LG Lightscribe DVD DRIVE 780nM laser

I`m building an engraving tool for black plastic.

I intend on using the CD burning laser out of a dead DVD burner.

I made one about a year ago without any driver and it burnt out fairly quickly, of course.

I have a much better design with a large aluminum heatsink/stylus.

My question is:

What rating of driver do I need to protect the laser and regulate output?

Also: How much voltage is needed?

The one I built before ran directly off of 2 AAAs in an old laser pen.

I work in a Mold-making shop and I want to mark our test parts where the mold needs work done.

Space is not an issue because the power supply and trigger will be separate (project box) and have a coiled telephone cord to connect to the laser.

Also the laser itself is in an axiz module and press fit into the aluminum.

I also understand that this is a very dangerous tool.

It will only be used by me in a very industrial environment.


Any help will be appreciated.

You can use the flex drive, as it produces little heat, and runs on 3-5 volts.

[ch12290 said:

]You can use the flex drive, as it produces little heat, and runs on 3-5 volts.

Click to expand...

I don't have the spec's in front of me, but I believe that the distance between the flexdrive and the diode needs to be short.  Give drlava a PM.  

Peace,
dave

[highlight]**EDIT** [/highlight] To help answer your other questions we would need to know which diode you are planning on using. CD and DVD are NOT the same thing.

It`s the 780nM CD burning laser that i plan to use.

I wonder if you could focus down the IR output from a green after ripping out the crystal junk in between?

For your current laser, since it's an engraver, and probably doesn't need to be really small, just rig up one of those DDL circuits.

The distance from the Flexdrive to the diode can be a foot or so, but why not just put the driver right there with the diode? With the V4 this will be fine with no extra capacitor needed.