I'm asking a lot

I am ready to do a build on a budget.
Besides my electrical skills, I am pretty much clueless on how to.
But assembly is not really my issue.
I have searched, and will continue to search the current builds/teks here.
They are my foundation and guideline for this project.

What I am asking from you fine folk is a material list.
I would like to build a powerful 532nm portable.

400mW to 700mW is the power I want. (500 is perfect)
I would like my build to have longevity in life (hrs) and battery power.

My biggest obstacle is finding the right combination of components that will work and fit together.

So I humbly ask of anyone patient enough, that if you could, furnish me with a complete list of parts I will need to make this green laser.
Providing places to buy these would be very helpful as well.

I would like to keep this as simple as possibly, as this will be my first DIY.
But I am not against a challenge.

I have the basic tools (short a solder gun) but a list of any odd tools would be good.

The host's visual appeal is not important to me, heat dissipation is.

My budget is in the $250 range. Give a little if needed or take some would be better

Many thanks to any and all who can help out.
I will log each step and document the process for LPF.
Even make more donations along the way as a token of my appreciation

so you want to build a 532?

it wont be portable unless you buy a 500mw module from cni :can:

and for that price i say forget it sorry

Essentially, you'll need:

1) A module (like this)
2) A custom machined host (available from any skilled machinist on this board)

If you don't want to purchase the module pre-assembled, you can try to build your own DPSS portable system. Some others on this board have suggested that this is doable. I tend to think that it is a highly impractical undertaking. It is at least a very difficult route, and requires a fairly high level of skill. Further, it is unlikely to be any cheaper than buying the 532nm module, so you'd be doing it for the experience, not the budget constraints.

On that topic, your $250 budget is, for now at least, way too low for 500mW of 532nm laser light.

The 250$ budget is low indeed, im working on something simular, and my vanadate crystal and doubling set alone ran me about 70$ (Casix KTP 3mm X 3mm X 3.5mm was ~40$, then 30$ for the 3mm X 3mm X 5mm vanadate).

For 500mw of green, you will need at least a 2.5W 808nm pump, that means going into C-mount terratory, which may require fast axis correction or beam shaping optics to make the most of it, unforchantly niether is cheap. I got lucky because I have some beam corrective optics from a 473nm lab (the 35$ surplus units)..

So as a basic part list, you will need

-an 808nm pump, capable of 2.5W-3W output,
-collimating corrective optics, pump lens (Im almost sure you will need correctives, I know I do)
-KTP (Casix is good) - Sam's FAQ had a chart on XTL sizes and power levels. from memory I belive 3mm X 3mm X 3mm as the minimum size for 500mw
-ND:YVO4 (don't bother with YAG for such low powers).. Sam's FAQ had a chart on XTL sizes and power levels.(from memory about the same as mine, 3mm X 3mm X 5mm).. see his FAQ for an accurate chart, I can't find it
-HR, (if vanadate doesn't have it already)
-an output coupler
-expanding lens
-IR filter (optional, but a nice touch)
-a collimator.

I will not provide you with links of items to buy, because the variances will be so wide and different for your own personal system, it must be read up on and custom matched on what parts you have and your design, I can't do that for you. That is just to give you a basic idea of what parts can be used.



Now that is just for the system itself... wait, there is more:

That said, phase matching and aligning the crystal set with hte pump diode's polarity, is a very long and painfull task, the crystal set (HR/vanadate - ktp - OC need to be perfectly aligned as well), and you will need to keep everything TEC regulated at such powers, else you will have alot of mode hopping and power loss. This is a high powered DPSS and needs active cooling. So TECs is a must, fans are optional, but are a good idea if your host doesn't have alot of thermal mass and you are looking for continous duty.

Which is onto the next part, TEC cooling and regulation, you will need TEC plates with thermopile feedbacks and a driver to keep the temperture constant. This goes both for the crystal set and the pump diode, which vanadate and ktp is more forgiving, it still needs to be run within the proper tempertures.
This is mandatory IMO for any system over 200mw. If you want a stable output.

So you will need a driver that can both regulate and drive your tecs, and also drive your diode. So there is some design and research for you to do on that.

Probably the best host to do this DIY would be those surplus labs, or any lab style enclosure. it gives alot of room to work with. Now thats the easy approach IMO... when you make a module to go into a hand held, everything needs to be machined percisely and pre-calculated on how the crystals will sit and how far from everything else, you get the idea.

At least with a lab setup you can play a bit, and there is alot less tollerances for the construction of it, and ease of adjustment later. in a module for a hand held, you won't have this luxury.

My case im building a module that will ultimatly be for projector use. (right now I have a working 1.5W I bought, so im trying to DIY for my own education and for some practical use in scanning). But I assure you it is a long road for you to DIY it fully from scratch.

So yeah. 250$ is pretty low indeed. Its doable, but expect a poorly made DPSS in an undiscovered TEM, and an unstable one too... but it can be doable if you manage to scrape together the parts needed, and widen your budget a bit, however for something 200mw>.. you will pretty much need more then simple crystals and diodes to make this work.. and properly. I personally will not accept my transverse mode to be unrecognisable, or for the unit to sway in power by insane gaps.
There are more articles around to give you detailed information on DPSS such as Sam's laser FAQ and wiki, good luck. its doable, but it is definatly not an easy project. Im kinda working on my own here and there, so I can't speculate when mine will be done (You know, got other stuff to do then play with lasers ) . I still need to mill mounts for my crystals and optics.

Hope that gives you some insight on what you are getting into from a full DIY build.

And go to work, mow the lawn...make dinner? haha!
Yes, my budget is a bit small for this undertaking I now see.

Maybe I should go a bit simpler for now. Like 200mW
For some reason I thought it was just a tad easier.
I guess the teks here just make it sound easy.

Very good information all, thank you
Do they not make complete DIY kits?

Well, they do and they don't.

if I were you, I would start off with a fused crystal set (seen one now and then on Ebay). That pretty much has the HR/Vanadate/ktp/oc all in one handy crystal. definatly saves alignment and pain (construction is simular to the newwish pens).
Basicly all you need after that is a heatsink/mount for that crystal, an exanding and collimating lens, and offcoarse a pump lens and diode. Being <1W pump, no need for fancy beam corrective optics, just a collimating lens, O-like IIRC sells a 9mm module housing that comes with glass lenses coated for 808nm.

Without TEC cooling and a 1W pump (again, lots of cheap 808nm 9mm diodes around), you might start to touch the 200mw powers, but it will be pretty unstable.. Thats the cheapest and simplest way I think to make a homemade DPSS <200mw, it should come no where near 250$ either. however 200mw>.. you will need seperate crystals and a properly made system to get any decent results for the effort involved.
So taht part list is more like
-1W 9mm diode
-Diode driver
-pump lens
-fused crystal set
-expanding pens
-collimating lens
-heatsink,host,module..misc parts

But really, with the cost of some of these chinese lasers using a system like that.. its obviously TONS cheaper to buy a fully built one then do it yourself.. but if your in it for the education, thats the simplest way I think.... not really worth it to DIY DPSS unless its an exotic wavelenth and your saving hundreds of dollars (IE you found some dirt cheap crystals for a rare wavelenth: hasn't happened yet)... or a powerfull 532nm build for a specific need or application (or for learning the inner workings of a proper DPSS laser).

Of just pick another color. Green is tough to do. :/

the op reads as if he wants to build it from the ground up.

That is going to be tough. through out the years i think i have only read about 2 people sucessfully get green light from ground up builds. and who knows what their power was. the objective was just to get coherent light out.

If you are serious about it, you're pretty much on your own. so a step by step to help others would be much appreciated.

michael.

Buy a 405 or 445 diode and a built a blue laser.
It burns really good (if you're looking for that) - That 500mW Green would be too expensive

I think I found a kit that will work: diy-laser.com
It seems simple enough for me.
I will work my way up.

thanks for the info gentleman...everyone

That DIY-Lasers.com looks like a really shady site. Good luck with all that.

Realistically, you're lowballing here. I would suggest you do a little more research yourself so you know exactly how much these things really cost. $250 will get you a nice 80mW or something, but a 400-700mW greenie? Maybe some exaggerated laser at Dino Direct that spews half its power as IR. And building it? Do a little more research before jumping in and breaking things.

Bionic-Badger said:

That DIY-Lasers.com looks like a really shady site. Good luck with all that.

Realistically, you're lowballing here. I would suggest you do a little more research yourself so you know exactly how much these things really cost. $250 will get you a nice 80mW or something, but a 400-700mW greenie? Maybe some exaggerated laser at Dino Direct that spews half its power as IR. And building it? Do a little more research before jumping in and breaking things.

Click to expand...

Well thats why I mentioned it.
And I think we have established what 5 people already said before you.
This iS research my friend. Questions and ideas...

$250 range is a budget not a low ball.
And there are DIY builds here for less, so go figure.

If it can't be done for that price fine.
That is why I posted my budget....

Last time I checked this was a laser pointer forum.
If one can't ask questions and gather information from its members about lasers, then why does this place exist?

too many of you (not all) have serious attitude problems.
relax.
They are just lasers people, much more to life then knowledge of light.

To those who constructively added to my topic I thank you.

Bionic-Badger said:

$250 will get you a nice 80mW or something, but a 400-700mW greenie? Maybe some exaggerated laser at Dino Direct that spews half its power as IR. And building it? Do a little more research before jumping in and breaking things.

Click to expand...

I very much disagree. Less than $250, in fact, less than $200, can get you into a 400mW greenie that is IR filtered. I know, because I have two IR-filtered 532nm greenies, that LPM above 400mW, and cost under $200.

Just take a look at the FireDragon GB thread. For $147 each, all of the participants got 532s that exceeded 300mW (I think). Many if not most got units that peaked above 400mW.

These aren't perfect machines, but they are great lasers, and not the stereotypical "cheap chinese crap" that we've ascribed to sites like DD, DX, FP, PA in the past. The era where $250 would only get you a nice 532nm metering at 80mW is LONG GONE.

irritatediance said:

Well thats why I mentioned it.
And I think we have established what 5 people already said before you.
This iS research my friend. Questions and ideas...

$250 range is a budget not a low ball.
And there are DIY builds here for less, so go figure.

Click to expand...

I disagree here also. Or rather, not so much disagree, but would challenge you to point us to a DIY 532nm build, at 400-700mW going for under $250.

Specifically, I haven't actually seen a DIY DPSS build on LPF for sale. If by "DIY build", you mean that someone put a module into a host, then our definitions are just a bit different. At the same time however, I still haven't seen a DIY build (even by the latter definition) done with a 400mW+ module.

irritatediance said:

Well thats why I mentioned it.
And I think we have established what 5 people already said before you.
This iS research my friend. Questions and ideas...

$250 range is a budget not a low ball.
And there are DIY builds here for less, so go figure.

Click to expand...

so to pretty much post the same thing as RHD but yeah, show my a diy dpss green here?

and if you are sure you know of builds here then why make this thread in the first place?? FAIL


michael.

irritatediance said:

And go to work, mow the lawn...make dinner? haha!
Yes, my budget is a bit small for this undertaking I now see.

Maybe I should go a bit simpler for now. Like 200mW
For some reason I thought it was just a tad easier.
I guess the teks here just make it sound easy.

Very good information all, thank you
Do they not make complete DIY kits?

Click to expand...

I have the feeling that you misunderstood something...
The most people here are using Laserdiodes to build their handhelds.
The problem with your expectations is that there aren't any green diodes...so maybe you would like to make colorchange?!
There are red, blue, violet and maybe some other which i don't recognize now
The problem is, that green laser modules are big and expensive where diodes are small and relative cheap
So i would suggest you go for a diode build...i recommend violet (405nm) for nice beamshape and fantastic color
Or the Orange (635nm) with 300mW --> from here: http://laserpointerforums.com/f50/here-300mw-635nm-mitsubishi-66942.html