My second DIY laser build

Ok guys I thought that I would post a new thread containing my second laser ever built, this is kind of the first time I’ve ever posted something worth posting so please play nice, lol

ok down to business, I picked up the host for this laser when I was down in Sydney for a while for $30. The torch runs off of 5 D cell batteries, now the reason that I wanted a torch this big is because I thought it would be cool and because the total voltage was 7.5 volts, and I had done some reading previously to attempting this build and found that I needed around 7v to use the LM317 driver. The diode used for this build was from an 18x driver that I picked up for nothing (now don’t laugh too much) from the dump. The driver is using a 3.3 ohm resistor which I calculated to be about 370~ma. I currently do not own a lpm so I am sorry to those curious to know its mw. The heat sink for this host is solid aluminium that I got for a total of $4 and got the threads machined for free from the same company after I turned it down the right size. This laser also has a capacitor to give it a little more protection from the batteries.

I would like to thank styropyro for his many videos and for getting interested in this new and hopefully permanent hobby.

Nice job. Thanks for sharing your new creation with us. I bet she's pretty heavy with all those D cells in there!

Ghostchrome said:

Nice job. Thanks for sharing your new creation with us. I bet she's pretty heavy with all those D cells in there!

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i bet battery life will also be incredible.... DIY is fun good job op

Ghostchrome said:

Nice job. Thanks for sharing your new creation with us. I bet she's pretty heavy with all those D cells in there!

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yes its dose weight a little, the kitchen scales I own weighted it out to be just over 1Kg(1099g) but It does fell really strong and sturdy in your hands

sorry about the double post here, just discovered the multiquote button, just as i posted it

oxPREDAT0Rxo said:

yes its dose weight a little, the kitchen scales I own weighted it out to be just over 1Kg(1099g) but It does fell really strong and sturdy in your hands

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bennett326 said:

i bet battery life will also be incredible.... DIY is fun good job op

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I haven't had the need to change the reject shop type batteries in this since ive got it lol. for $5 worth of cheap batteries they are doing well.

I don't remember clearly but im pretty sure his videos are the ones that brought me to this hobby too. Nice laser, and the host is pretty unique.

Elina said:

You made it by yourself? that's really nice, how ? is that complictaed ?

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It wasn't to complicated, apart from getting the right threads put onto the aluminium, all I did was use a torch, in this case the 5 D cell one (so a expensive driver wasn't needed). brought a 100mm x 45mm soild piece of aluminium, turned it down to about 34mm from memory then drilled a 12mm hole down the centre. for the driver I had to bore a bigger hole about an inch deep so the driver would fit nicely. I didnt use a set scew for this build, but just wedged a piece of wire in between the housing and heatsink, which worked well. then just soldered the + wire to the + teminal of the torch and used the case as negative.

I know it seems complicated but it's a build I had little trouble with, unlike my DIY labby style red laser (which was my first build. )