First 445nm A140 laser build in C6 host

Hello LPF, :wave:

I have recently started building lasers as part of my endless DIY hobby list.
Now after some carefully reading and researching I settled on building my first laser in a host.

I had decided on a "Aurora" C6 host from DX,
For the driver I had settled on this 17mm 1.25 driver, also from DX.
For the batteries I still had a pair of 18350 1000mAh batteries laying around.
For the diode I ordered a 1000mW 5.6mm 445nm of eBay.
And last but not least did I order a C6 module heatsink from Eudaimonium.

Everything assembled it looks a bit like this.




However, the second time i turned it on the beam almost instantly went from the bright focussed dot to a dim and weak spot with a lot of stray light.

With the lights on




With the lights off




And as i snooped around on the forum i know that you almost always like shots without the lens for troubleshooting issues.



(My camera makes the color more blue overall then is actually is)


Now I have already tried shorting my switch to see if that was the problem, no luck.
Charging or replacing my batteries also did not help.

Did i kill my diode somehow between the 1st and 2nd time of turning it on?


Edit:
After replacing the diode that LED'ed after the driver had a short the beam shots are as followed.

The first shot is from the laser's angle towards the target (my future wooden CNC Router bed)




The second one is aiming towards the laser

Yea theres a good chance that driver blew the diode! Looks like a cheap led driver that probably has a harsh startup

That driver is OK but it has an area that needs to be insulated with some adhesive to prevent it from shorting to the brass ring you use to install it in the pill. If you didn't know about that then it's likely that's what went wrong. As far as I know that's the only driver with that problem but it's been a known problem with that driver for a long time.

Alan

10fenny said:

Yea theres a good chance that driver blew the diode! Looks like a cheap led driver that probably has a harsh startup

Click to expand...

Oh rats, guess it's back to the shopping cart for me then.
But I'll hold on to this diode just in case.

Pi R Squared said:

That driver is OK but it has an area that needs to be insulated with some adhesive to prevent it from shorting to the brass ring you use to install it in the pill. If you didn't know about that then it's likely that's what went wrong. As far as I know that's the only driver with that problem but it's been a known problem with that driver for a long time.

Alan

Click to expand...

That I did not know about this driver, do you also happen to know what area it is that needs to be insulated?

XDr4g0nX said:

Oh rats, guess it's back to the shopping cart for me then.
But I'll hold on to this diode just in case.


That I did not know about this driver, do you also happen to know what area it is that needs to be insulated?

Click to expand...

You should be able to tell by looking at it, just look at the top side and see the soldered places near the edge and see if any can come in contact with the brass ring.

Alan

Pi R Squared said:

You should be able to tell by looking at it, just look at the top side and see the soldered places near the edge and see if any can come in contact with the brass ring.

Alan

Click to expand...

I think I found the part where it might short the connection.




It seems to be right in the front next to the spool, and possibly even in the back next to the R200 resistor.

For now i have covered those parts in superglue, as soon as it dries i'm hooking it back up to my test load and see if it still works.

XDr4g0nX said:

I think I found the part where it might short the connection.




It seems to be right in the front next to the spool, and possibly even in the back next to the R200 resistor.

For now i have covered those parts in superglue, as soon as it dries i'm hooking it back up to my test load and see if it still works.

Click to expand...

Well, what was the verdict?

sellersmd said:

Well, what was the verdict?

Click to expand...

The driver is fine, now that I have insulated the edges from the brass ring it is keeping a steady 1.25A with my test load.

Now to put the diode back on, here's hoping for the best.


Edit:
Just reattached the diode, still the same result.
I guess I'll have to buy another diode, which I will hopefully NOT blow up. :angel:

XDr4g0nX said:

The driver is fine, now that I have insulated the edges from the brass ring it is keeping a steady 1.25A with my test load.

Now to put the diode back on, here's hoping for the best.


Edit:
Just reattached the diode, still the same result.
I guess I'll have to buy another diode, which I will hopefully NOT blow up. :angel:

Click to expand...

Just a minute not so fast, this is in a C6 isn't it? It's not that easy to separate the driver from the pill and again from the brass ring, sometimes not possible. After pressing the driver into the brass ring, on the battery contact side did you solder the outer ring to the brass ring? This is necessary for it to make good contact.

Alan

Pi R Squared said:

Just a minute not so fast, this is in a C6 isn't it? It's not that easy to separate the driver from the pill and again from the brass ring, sometimes not possible. After pressing the driver into the brass ring, on the battery contact side did you solder the outer ring to the brass ring? This is necessary for it to make good contact.

Alan

Click to expand...

This is indeed a C6 host, and I have not soldered the pill to the brass ring, no.
When i extracted the driver i used a small metal screwdriver which I covered in superglue a while back.
I could fit the screwdriver through the holes in the pill and pushed the ring out by using force on the driver board.

But I should try and solder a connection between the pill and the brass ring and see if that works?

XDr4g0nX said:

This is indeed a C6 host, and I have not soldered the pill to the brass ring, no.
When i extracted the driver i used a small metal screwdriver which I covered in superglue a while back.
I could fit the screwdriver through the holes in the pill and pushed the ring out by using force on the driver board.

But I should try and solder a connection between the pill and the brass ring and see if that works?

Click to expand...

No not the pill to the brass ring, the outer ring of the driver to the brass ring.

Alan

Pi R Squared said:

No not the pill to the brass ring, the outer ring of the driver to the brass ring.

Alan

Click to expand...

Ah, yes I have.
I just have not posted any pictures of that connection before.





Otherwise there would be no connection towards the negative side of the batteries if I am not mistaken.


Edit:
The solder blob on the postive side of the driver is so that my batteries can make a connection, they have a very flat positive terminal and would otherwise float above the driver.

XDr4g0nX said:

Ah, yes I have.
I just have not posted any pictures of that connection before.





Otherwise there would be no connection towards the negative side of the batteries if I am not mistaken.


Edit:
The solder blob on the postive side of the driver is so that my batteries can make a connection, they have a very flat positive terminal and would otherwise float above the driver.

Click to expand...

Yes that's correct, that's what I was talking about, that looks good so that's not the problem then. That means either the diode or the batteries, probably the diode.

Alan

It's alive!

I received my new diode today, after some cleaning of my workbench (which was overdue a long time ago) I placed the new diode into the module and then in the host.
It fired up without a problem, no dimming issues or weird flickerings.
Even the lens-less laser looks great (i'm of course wearing protection )

Thanks for your help, I will try and post some beam pic's when night falls over here :angel:

Good job Dragon, +rep for fixing it.

Alan

And here they are!

The first shot is from the laser's angle towards the target (my future wooden CNC Router bed)




The second one is aiming towards the laser




It was quite tough getting the beam on camera with my DSLR, getting the settings just right is quite the search.

:thanks: