APPLE I mac DVD drive diodes??

I got a bunch of junk apple I mac's and parted them out, what i could sell i sold, and what did not sell i got to play with.
I got the DVD drives out of all of them, and i have 4.
I got two of them apart and got the diodes out, and there are two in each drive.

A pic of the drive
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85584009@N04/9766997252/


Now this is the mane diode i think:undecided: its 5.3mm in size and has a number Y7AK8 searchd it but nothing came up.

IMG_1222 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
The third pin was not in use and was cut.
IMG_1223 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_1224 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

The second diode is a Small 3.0mm round diode
http://www.flickr.com/photos/85584009@N04/9767235845/
IMG_1226 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!
IMG_1227 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

I'm just wondering if there are any good of if there are just junk.:thanks:

PS, if the pic's don't work sorry, this is my first attempt at trying to post a pic.

well, it's a 8X drive, so power the diodes with around 200mA. But one will be an IR diode, and one will be a NEAR IR diode. you'll need a 5.6mm module and a 3.8mm module i think, and 2 drivers set to around 200mA or lower. Plus a lens after you have ensured that theyre working.

Edit: I apologize for my ignorance

Ok thanks guy's!:yh::yh: Maybe i will get a good diode next time

Im not saying its not worth it to get a cheap aixiz module and driver, just dont expext loads of power, also the IR diode is very low mW so its not worth it plus its invisible.

LaserSAM: ALL DVD-RW drives are Class 1 products. They're Class 1 products because the laser is encased such that the user cannot be exposed to laser irradiation. They could pack a Class 4 laser in there and the product would be Class 1 if they could properly seal it.

i73770k: Go ahead and try tearing it down. The 8x isn't that powerful, but you'll at least get some light out of it. Remember to put it in a module and heatsink or it'll die very quickly, and you should get some goggles too if possible, to protect your eyes.

Also, it's a DVD writer too, so it'll have a red diode in it in addition to IR.

kids these days have gotten too snobby. They'll turn their nose up at a solid gold piece of poo if it isn't gem-encrusted...

Yes, it has usable diodes in it. Seems to me that at 8x, they'd be half as powerful as the most powerful single mode reds we have access to. Still a lot of red.

If you are keeping them and going to use them for playing around, consider keeping the filters that were mounted right in front of the diode, which splits off a few beams from the main one (like a really low line count diffraction grating), and a small polarizing beam cube, which you can do a search for, and is a fun way of learning to combine two laser beams. This cube is how they can use the same final lenses for both IR and red, even though the IR and red are coming from two different diodes.

edit: interesting, too, are the copper diode mounts! You'll still want aixiz modules for easy focus adjusting, but neat that they used copper.

I actually end up treasuring the mechanical parts in those drives more than the diodes. Some of the older ones, especially CD drives, are really solid and you can use them for rudimentary pick-and-placers if you have the electronics for the steppers.

So i should get a "5.6mm Modules W/635-660nm Three Element Glass lens"??
And what driver would be good?
maybe a driver that will fit in to the module?
The Module is from DTR's Laser Shop.

That will work fine. Just use one of those LM317 drivers to start out with.

You might want to tear down the DVD-RW drive first and see what kind of diode is in there. If it's some sort of box-shaped thing that you can't even mount you might not want to bother.

Bionic-Badger said:

That will work fine. Just use one of those LM317 drivers to start out with.

You might want to tear down the DVD-RW drive first and see what kind of diode is in there. If it's some sort of box-shaped thing that you can't even mount you might not want to bother.

Click to expand...

I posted pic's

What about this cool DIY kit?
LM317 Step Down DC 5V 35V to 1 25V 30V DIY Kit AC DC Power Supply Module | eBay

AH ha Good old DX.com http://dx.com/p/lm317-adjustable-module-blue-dc-5-35v-232343

Yeah, those kits are probably fine. Make sure you short the leads of the driver's output (not connected to the battery of course) before soldering up your laser diode to it.

Bionic-Badger said:

Yeah, those kits are probably fine. Make sure you short the leads of the driver's output (not connected to the battery of course) before soldering up your laser diode to it.

Click to expand...

Short the leads of the driver's output?

I don't get it why would i short them out??

:thinking::thinking:

The idea is that wiht a load attached, the output capacitor charges up to the Vf of the load. When you turn off power, the capacitor drains, but the voltage never exceeds the Vf of the load, so your diode (the load) never sees more voltage than it should.
If the driver were powered without a load connected, the capacitor would charge up to the Vf of the load (which is infinite, since there is an open circuit), or as close to it as it can (which is usually close to the battery or source voltage). When you turn the power off, the capacitor has nothing to drain into, so it holds that higher voltage until you connect a load. Then, it dumps its charge into the load that was just connected. If instead of an expensive diode, you use a piece of wire for the cap to dump its charge into, then the circuit can't charge the cap back up until next time you attach it to power.

The kit you linked to will work if you have a power source to hook it up to. The power source must be <25 or 35 volts, so don't go plugging this into a wall outlet ;-) Will be a fun kit to assemble too. HOWEVER, for easier use with laser diodes, you might consider using that regulator in Constant Current (CC) mode. CC requires that you change around a few connections, and the lm317 is very well codumented even in these parts of the intarwebs I'd reckon that kit has all the components you'd need, but you'd just need to connect them differently.