First Build / Experimenting - Suggestions on which direction to head next?

Maros said:

No worries kev, I have a 4yr old ... I know how it is! I'm just excited to get this much input from people at all lol.

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Oh good, so you feel my pain. My wife has the same thing. Fun times at my house!!!

Maros said:

Now that I've cut my thumb up a bit, are you all ready for this awesome heatsink??

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You could always drill holes in a few 1962–1982 pennies, they are 95% copper.

That heatsink is AWESOME!
+1 for backyard ingenuity :crackup:

Another Question for you guys. I've built one of these drives. I seem't to have one way or another killed the LD I was working with (I think I crushed the can with needle nose lol). Tomorrow I'm going to be looking for a couple burners to buy and harvest from, I just wanted to get some input on what the best type of burner would yield the best burning LD with that drive. Burner speeds? manufacturer?

I've also posted this in a separate thread if anyone is interested:

http://laserpointerforums.com/f50/ld-harvesting-question-dvd-burners-whats-best-59607.html#post842512

I'd also like to throw in this little question (which may end up being a stupid Q) ... Does it need to be diode from a burner is this also true for Blu-ray??

12x burner 500mW blu-ray 405nm diode sled /SF-BW512P on eBay.ca (item 250734779329 end time 06-Dec-10 10:12:42 EST)
I just used this one, great build, lights a candle in ~2 seconds, popped 2 balloons @34 feet so fast that it sounded like one "pop".
Very visible beam @ 441mA.
The diode was a bit of a PITA to extract but a bit of careful fiddling with a esd grounded vise and it gave up the goodies.
The next option is a 445nm diode.
High currents you might want to go with a LM350 instead of your lm317 but change that, get rid of the potentiometer for fixed value resistors and change the diode to a 1n540(1-5) and you should be good to go. I have a couple of boards that are reorganized and CRAMMED, got them pretty small.
I built a few DDL drivers (like you just built) in the beginning but it is all micro flexdrives and microboosts now, can't beat the size for handheld builds and after you collect all of the components, DDL drivers still cost a pretty penny.
I might have said that poorly but if you have any questions just PM me and I'll reply when I have had some sleep
I have pics of most of my stuff too so it is easier to understand.

Lol It made sense to me mostly, I know the feeling of zombie typing though, as you can probably tell from my post times I'm up at all sorts of hours. I don't see my self getting into anything too fancy like blu-ray's or 445nm's just yet. Once I get a decent red working I may start toying around with some bigger steps. Thats also due to the fact that I'm a bit low on cash and getting a dvd burner is a heck of a lot cheaper than a blu-ray burner lol. Plus the fact that I'm really not confident in my extracting techniques enough to be messing with a Blu-ray, I'd be real sad if I crushed it like I did that first red. Might get a few host shots up later today too.

*Edit*

I just noticed the psu that im using is 12v 2A, is that 2amp going to be an issue considering you just mentioned 446mA??

.......Crap that's real tiny......:thinking:

***Edit***

......Crap that was bright.... :huh:

your driver will dumb down the current to what you need but @ 12V your heatsink might not be enough,
That is a lot of voltage above what your diode needs.

I just submitted a post I thought, not sure what happened with it.

I'll have to come up with a new sink then, it hasn't had any problems so far but I'd really rather not take that chance.

I've been looking into my weakest laser subject, Modules and optics. Would the popular AixiZ module be okay for this build?

I have forgotten to hit "post quick reply" before, thats probably it.
These components can take a LOT of punishment, if it feels a bit hot against your finger, they are still fine for quite a bit more.
Plenty of people have stories about their test loads getting scorch marks when they take too long to set up a driver, no ill effects
The aixiz modules are great for 5.6mm diodes (I think that's the size)
There are also 9mm modules that have the same 8mmX.5mm thread pitch for the lenses but 9mm is usually only infrared.
Some of the diodes have a screwy obscure size (like the red from a SF-BW512 sled) but most of the ones you will find are going to fit in an aixiz module just fine.
Acrylic lenses are usually good for ~200-300mW max, anything over that will smoke them and stick nasty garbage to your diode's window (totally screwed unless you de-can it).
There are 2 types if Aixiz lens coating (glass lenses) there is 405nm which also works for 445 diodes and there is a red/infrared coating that works between 650? and up past 808nm, 1064nm, etc.
There have been conflicting reports about the effect each lens will have on output but for a low powered build the acrylic that comes with the aixiz modules should be fine (focus rings are handy to have too)
The glass lenses are ~$10 apiece as well, so a bit spendy.
There is another lens (the name escapes me right now) and it is a glass lens too. The difference is: where the aixis is actually a 3 lens unit and makes a nicer beam profile, the other one has only one lens, allows more light through, and has more divergence.
Hope that helps ^_^
PM me if you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer!

Whelp ... ordered a module housing from Modwerx, and Still have the 400mW blu-ray from o-like coming. Not too Impressed with how things have gone with either of the companies but I guess that's what's to be expected with this kind of thing from what I've read around here. Just time to be patient

run a 25-50 ohm pot with the standard lm317 build and start low and work your way up until you get the desired result ( or until you blow up a diode )

Okay so I'm in the middle of moving so I'm posting from my phone. I just killed my 2nd LD so I think at this point I'm just going to purchase a LD, hopefully with the leads soldered on already. I'm not sure what to look at as far as colour. I know reds are the cheapest, greens require a dpss module, and violets prefer a glass lense. Any suggestions on what diode to get in thought of the driver I've made. Modwerx has a 635nM I may go with, any opposition to that? I like the idea of a 405 or 445 but I don't know if they need any kind of dpss or if the 445 needs a glass lense.

Your best bet is to talk to DTR, he has a ton for sale at really fair prices. He will solder leads on and press the diode in an aixis housing for an additional $8. He's An awesome person to work with, tell him I sent you.

Maros said:

Okay so I'm in the middle of moving so I'm posting from my phone. I just killed my 2nd LD so I think at this point I'm just going to purchase a LD, hopefully with the leads soldered on already. I'm not sure what to look at as far as colour. I know reds are the cheapest, greens require a dpss module, and violets prefer a glass lense. Any suggestions on what diode to get in thought of the driver I've made. Modwerx has a 635nM I may go with, any opposition to that? I like the idea of a 405 or 445 but I don't know if they need any kind of dpss or if the 445 needs a glass lense.

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So I've seen a bit about discharging caps before connecting a new LD. What's the process for this? Normally id do some research and look around on here a bit but my computer is packed up for moving. From what I understand I just cross neg and pos leads? Not sure if I do this power on or off?

So a small numbers update now that I have my multimeter back.

Before the lm317 my power supply puts out 11.9v (rated @ 12)
2A (blew my meter's 350mA fuse - On after thought I'm not sure why I did that lol, wasn't paying attention I suppose.)

The lm317 puts out 2.93v min
3.27v max

195mA @ 1.8th turn on a 1k ohm pot (will need a 100ohm, once I get the pot replaced I'll update with more accurate ampere measurements)

Driver is for regulating Current right? so I shouldn't worry a whole lot about the voltage fluctuations?

the lm317 will regulate the voltage (that is its use in this circuit) so no, you don't have to worry about that.
Also based on your voltage input, the driver will actually be able to produce ~0.0V minimum and ~8V max ^_^ depends on what it is supplying.
The pot REALLY needs to be replaced, 1k is way too much resistance. Remember, you can use normal resistors if you know what you want your output.
The capacitors are only there to soak up "extra" current, if you discharge them with the driver still powered up they will charge back up again almost instantly.
Sorting the drivers is easy, a piece of conductive material across the + and - (on the output) or just touch them to one another works fine.
You should get in the habit of shorting out the caps often, they can build a charge even if the driver hasn't been powered up (and there is no load).
Just a side note here, your power supply is far greater than your diodes V in so the lm317 will be getting VERY warm trying to burn off all of the extra voltage. If your power supply has settings, anything a couple of volts over the diodes required voltage (2V for infrared, 3V for red, 4.5V for blue, 5.5-6V for 405nm "blu-ray") is all you need.