so im new, lookin at senkat diodes

So if i get a senkat diode, the housing and the component kit. what kinda of power should i be expecting. what are the ratings for the diodes and such. Never built my own laser but if im doing this its happening tomorrow

edit: tryin to go for a burning laser

the driver has an adjustable output, but a range of about 100mw to 200mw is quite possible, provided you have some form of cooling, or a duty cycle. Welcome to the forum!

thnx, so what do they normally run at without them burning to death. im planning on using arctic epoxy and a lil homemade heat sink. if i do all of that i can get up to 200 without a problem?

yep, if your heatsink can dissipate the heat fast enough, then 200mw is possible I run mine at 120ma, and it gets warm after about 5 mins of continous use, but i am only using the aixiz module as a heatsink.

well i was thinking, i have this jumbo sharpie thats made of metal, not to thin or to thick. so im gonna try to buld it into that and use the whole laser pointer its self as a heat sink lol

well that should work! Try it and lets us know how it turned out!

alright no problem, im ordering it all tomorrow.

Before u order...
check out my driver from my signature!
Cheaper and better than a driver kit.
Welcome!

well since this is my first time im gonna try to play it safe and not screw anything up. so ill go for around 150mw. and a driver board, might just build one myself. can i get all the parts from radio shack?

Yeah you should be able to get everything from RS.

ah i was gonna post picks of my build idea but i cant. is there a post limit to post pics or what?

Yes its 10 to keep the spammers away.... but what you can do is post it without the www. and the mods can fix it for you

well thing is, a DIY driver is much more accident prone than one that I have already assembled and tested! More areas to go wrong, etc
And truly, it actually costs more to DIY.

danolimitpro said:

ah i was gonna post picks of my build idea but i cant. is there a post limit to post pics or what?

Click to expand...

Using the LM317 is cheap, simple and will regulate current nicely going to the diode. If you want a long lasting experience with your diode, then I would not push it much over 250ma's. This will give you an output of ~170mw's.

All you really need is the LM317, a 5 ohm resistor, and a 10uf 16 volt capacitor. The capacitor should be soldered directly to the diode, but can be mounted to a PC board provided all your connections are soldered properly. Also keep in mind you will need to supply the circuit with 6 or more volts, so using 6 cells is recommended. These can be alkaline, nimh, or E2 lithiums.

I really like the information I am going to provide a link for as follows...everything you need to know about using the LM317.

http://users.pandora.be/davshomepage/current-source.htm

There are other alternatives for regulation, but starting out with the LM317 will give you some experience, and you can proudly say I built this thing myself...most of us started out this way..