Guidance for Complete Amateur

G'day,

First post here. I have been over at budgetlightforum for a while doing various mods etc to flashlights but decided I want to try and give a laser a go.

Anyway, I'm not allowed to bring an actual assembled laser pointer into the country, however laser modules and diodes are fine.

I need some guidance as to what components I would need. I have done a bit of research on my own and decided to start with, given it seems pretty simple and quite cheap, I would like to get a 501B host with one of the 501B heatsinks I have found a couple of places selling. However, after this is where I get stuck. I would only like to get a 50mW Green module to start with and would like to be able to focus it. Is that possible with the 501B host and heatsink?

Basically can someone point me in the direction of a 50mW green module and a 17mm driver board which is suitable for driving it? I have found plenty of laser modules around but they all seem to have a square driver board attached to the back of them which from what I can tell is not suitable for the 501B set up.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

How about you google "50mW green laser module) and "17mm contact board". Do not expected to be spoon fed everything you need. If you would have googled to find a green module, you would have seen that they all have drivers preinstalled on them, and a spring on the back. You don't need a separate driver or contact board.

crazyspaz said:

How about you google "50mW green laser module) and "17mm contact board". Do not expected to be spoon fed everything you need. If you would have googled to find a green module, you would have seen that they all have drivers preinstalled on them, and a spring on the back. You don't need a separate driver or contact board.

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Thanks for your awesomely unhelpful response. Clearly I have already Googled them thats why I said "I have found plenty of laser modules around but they all seem to have a square driver board attached to the back of them". But I figured since those modules are around 60mm in length, an 18650 is around 70mm in length and the 501B host is around 135mm including tailcap and bezel that there must be a different way of going about it because the pictures I have seen of 501Bs don't show the diode sticking way out the front. I assumed that there must have been modules like THIS but in Green and then you would just solder those wires to a suitable driver board. Sorry, I didn't realise I was supposed to already have the answers to my questions before posting in the "HELP" section of the forum. I will make sure to already know what I want to ask before I post next time...

Check out fastech for modules. And contact boards are linked to zero lasers if you search fir them at DTR laser shop

Best bet with 1x 18650 hosts and green modules, is to simply use a shorter cell like 18350 - one of those, and a green module in 501B are very nice!

Module sits even below flush a little so the laser is quite nice aesthetically.

You can get 501b hosts on DealExtreme for real cheap, like, $9 or something, and heatsinks from me. Check out the shop in my signature.

I also reccomend replacing the module's press button with one rectifier diode, it'll save your laser should you ever accidentally insert the battery backwards.

You can freely shoot me a message if you need any further help with that!

P.S. @crazyspaz: Not cool man. Either help or don't. No need to belittle people for seeking knowledge and having interest in this hobby.

LSX, I apologize. I must have missed the last bit of your original post (saying the modules driver cant fit in the 501B).

The contact boards you can find here. I am not sure how much room is inside the 501B host, but i would assume you could either 1)de solder the pre-sintalled module driver, add longer leads, and situate it somewhere else in the host. or, you could b) get a much smaller x-drive or something of the sort. If you do, you wont have to worry about bypassing the modules switch. BUT, you will need to find the current that the module is running at- the site you buy from may or may not have this information.

You could always ask Eudaimonium or Flaminpyro to mill you a little pocket in the heatsink for an x-drive to sit in. A 50mW module won't produce a ton of heat, so a little less material in the heatsink will be fine.

Once again, I apologize. Good luck with your build

@lsx - good question +1
@crazyspaz - bad answer -1

cheech226 said:

@lsx - good question +1
@crazyspaz - bad answer -1

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He did come around with a nicely written reply and even more info than I could come up with, only one post above yours.

I replenished some of the lost rep, spaz!

Thanks. I also PM'ed LSX with a written out apology, but he didn't respond.

Screw me and my reading skillz. If i wouldn't have missed that last section in his original post, this could have all been avoided.

one neg rep isn't really that big of a deal. and you actually gained some:thinking:. i just made a personal statement about the response to what i saw as a valid question. if it makes anyone feel better neg rep me. no worries

LSX, welcome to LPF.

You'll notice the very different environment, so just keep that in mind, haha.

Yay, 1K posts!

Edit: What the heck happened, I just lost some posts. I swear I had 999 (and 1000 after this one), but I seem to have lost 4 posts. :wth:

Hey guys!

Sorry I have been really busy the last few days and haven't been able to check back here. Thanks for the helpful replies and crazyspaz, apology accepted, cheers!

Eudaimonium, I will PM you about your 501B heatsinks and a couple of other questions. I hadn't even thought about using an 18350, that certainly seems like a very simple solution to the long module.

I will have a bit more of a look at what you have all recommended and see if I can come up with a list of suitable components.

Thanks again!

ryansoh3 said:

LSX, welcome to LPF.

You'll notice the very different environment, so just keep that in mind, haha.

Yay, 1K posts!

Edit: What the heck happened, I just lost some posts. I swear I had 999 (and 1000 after this one), but I seem to have lost 4 posts. :wth:

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Posts in very old or spam threads get deleted and are no longer accounted for.

It happens all the time. If it didn't, Daguin would be in 30 thousands

LSX said:

Hey guys!

Sorry I have been really busy the last few days and haven't been able to check back here. Thanks for the helpful replies and crazyspaz, apology accepted, cheers!

Eudaimonium, I will PM you about your 501B heatsinks and a couple of other questions. I hadn't even thought about using an 18350, that certainly seems like a very simple solution to the long module.

I will have a bit more of a look at what you have all recommended and see if I can come up with a list of suitable components.

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

Greens are fairly easy to build, you have quite a variety of hosts on your disposal to use. Whatever 18650 host you pick, it should be very simple.

Tricky builds are ones with smaller batteries and smaller hosts overall.