Styropyro-style 532nm 200mW Altoids Laser

Hello LPF community! This is my first post around here, and am pretty excited. My friend and I recently got into lasers, and immediately had an interest in making a higher powered one than what we had. So, we decided to build youtuber Styropyro's Atloids laser. We liked how it was pretty simple, yet still would introduce us to building lasers, and of course, give us a burning laser pointer! Anyway, the build went pretty smoothly, but took a while to make it look nice. We used a Dremmel tool to cut into the Altoids Tin, providing a very smooth and tight finish for everything. Then, we soldered and placed the different components in. We purchased our goggles from dragonlasers, and they seem to work very well. The laser works very well, and although we have goggles on, it is easy to tell through the camera that it is extremely biright. Because my dad is Professor at the University of Minnesota, we were able to check the output in one of the labs there. Both lasers were putting out between 100-130mW, which is lower than the seller advertised, but is still pretty powerful. It came with a very nice focusing lens, which really allows us to burn things well. The beam can be seen in somewhat lit areas, and is extremely bright at night. I'm very happy with how this first project turned out, and will be making more for sure! We are currently working on a 650nm from some old school computers, and will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Included below here is the short video we made of the final product!!! Thanks for reading!
-TheTranq

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3Ua3-1fovY

Congrats! The best way to learn how lasers work is to build one yourself, or at least get a basic understanding of their insides, plus you get to control all the variables in your build which is great. I have yet to make a DIY laser, hmmmmm

-Alex

Well done. It's a good feeling making a laser isn't it?
So where did you get the 532 module from? I ask because I also bought a supposed 200mW that is just over 100mW from Laserland.

Very cool! I love a classic Altoids tin laser. Good luck with building a laser from those computer parts!

Thats awesome that your dad has access to an lpm. That video is what inspired me to build my first diy laser, though I did a 1 watt blue build in an altoids can with a big heatsink block and a 9 volt battery hahaha.
Edit: I may end up repurposing the diode though as it is a 2 watt blue diode being driven at 1A so I could push it much further, though it doesnt heat up much for its size

Congrats on a successful build and +REP to you.
For more ideas what you could build them in take a look here:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f52/pman-nuts-warning-lots-pics-95763.html

olympus mons said:

Well done. It's a good feeling making a laser isn't it?
So where did you get the 532 module from? I ask because I also bought a supposed 200mW that is just over 100mW from Laserland.

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The module was from a random seller on ebay. I now know to order from DTR, but this is where we got this one from!

styropyro said:

Very cool! I love a classic Altoids tin laser. Good luck with building a laser from those computer parts!

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Yeah they are awesome! Thanks for the reply and for your awesome youtube videos! I've watched all your videos over the few weeks, and can't wait for more!

Take a look at Ebay seller anomalytech for buying the LPC-826 660nm and the blu-Ray 150mW diodes in the US shipped quick. You can get them cheaper from China if you want to wait 2-3 weeks.
You can also use a cheaper driver than the Aixiz ones I use but they are also pretty cheap and will work with both diodes:
2pcs Adjustable Current Laser Diode Driver 80 500mA w TTL | eBay

Awesome. Thanks for the recommendation. We are hoping that we can use the diodes we extracted, but after a quick trial I think we fried them...we have an Aixiz module here already from DTR, just a matter of waiting on goggles...hoping to have the project finished over Christmas break

Cool! building lasers is, as others have said, a great way to learn, but its also money saving, fun, and rewarding! also, someone else from minnesota!!! i think there's 5 of us now.

You should also check out the PLP450 laser diode. its single mode 450nm blue diode that outputs >300mW, and some are in the 460-465nm range! because its single mode, it has a nice circular dot, and low divergence.