Some advice would help

The problem is you would realistically need more than you'd think. The good news is it CAN be had for relatively cheap. The following is just my best guess at what you could plan on spending to get your first build underway:

$50 Safety Glasses (Absolute must! Anything you build yourself has the ability to blind instantly)
$30 Soldering iron (You *could* skip this but I wouldn't... Diodes aren't cheap without it you risk blowing it)
$10 Solder (If you skip the soldering iron you won't need this)
$10 Wire & Flux (a small spool of speaker wire from walmart (car radio section) would probably do just fine for your first)
$25 Multimeter (This you don't absolutely have to have. I made my first without one)
$15 Misc. (Project box / altoids can; battery holder; switch etc)
_____________________
$140 total

Most of that you could probably get cheaper but that's not including a diode or driver. And you might be able to do without the multimeter but in the event something goes awry, you won't be able to test much.

As for your question about twisting the wire together, you probably could. Here's the problem, If your driver breaks contact with your diode even for just a split second a charge can build up and when it re connects it can instantly blow your laser diode. So yes it's absolutely possible, plausible even. But you are taking a huge risk at blowing your diode.

The hot glue gun would be helpful if you make an altoids can laser. It could hold the battery holder in place. Use the search bar at the bottom of the page to look for similar builds. At $20 / month it wouldn't take long to get the bare minimum. I edited the list above a little.

I'll look into purchasing those from Home Depot or something, and in my mind it's worth the extra waiting to actually start my first project if this will guarantee or at least help a lot with getting it to work.

No, that is not going to work. Good tight alligator clips will work much better. The best kind
to use on the diode itself are the hook type. The regular ones are hard to get in there without
shorting out.

Man times are changing. I had an OK job at 14. As soon as I could get a work permit I was working. Hey if you get a job, you'll have a disposable income.


Those Clips do look much more convenient for diode testing. I need to find some

I acknowledge the impressive level of stupidity that went into the first laser I built, but for this project I want to do it right. Later today or tomorrow, I'l see if I can go to Home Depot to purchase the things I'd need to do this right, and then I'll go from there.

I guess I should have asked, did you want this to be a portable flashlight style build or a more stationary lab style (or just slightly larger than pocket sized)?

Tmack said:

Man times are changing. I had an OK job at 14. As soon as I could get a work permit I was working. Hey if you get a job, you'll have a disposable income.


Those Clips do look much more convenient for diode testing. I need to find some

Click to expand...

I don't think times are changing as much as the economy is. I know grown men and women that can't get jobs who have a lot more experience than a high schooler (no offense)

Although likely impractical, I was planning on mounting the device to a piece of metal, and mounting the piece of metal to a short belt-like thing I have, and putting that on my upper arm or wrist, if that's at all possible. Otherwise, I'll settle for anything.

With the money you have, grab a soldering iron and practice practice practice. You can't be careful enough when working around these diodes. I'm sure it will work if you want it bad enough.

(what mom doesn't know won't hurt her )

Of course it's possible. Although with added fanciness comes added cost and hurdles. I'm all for coming up with new inventive ways to make and use lasers. For this first "real" one though, it might be better to stick with an easier build.

Tmack said:

With the money you have, grab a soldering iron and practice practice practice. You can't be careful enough when working around these diodes. I'm sure it will work if you want it bad enough.

(what mom doesn't know won't hurt her )

Click to expand...

LOL

That's what i say..

Would it be practical and safe to take an altoids tin, punch holes in it for the wires and stuff, and mount everything into it? It's what I did last time, and Styropyro did it, but is it actually okay to do? After I get it working, I might take a crack at attaching it to something, but not before then

You can put it in anything you like ! Use your imagination
Buying a soldering iron is the way to go. Try convincing your mother that you need that iron! Its an important tool in electronics. You might be into lasers now,but maybe in the near future you will be into something else,were you will also need an iron.

Also depending on how ling of a run times you are going to want you are going to need a heat sink.. bigger the better.

Without purchasing anything too fancy, how would I go about cooling it? I'm not planning on running it for hours on end, but for maybe up to a minute or two at a time?

That depends on what you buy.

Just a small driver and diode... or, what would you suggest? I want to keep everything pretty cheap, but I'd also like to get quite some power out of it. What should I do?