Help with mounting and focusing diode from LS-h653 drive

Hi y'all, thanks for having me! I've been lurking around here a bit trying to learn as much as I can. To make a long story short, I'm trying to built a laser cutter/etching table and even if it doesn't work as expected, It will still be great experience in several fields. I'm not ready to fire a diode up yet, I still have to get my goggles and build a power supply, but couldn't pass up the opportunity to try to harvest the diode out of a curbside computer.

It was a toshiba drive, dvd burner, 20x, litescribe, and I believe it can burn DL DVDs too! I'm under the impression that diodes from similar drives can run at 400ma? How do I find out more about the specs on this diode? I've already tried google with little luck.

So, I stripped it all down, and was disappointed to see that the module(s) is not an TO18 package, but a 2 pin.....something. I couldn't get a good pic other than the one attached, sorry.

I'm assuming the diode that has been soldered to the chunk of metal, presumably as a heat sink, is the burner diode; it has 2 pins. I believe the other diode is the reader. Can I still use this diode easily? how does it get mounted? what is the proper name of the package? what about the optics; should I save the lenses?

My intent is to use this diode to etch paint off pcb's for acid etching, and maybe cut a few stencils, and I would love to be able to cut foam for shadowboxing tools.
How do I get the beam down to .5mm? Or does one use the lens more like a magnifying glass and sunlight focused (like a cone) rather than a laser pointer (beam)?

I plan on building an lm317 power supply to start, and then possibly pulse driving the diode once I get the table up and running %100.

Thanks, y'all!

It was late for me and I wasn't fully awake when I posted that...

I suppose I should mention that the diode appears to be a chip, aprox 3mm squarer x 1.5mm thick, with 2 pins on the back. I can see the actual diode if I look closely...

EDIT
SO, it's a "chip on submount" style.... I suppose I should just build a mount for it providing proper heat sinking and protection???

Those chip-based diodes are a pain to mount and heatsink. You can try using some thermal glue or something like that, but it doesn't provide great conduction and the diode may not be aligned with whatever lens you want to use. Lasers from DVD-burners just aren't very good anymore.

You'd probably be better off buying one from DTR.