An old laser printer...

I have an old laser printer: HP LaserJet 6L. I get laser diode from indside. Can i build laser pointer or burner with it?


Sorry i am new in lasers...



:thanks:

On short, no, you cannot.

What you have is a very weak InfraRed diode (IR) and will not be visible, nor burn anything.

So uhh, sorry I guess.

For real laser diodes used in DIY lasers, see here:
HighTechDealZ - High Tech DealZ

Or,
Modwerx.com

Also, try
Welcome to O-Like.com, Your source for laser products , they have got few diodes of their own, as well as lasers.

Eudaimonium said:

On short, no, you cannot.

What you have is a very weak InfraRed diode (IR) and will not be visible, nor burn anything.

So uhh, sorry I guess.

For real laser diodes used in DIY lasers, see here:
HighTechDealZ - High Tech DealZ

Or,
Modwerx.com

Also, try
Welcome to O-Like.com, Your source for laser products , they have got few diodes of their own, as well as lasers.

Click to expand...

Anyway :thanks: bro :bowdown:

I have one more quwstion,i have 3 laser diodes from CD-Burners,can i use it for laser pointer?

xZero said:

Anyway :thanks: bro :bowdown:

I have one more quwstion,i have 3 laser diodes from CD-Burners,can i use it for laser pointer?

Click to expand...

Are they CD, or DVD burners?

You see, for CDs, diodes are also not very visible, they are near Infrared , being 780nm in wavelenght.

They can read 150-200mW on a good day, but they would not serve as "Pointer" in true meaning of word, rather just a bruning laser to have fun around.

However, seeing you do not have any experience in lasers, I would strongly advise AGAINST any Infrared lasers, simply because they are much more dangerous than visible lasers.

cd burner...:bowdown:

Yeah well, I'd suggest against using that diode.

You can, however, practise extracting the diode out of the sled.
It'll require prying it off the main assembly, then removing the diode from it's heatsink with pair of pliers.

Videos on youtube can be found showing you how to do that.

You can save those diodes for later use if you want.
But for now, I'd suggest getting a PHR-803T sled, it's from HD-DVD addon drive for Xbox 360.
It contans a bluray diode which is capable of 100mW, more or less, at 100-110mA of constant current.

It's fairly cheap too.

You will also need diode housings, I suggest buying bulk of ten here:
dia 12mm housing /5.6mm diode houisng with lens /10 pack [OL1230H] - $20.00 : Welcome to O-Like.com, Your source for laser products

You can never have enough of those things... I just used last one this weekend.

Anyhow, you will need a vice and some sort of tool to pressfit your diode into it's pocket in the housing. Back end of this housing is good for this purpose , but only once since it bends and can't be reused.

You can get machined diode presses from member named FlaminPyro here, check out the Laser Pro Shop.

Don't forget. Patience. Key to success here.

:thanks: bro :wave:

No problems.

Any further questions, you have my contact info by the nickname, also can send me a PM asking anything at all.
Have a nice day, be safe with lasers!

Welcome to the forum xZero! I hope you enjoy your stay!

If I could threadjack real quick though, Eudamonium: you said you can only use the back end for this purpose once because it bends? What bending are you referring to? None of mine have ever bent...maybe I'm doing it wrong; if I am then this will be a good thing to find out.

Peace,
Isaac

Eudaimonium said:

Are they CD, or DVD burners?

You see, for CDs, diodes are also not very visible, they are near Infrared , being 780nm in wavelenght.

They can read 150-200mW on a good day, but they would not serve as "Pointer" in true meaning of word, rather just a bruning laser to have fun around.

However, seeing you do not have any experience in lasers, I would strongly advise AGAINST any Infrared lasers, simply because they are much more dangerous than visible lasers.

Click to expand...

Interesting, I probally have at least one or more DVD burners from computers that no longer work, as well as at least one DVD burner from a stand alone DVD player/recorder that no longer powers up at all, would it be worth the time taking the lasers out of those before trashing those units ?

(how about stand alone DVD players - just played DVDs, didn't record them - that no longer work right ?)

Not sure if I would be able to afford to do anything with them if it would cost a lot, but still like to save them for later just in case I could use them for some hobby stuff.

wannaburnstuff said:

Welcome to the forum xZero! I hope you enjoy your stay!

If I could threadjack real quick though, Eudamonium: you said you can only use the back end for this purpose once because it bends? What bending are you referring to? None of mine have ever bent...maybe I'm doing it wrong; if I am then this will be a good thing to find out.

Peace,
Isaac

Click to expand...

The piece of the barrel where the hole is, through which you place pins of the diode while pressfitting. That side with the hole bends inwards to the tube, until it's bent so that you cannot press the diode flush with module.

They'll still press your diode, but not properly all the way, or at least flush.

AstroLaser said:

Interesting, I probally have at least one or more DVD burners from computers that no longer work, as well as at least one DVD burner from a stand alone DVD player/recorder that no longer powers up at all, would it be worth the time taking the lasers out of those before trashing those units ?

(how about stand alone DVD players - just played DVDs, didn't record them - that no longer work right ?)

Not sure if I would be able to afford to do anything with them if it would cost a lot, but still like to save them for later just in case I could use them for some hobby stuff.

Click to expand...

I was talking about CD, not DVD burners. I meant strictly CD burners.

But, in DVD burners there are also same 780nm NIR diodes you can use to play around if you don't have anything better to do.
It's always worth the time to take something apart, if nothing else, just for the hell of it.

In case od optical drives, you can always find optics in there that you always find a use for sooner or later, if nothing else, play around with them to see how they work.

If it's not a DVD recorder/burner, that means it only has a diode powerful enough to illuminate the disc to read from it. Do you think it's worth an aixiz module? IMHO, no.

also, there might be a funny optic thing in your old printer not sure though.
i remember i got some kind of glass wave shaped object out of mine (old cheapass samsung) when i shine a laser trough it showed a zigzag laser line inside kinda cool.
also found a spinning mirror.
and the rest was kinda crappy, and like Eudaimonium said a verry weak ir diode