Possible 4 Laser Diode Project from an old Mag Light?

wow, i really hope your idea works, it sounds great!

AUTO XX said:

Don't have access to a machine shop eh? They would be able to chuck a lathe up and mill 4 holes perfectly aligned for you. Might cost a pretty penny for the extra time but you could have the heatink in copper or aluminum, 2 holes a little larger diameter for the heat x-fer paste and milled to perfectly fit your host or even screw onto the battery tube (base)

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The problem is not the alignment of the holes in the heatsink. There is no gaurantee the diodes will be perfectly square in the modules; the modules be perfectly square in the heatsink; the lenses be perfectly square in the lens assembly. Simply boring the heatsink holes accurately will still not nail alignment. This needs to be done on a module-by-module basis unfortunately. I think you will have to compromise heavily on the alignment but in principle this is not a difficult build. The immediate problem I see is the length of your typical 150mW green module. It will likely be hanging out of the front of the build much more than the other modules.

From a heat perspective, you are going to need to look after the 1W blue module, (case floating), and driver first. Next I would look at the 150mW green module, (case +ve), as I think it will be much more affected by heat than the red module, (case -ve). This would lead me to go case +ve to give the green the best chance to get rid of it's heat but it will be affected by the rest anyway so it's a toss up. It depends on whether you want to run all four at the same time or not? :thinking:

If you mean to hit one button and get all four firing at once then you may want to consider swapping out the standard driver from the green module for a boost/buck driver of some sort, or a better linear driver like the RKCSTR, as 6V will definitely overheat, and likely kill, the preinstalled one, (usually rated for 3-3.7V input). A boost/buck or linear driver for the red would work too, ( both green and red producing a fair amount of heat themselves at 6V), but not for the blue and bluray so that leaves a Flexdrive for them and the maximum input voltage for those is 5.5V. Both driver's manuals can be found here - http://hacylon.case.edu/ebay/laser_diode/Micro_FlexDrive.php

Short duty cycles will no doubt be employed as this build may not be suited to burning stuff if all four lasers go off at once! Would be nice to see though.

I don't want to be a parade rainer but there are technicalities that need working out. Maybe you could look at a single source, 3.7-4.2V power source like the 18650 li-po battery? All could then be run from Flexdrives?

I hope that helps not hinders.

M

Morgan said:

If you mean to hit one button and get all four firing at once then you may want to consider swapping out the standard driver from the green module for a boost/buck driver of some sort, or a better linear driver like the RKCSTR, as 6V will definitely overheat, and likely kill, the preinstalled one, (usually rated for 3-3.7V input). A boost/buck or linear driver for the red would work too, ( both green and red producing a fair amount of heat themselves at 6V), but not for the blue and bluray so that leaves a Flexdrive for them and the maximum input voltage for those is 5.5V. Both driver's manuals can be found here - http://hacylon.case.edu/ebay/laser_diode/Micro_FlexDrive.php

Short duty cycles will no doubt be employed as this build may not be suited to burning stuff if all four lasers go off at once! Would be nice to see though.

I don't want to be a parade rainer but there are technicalities that need working out. Maybe you could look at a single source, 3.7-4.2V power source like the 18650 li-po battery? All could then be run from Flexdrives?

I hope that helps not hinders.

M

Click to expand...

The button setup would go as follows: The main on/off button that would cut the hot power source from all of the drivers/diodes, and then individual buttons for each laser.

I don't plan on having all on at once for any kind of burning. I'd maybe turn them on just for show, but it would be quick as I do know heat issues would be the largest contributing factor to failure.

It seems like the 532nm will be the biggest headache to work out. I guess I'll just build the others up in the mean time.

This project sounds a lot like the future one I have planned using my old 6D maglite. Except with it I was planning on trying to fit the smallest pair of galvos I could find in the end. Sort of a laser projector in a stick. Main difference was I was going to stagger the lasers through the body, and combine them with front surface mirrors and dichro's into a single beam, and run the thing off 3x 18650's in the base. That way I could skirt the polarity issue by having each diode in a separate heatsink, and I could fix the alignment issues with the FS mirrors and dichro's.

^ Have you seen the, "White Fusion", qumefox? Have a search for it if not. Nice little setup.

@ Anarchology - Post some pics when you're done!

M

I have. But I have a 6D maglite, aluminum, and machine tools. I don't have a white fusion kit The white fusion also doesn't have galvo's in it. It's just a housing to combine RGV into a single beam. It's fine for what it's meant to do but it's still too large for my project. The only issues i'll have with the '6D project' is I know the controller (probably go with a flashback 3 unless anyone knows of anything smaller) and likely the galvo drivers won't fit inside the tube.

You and I should talk...

PM coming.

M