My 75$ 1W laser plans!

what about for that red one you suggested to me? what should I do there?

Trexxit said:

what about for that red one you suggested to me? what should I do there?

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That's what I am talking about, it is case negative. For the driver you don't have much choice. You have complicated matters by getting the standard pill and not the drilled one, you will have to use a round driver or else it wont fit. Do you have or have access to a drill press? You could drill the pill yourself, you could probably also do it with an ordinary drill or even a Dremel, but its not too big a deal. Please remember you can't just assume all parts will work together, they don't, you have to decide on everything before you go buying parts.

For the driver I suggest this: Survival Laser Driver get the one set for 220mA that should give you 200mW, if your feeling adventurous you could get this one Survival Laser Adjustable Current Driver the one that's adjustable from 400mA-1.1A and set it yourself to 400mA but this will risk killing the diode or shorten its life but I know some have driven these at 400mA I remember reading it here somewhere but DTR says 350mA max. If you drive it at a conservative 220mA it should last for many years and will not overheat as quickly, duty cycle will still be short though. These diodes I think only need 2.5V so it should work with only one 18650 so you should be able to use your batteries without buying the extension tube. Another option if you were to buy a drilled pill you can use a rectangular driver and battery contact board but I don't really think its wise to make things difficult with your first build. Another option is to just use a current limiting resistor instead of a driver but again you need the drilled pill or I don't think it would fit, there is also one disadvantage to doing that, or a do it yourself LM317 driver I think would fit with the drilled pill. Forget all that for now, just get the first driver I linked to above.

Alan

Housing came in today along with a cheap ultrafire battery/dual charger i ordered in case the batteries dont worl ( although charger shows all of them are lively and well charged)
a few of the batteries in the blue wrapping(or now bare casing) had some sort of rubber thermal material and the casing fell off while trying to remove it, ill more than likely use the samsung batteries all the time but ehh, now im still deciding on a diode and my buddy has offered to pitch in, not sure which diode , the 1W or the 300mw red, so I'd need some suggestions on wiring up the diode(s) to the driver and the diode to casing if need be. I can probably get access to a regular drill, but im not 100% sure, I can order a driver tomorrow,
Also, how would I make a case to hold the laser, goggles and batteries/charger in?
don't think I'll be able to but it's something to save for..
I big thanks to survival laser! extremely fast shipping on everything and very helpful customer service as well!

Link didn't go through on last post, ordered the 300mw red diode today from DTR's shop. all thats left is the driver and some goggles!

I made a very similar build to this for my first laser. There's a link in my signature if you want an ideal of how to go about it. Definitely a nice little laser with basic burning. Also good for optical trapping.

I used a linear driver set to 378mA and that got me 230mW with the acrylic lens it comes with.

For a decent case that's relatively cheap, check harbor freight. They have aluminum cases with foam padding that are better than nothing.

Good luck!

ChaosLord said:

I made a very similar build to this for my first laser. There's a link in my signature if you want an ideal of how to go about it. Definitely a nice little laser with basic burning. Also good for optical trapping.

I used a linear driver set to 378mA and that got me 230mW with the acrylic lens it comes with.

For a decent case that's relatively cheap, check harbor freight. They have aluminum cases with foam padding that are better than nothing.

Good luck!

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Thanks! So what should I do since the diode is case negative? can I just solder the negative diode wire and the case wire together for the LD I on the diode driver? or do I just not use it at all.
Also Was looking around and found a perfect case for this laser, found this it's cheaper than the 13$ harbor freight one and comes with foam inside

I wouldn't worry about the diode being case negative. DTR has them already pre-wired, just solder black to driver negative, red to driver positive.

Actually, the $15 case at harbor freight is just like the one you linked. The picture they have isn't the right one, is has foam padding. But you did find it even cheaper.

So I just cut the white wire short and act like it's not there? And I noticed that they seem similar, I could go to walmart and get one too, they have them in the school supplies isle i think. How hard would it be to upgrade my laser later on btw? as in installing the red one in a new pointer housing and installing a 1W or a 1.5W m140 in this thing?

Yours has three wires? I've gotten four of those from DTR and all only have two.

If it does have 3, I don't think you need the third (white one). You should be ok just cutting it, but I'm not 100% sure. I've had other diodes with wired case pins that could be ignored. If if it's still the same diode that I have, you don't need it.

Should no one else confirm this, pm DTR on here, he'll let you know.

As for upgrading, shouldn't be a problem. Just swap diode and driver.

EDIT: also if you upgrade a copper heatsink would be better than slapping a 1W diode in that little aluminum sink.

ChaosLord said:

Yours has three wires? I've gotten four of those from DTR and all only have two.

If it does have 3, I don't think you need the third (white one). You should be ok just cutting it, but I'm not 100% sure. I've had other diodes with wired case pins that could be ignored. If if it's still the same diode that I have, you don't need it.

Should no one else confirm this, pm DTR on here, he'll let you know.

As for upgrading, shouldn't be a problem. Just swap diode and driver.

EDIT: also if you upgrade a copper heatsink would be better than slapping a 1W diode in that little aluminum sink.

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The one shown in the picture on DTR's website does. I haven't recieved mine yet, but I hope it's easy, and figured it would be easy to upgrade, my buddy has a stupid idea to play the drop from Destroy them with lasers as it turns on. He wants to use my 300mw and I thought it was cool so it's nice to know it will be easy upgrading. Btw are there more flashlight housings on DX.com you can use for DIY lasers without having to get something custom machined? I was just curious because theres allot of friggen flash lights on there

Well laser diode came in today as well as a few stickers from innovative lasers , i got do not touch, not only will this laser kill you it will hurt he entire time your dying, the big scary laser one, and the warning about radiation sticker just. I'ma put the big scary laser one on the case once i get it