Red DIY laser, help?

So im new to LPF and almost all laser stuff, but i'm gonna build a diy red laser. It will hopefully be labby/portable like you can plug a 9V power supply to it if using like on table indoors, but you can take it away and run it with batteries. (Aint gonna be a flashlight host, it'll be big enough project BOX with enough space.)

Dont flame me only because im new, i have searched and looked around before this.

So, i will probably be using THIS diode already fitted to aizix (?) module.

I will add a good enough heatsink, just to say.

What will be kinda safe, but enough to burn current for the diode? I will make my own DDL driver i think.

Also what are the components i needed for the DDL driver?

I think i'll need quite a bit help with this project. :thanks:

I know very roughly how to do the whole laser...But i need help

edit - just added that i will rather make a burning diy laser than buy a dilda.

you will get burning power at like 250ma. but you can go higher. up to maybe 400. but you didn't say you are going to use a current driver. you will need one. if you want to buy wana look up the lava drive or the rkcstr. or if you want full diy look up the LM317/ddL driver.

edit* don't decide on voltage until you have your driver picked out. different drivers require different voltages.

I built a few of my own DDL drivers, and parts you will need are:

LM317T coltage regulator
5ohm resistor
100ohm or 500ohm pot (100ohm is will give the ability for finer tuning of the current)
47UF 16V capicitor
1N4001 diode

there was a thread on the old forum on how to put it together anda parts list but I can find out a way to get back there lol.

But to be quite honest you can't really get them smaller than 3cmX2.5cm, unless your very skilled solder and you can get it down quite a bit smaller.

I personally think you would be better off just investing 20$ or so in a rckstr or flex drive. The rckstr driver will need around 9V-12V for an ideal voltage, but the flexdrive is a boost driver so can run a diode from around 3V! (can run a little lower I think) + they are so tiny and much more practicle.

When you get your driver, you will need to solder it onto the pins of your laser diode, make sure you get the right pins to the right wires, you will need to look it up around the forum for the LPC as I am not sure. Make sure when you solder the wires to the diode you don't keep the heat on it for longer than 2 seconds as they are very sensitive to heat.

From what I understand you want to be able to change from an AC to DC mains adapator, to a 9V battery or 3V depending on what driver you choose. If you take into account duty cycles (1 min of 1 min on) depending on how big you heatsink is, you should be fine just running of a battery as running of the mains would be a pain switching between the too and a 9V battery will last a fairly long time and are pretty cheap aswell.

Thats about it build wise, just remember if you put a switch into your build make sure it is between the BATTERY AND THE DRIVER not inbetween the diode and the driver as it will cause the capicitor to charge and kill your diode. Also rememeber if you decide to build your DDL driver to discharge your capicitor if you turn it on without the diode attatched and then attatched the diode after it's already turned on as this is isntant death for the diode.

To discharge the cap I put my multimeter probes on each leg of the capictor, alternativly I believe you can use a screw driver or a piece of wire.

Hope this helps and have fun.

to build the ddl driver go to member rog8811 signature and then to his website. And you do not need to solder the driver straight to the LD. flying leads are just fine.

don't use a dummy potentiometer in your ddl circuit.. just know how much current you CAN have, and then decide how much current you WANT to have. The diode you chose is a good one, especially for the price. You can push that one to 420mA with good heatsinking. Just use a 3 ohm resistor in your ddl circuit. If you want less current (less burning power as well), just use more impedance than 3 ohms. Try 4, then 5 till you find the right power for you. Heres a resistance vs. current chart for the DDL circuit:



good luck with your build!

Thanks for all the replies! I'll probably build the DDL driver with...4 Ohm resistor? whats the current with 4 Ohms?

i'll take 4 or 5 ohms. current for 4/5 ohms anybody?

I have seen the it can be done: laser driver page, i'll look there for more info with the driver.

And for the idea for using ac/dc adaptor and 9v battery, would it be ok to just put some female plug to project box, wires from the plug to driver, the rest you know, and the 9v battery connectors wires to same spots to driver as the plug's wires go to?

I think no-one did understand that crap..i'll draw a pic later maybe. (english aint my main language)

MS paint picture coming..



The yellow box is the aizix module. it will have a heatsink, and if theres gonna be a fan, the box will have holes. The completed laser will not look like that. The pic is only to show the connections (which probably will suck) And, i know the picture is lame, dont laugh

sh*t. I checked the shipping costs on modwerx, and the shipping was more than the diode. And the other places where i looked, were just more expensive. I think my red laser diy project is going down..

http://hightechdealz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=2

mhhh, below main page of lpf there is some useful shop like stonetek or hightech dealz.

:thanks: for the link!

how much more powerful is the 20x diode compared to a 16x?

that 20x would be too expensive for me, (i was looking the cheapest burner) but probably :takeit: as the shipping is free.

Btw yesterday i went to local electronics shop and they didn't sell what i needed for the diy / DDL driver. I will get the parts still.