Pulse a laser pointer modification

Greetings,

Has anyone heard of a quick and dirty way of modding a laser pointer to pulse?

I have a bunch of red and green laser pointers that I would like to pulse/flash on/off (as opposed to having to keep pressing the button and letting the button go and pressing the button to make it flash. Specific frequency of pulse is not that important though I'd like it higher than 10 Hz.

I use them as acupuncture stimulators, etc and I would love to find a way to automatically do this flashing/pulsing rather than having to manually turn on/off.

I tried looking this up and did not see an answer to this.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

You'll want to stick to just one thread for this subject.

-Trevor

Trevor said:

You'll want to stick to just one thread for this subject.

-Trevor

Click to expand...

Trevor, thanks for your speedy response on my other topic.

This is a separate subject:
I'm looking for a quick dirty way to MOD an actual single laser pointer to pulse off/on, instead of an on/off button press
(whereas the other topic I want to create/program frequencies for multiple diodes and build a unit from scratch.)

I figure someone has had to have had this idea besides me... so I won't have to reinvent the wheel.

Thanks again.

Well - my thoughts are basically the same. You *could* build a pulsed driver, but if you want quick and dirty way, just using a transistor in the power loop hooked up to an Arduino is probably your best bet.

You could also build a timer circuit (555?) if you want.

-Trevor

fearless said:

Greetings,

Has anyone heard of a quick and dirty way of modding a laser pointer to pulse?

I have a bunch of red and green laser pointers that I would like to pulse/flash on/off (as opposed to having to keep pressing the button and letting the button go and pressing the button to make it flash. Specific frequency of pulse is not that important though I'd like it higher than 10 Hz.

I use them as acupuncture stimulators, etc and I would love to find a way to automatically do this flashing/pulsing rather than having to manually turn on/off.

I tried looking this up and did not see an answer to this.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

Like Trevor said..... You only need 1 Thread for the same
Pulsed Laser questions...

I've answered this question and the other one in the other
Thread...


Jerry

Well thanks !
MAKE me look it up. I didn't happen to see the other thread (yet) and no one bothered to link to it here.
My lazy butt is unhappy now...:yabbmad:

Doesnt mean its the best one, but its the smallest I can come up with as long as you can solder in very tiny areas. You will want a breadboard.

I would get a 555 timer, a 1K ohm resistor (1/4W will work for both), a 2.2K ohm resistor and a 16uF 16V+ capacitor. That circuit there will provide you with 16.7Hz (change your own values for your own frequency *google 555 timer calculator*)

The 1k resistor will set frequency (R1) The 2.2K resistor will set duty cycle (R2) The 16uF capacitor will set the frequency also. Now, you have a pulse
circuit. But, to hook it with the laser diode....

I would recommend a LM317 or any linear driver set to the current you need. Then you will need a mosfet with a low voltage (so the gate switches hard) You will wan no resistor between the timer and gate as this will be run at low voltages as is (assuming you are working with 12v and under) Then, you will want to take the - of the driver and hook it to the mosfets drain. The + of the driver will go through the laser diode and the - of the laser diode will go to the mosfets drain. That way you are not pulsing your regulator, but instead only the diode.

That is probably the best of the best ideas. You will need to pick your specific components, but that is how you do it. If you are good, and choose components not oversized, you can even fit it in some hosts