host with the least amount of hassle. What good quality/reliable adjustable driver should I use in combination with the following build:

• 2.5w 455nm 5.6mm Blue Diode $42.00
  
• 5.6mm Module W/405-445nm Three Element Glass lens $15.00 https://sites.google.com/site/dtrlpf/home/diode-modules
  
• C6 Host $11.82 C6 DIY LED Flashlight Full Casing/Shell with Driver Pill (2*CR123A/1*18650) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme
  
• Driver ? ? ?
  
• Batteries $3.21 https://www.dxsoul.com/product/ultr...on-5800mah-battery-red-901299074#.VL6MXSvF_mc
  
• Heatsink $7.99 Black Anodized Aluminum Heat Sink
  
• Blank Battery Pill Board $4.99 Survival Laser Driver
  
• Lens Cap $0.49 Silicone Lens Cap
  
• Total $88.71
  

Thanks for your help!

Don't buy those battery cells. Get some
good eFest or Panisoniac. I recommend
getting either 2x18350 or 2x18650 and a
battery extension tube. Then use an
X-Drive or survival laser driver at 1.8A to
keep the heat down in that small host.
Watch your run time. Shut it down when it
starts getting warm. It will happen pretty
fast. You may need to drill out the pill
to get the module to fit.

Try to get a very small nonlinear driver. I learned the hard way that generic chinese laser pointer drivers will not fit in the pill. Then I ordered a very small 1x1cm linear driver set to 500mA from an ebay member who doesn't sell them anymore. It created so much heat that it destroyed itself. Then I bought a generic chinese round boost driver that fit the pill. First it burned out a red LPC-836, then a $60 Oclaro.
Just be careful to use only drivers from the LPF or SL for your C6 build

The Lightning Stalker said:

Don't buy those battery cells. Get some
good eFest or Panisoniac. I recommend
getting either 2x18350 or 2x18650 and a
battery extension tube. Then use an
X-Drive or survival laser driver at 1.8A to
keep the heat down in that small host.
Watch your run time. Shut it down when it
starts getting warm. It will happen pretty
fast. You may need to drill out the pill
to get the module to fit.

Click to expand...

How fast is pretty fast? Would an adjustable driver work better?

What other host would you recommend? I am open to suggestions but would like to stay around this same form factor size. I saw some pretty nice one-off hosts in the for sale section here, but nothing currently for sale that catches my eye.

Thanks for the info on the batteries.

AgentMcBaine said:

Try to get a very small nonlinear driver. I learned the hard way that generic chinese laser pointer drivers will not fit in the pill. Then I ordered a very small 1x1cm linear driver set to 500mA from an ebay member who doesn't sell them anymore. It created so much heat that it destroyed itself. Then I bought a generic chinese round boost driver that fit the pill. First it burned out a red LPC-836, then a $60 Oclaro.
Just be careful to use only drivers from the LPF or SL for your C6 build

Click to expand...

Thanks for the warnings/information.

ThatDumbUser said:

How fast is pretty fast?

Click to expand...

I don't know exactly. I've never tried an
M140 in a C6 style host. Looking around
older threads, maybe 20-30 seconds.

ThatDumbUser said:

Would an adjustable driver work better?

Click to expand...

Not necessarily. Fixed drivers are usually
better unless you are planning on changing
the current setting at some point.

ThatDumbUser said:

What other host would you recommend?

Click to expand...

The same C6 with an extended heatsink or
better something with a little more
heatsinking capacity, such as a sinner MS
or something along those lines.

wow
see all the great help you got already??

please do us and yrself two huge favors-

1) put your (general) location in yr profile here.
2) make a nice 'intro' thread and place it in our welcome section ( where you will ALSO find some of the most important stickies well worth reading all of them)

after you do that you can expect lots of 'welcomes' from the forum and maybe get friended by some members who live close to you-also check out the LPF socail groups --many are location specific- like mine LoneStarLaserFans-

while most here really want to help - but its expected that members at least attempt using the search feature- no 'hits'? try differEnt search terms. ( FOR FUTURE REF ONLY)

I have a +6 rep bump for you when you have followed thru-

have a great day!! hK