Krutz
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- Joined
- Nov 21, 2007
- Messages
- 1,733
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Here comes another tutorial, my current laserproject.
Since the beginning I was ordering many flashlights from DX, none was really
pleasing me. Once I found a good one, ordered 20 pieces, which then were all
different and useless.. *sigh*
But then I found a nice one!
TR-801 14.56$
It uses an 18650 cell, there is another one for CR123A: TR-803 14.27$
Whats so special about that host? The head doesnt simply screw onto the body, like almost
all others, where you screw the lasermodule into the head. These are made of
thin aluminum, with little heatsinking and bad heattransfer to the body.
But this one has a full "module-holder"!
Its made of steel, nickel or chrome-plated, so you can solder it! Heavy too..
The other stuff I got me. The copper rod is 17mm in diameter, anything between 17mm and 18mm
should fit (Measure your own host in case the design changes!). I drilled it out with 12mm, to
fit a regular aixiz module in. The drilling was the single most difficult step. Never again,
I would now rather let some workshop to this ;-)
Cut some copper "heatsink-adapters". Drill a 13mm to 14mm hole through the "module-holder".
Everything should then fit like this:
The copper wasnt flush, I let a mm stand over. That way I can leter cut and polish it exactly flush.
Now the fun part: soldering!
I used regular plumber's soldering paste, smeared it at all surfaces which will be soldered
together later, and heated it with a blowtorch. I didnt have to "prepare" them, no sanding or anything,
a quick wash with soap to remove grease was enough. Here some are already tinned, some not yet:
Dont burn your fingers, dont get too much solder on there, and finally give them a brush (I used
an electric toothbrush). Shiny!
Now comes the amazing part: Solder the copper ring into the head:
Amazing, because you will be amazed how much solder fits in there! Around two meters (!) of 0.5mm
soldering wire! It will be much less if your copper rod fits closer into the head. Here, the gap was
too wide, a half mm. Doesnt sound much? Thats what I thought too, before..
Next, solder the aixiz module in. Face the front down, so the aixiz is flush and reaches into the
head several mm. Here you see the inner side, already soldered:
..And here the front side. With such a wide gap, the solder started to flow out. Its simply too heavy to
stay at its place! Well, with a bit solder in excess (which came out) it worked out.
Almost done! Use your favorite tool (mine is the dremel, for sure!) to remove the extra mm copper and aixiz,
sand it, polish it:
Now if that isnt close to mokume-gane? Yay! I didnt expect it to be that beautiful, never thought the
different metals (brass aixiz, copper, tin solder, steel host) would look so different! At least its a
good excuse for the wide gap, finally!
After enjoying your work, install your favorite diode and driver:
There isnt *that* much space inside. I shortened the diode's pins and used DrLava's Flexdrives.
We're kinda done, not?
Ah, whatever may follow will be boring anyway..
*zaps to different channel*
[Green module] "Where am I? I cant move! Must be tied up or something.. What is this strange place? What
happened? I cant see! I am frightened!" <Loses consciousness again>
<Darkness, horrible, inhuman sounds>
[Green module wakes up again] "It hurts! Help! Help!" <feels around> "AAAAHHH! My.. My driver! Its.. GONE!!"
<Minutes later, unbearable loud noise, from a chainsaw or similar, coming closer>
<The poor module screams and whimpers in agony>
<The module finally falls in a relieving coma, only seconds before its driver stopped to function>
<Hours later. The module suddenly awakes>
[Frankenmodule] "WHAT HAPPENED! The pain.. its GONE! There is new current flowing through my circuits..
I feel.. good.. MIGHTY! WAHAHAHAHAH!!!"
<Some rats run for cover, afraid of that powerful and slightly insane voice>
<And finally, Frankenmodule.. LASES!>
*ZAP*
where were we?
Oh, right, some O-like 130mw module got a new AMC7135 driver.
Luckily I found a fitting aluminum tube (a fat pencil torch), and after some more soldering and wiring
I got that:
Almost done!
Now lets see what I can do about that aperture.. Looking around, I took some sheet metal from tin cans,
5mm hole, cutting some circles, voila:
Actually there is an IR filter in front of the smaller green aperture. And actually there are AR-coated
windows in front of the others:
This stuff is really amazing! UCL flashlight lenses, I got the Mag sized 52.1x1.9mm 6.25$.
I got several photographic anti-UV AR-coated lenses, they are totally worthless and way overpriced.
These UCL lenses.. Damn, you cant really see it when holding it in your very hand! Its almost scary,
you feel it, you see the rim, but look right through the glass..
What else. Now, that I am almost done with some lasers. To prevent them from frying when
someone should insert the batteries wrong, I cam up with this:
The lower are the heads/modules. I built a plasticring with the positive contact in the middle.
The flat negative batteryside wont contact the slightly recessed blob of solder, all fine.
The greenie. Battery goes in opposite, positive to the tailcap. Which is a good way to confuse the
polarity! I removed the spring and soldered a magnet in. Of course it lost its magnetism. But a second
magnet will gladly snap to the first one, and keep the battery from rattling too. As you can see some
pics ago, I use a cr123a cell in this 18650 host, which is wider than the cell.
Any questions, comments, wishes?
No?
Kidding..
Here comes a quick action-shot..
I swear I have no clue why the green one is making these weird insane-laughing noises every time I
switch it on!
I hope you like it. I hope I included all necessary info for you people to follow the steps.
As someone else said it, honor me by building a similar one!
I have a hard time explaining why I spent (spend) so much time building *cough* laserpointers..
So, any positive feedback is welcome! ;-)
Manuel
Since the beginning I was ordering many flashlights from DX, none was really
pleasing me. Once I found a good one, ordered 20 pieces, which then were all
different and useless.. *sigh*
But then I found a nice one!
TR-801 14.56$
It uses an 18650 cell, there is another one for CR123A: TR-803 14.27$
Whats so special about that host? The head doesnt simply screw onto the body, like almost
all others, where you screw the lasermodule into the head. These are made of
thin aluminum, with little heatsinking and bad heattransfer to the body.
But this one has a full "module-holder"!
Its made of steel, nickel or chrome-plated, so you can solder it! Heavy too..
The other stuff I got me. The copper rod is 17mm in diameter, anything between 17mm and 18mm
should fit (Measure your own host in case the design changes!). I drilled it out with 12mm, to
fit a regular aixiz module in. The drilling was the single most difficult step. Never again,
I would now rather let some workshop to this ;-)
Cut some copper "heatsink-adapters". Drill a 13mm to 14mm hole through the "module-holder".
Everything should then fit like this:
The copper wasnt flush, I let a mm stand over. That way I can leter cut and polish it exactly flush.
Now the fun part: soldering!
I used regular plumber's soldering paste, smeared it at all surfaces which will be soldered
together later, and heated it with a blowtorch. I didnt have to "prepare" them, no sanding or anything,
a quick wash with soap to remove grease was enough. Here some are already tinned, some not yet:
Dont burn your fingers, dont get too much solder on there, and finally give them a brush (I used
an electric toothbrush). Shiny!
Now comes the amazing part: Solder the copper ring into the head:
Amazing, because you will be amazed how much solder fits in there! Around two meters (!) of 0.5mm
soldering wire! It will be much less if your copper rod fits closer into the head. Here, the gap was
too wide, a half mm. Doesnt sound much? Thats what I thought too, before..
Next, solder the aixiz module in. Face the front down, so the aixiz is flush and reaches into the
head several mm. Here you see the inner side, already soldered:
..And here the front side. With such a wide gap, the solder started to flow out. Its simply too heavy to
stay at its place! Well, with a bit solder in excess (which came out) it worked out.
Almost done! Use your favorite tool (mine is the dremel, for sure!) to remove the extra mm copper and aixiz,
sand it, polish it:
Now if that isnt close to mokume-gane? Yay! I didnt expect it to be that beautiful, never thought the
different metals (brass aixiz, copper, tin solder, steel host) would look so different! At least its a
good excuse for the wide gap, finally!
After enjoying your work, install your favorite diode and driver:
There isnt *that* much space inside. I shortened the diode's pins and used DrLava's Flexdrives.
We're kinda done, not?
Ah, whatever may follow will be boring anyway..
*zaps to different channel*
[Green module] "Where am I? I cant move! Must be tied up or something.. What is this strange place? What
happened? I cant see! I am frightened!" <Loses consciousness again>
<Darkness, horrible, inhuman sounds>
[Green module wakes up again] "It hurts! Help! Help!" <feels around> "AAAAHHH! My.. My driver! Its.. GONE!!"
<Minutes later, unbearable loud noise, from a chainsaw or similar, coming closer>
<The poor module screams and whimpers in agony>
<The module finally falls in a relieving coma, only seconds before its driver stopped to function>
<Hours later. The module suddenly awakes>
[Frankenmodule] "WHAT HAPPENED! The pain.. its GONE! There is new current flowing through my circuits..
I feel.. good.. MIGHTY! WAHAHAHAHAH!!!"
<Some rats run for cover, afraid of that powerful and slightly insane voice>
<And finally, Frankenmodule.. LASES!>
*ZAP*
where were we?
Oh, right, some O-like 130mw module got a new AMC7135 driver.
Luckily I found a fitting aluminum tube (a fat pencil torch), and after some more soldering and wiring
I got that:
Almost done!
Now lets see what I can do about that aperture.. Looking around, I took some sheet metal from tin cans,
5mm hole, cutting some circles, voila:
Actually there is an IR filter in front of the smaller green aperture. And actually there are AR-coated
windows in front of the others:
This stuff is really amazing! UCL flashlight lenses, I got the Mag sized 52.1x1.9mm 6.25$.
I got several photographic anti-UV AR-coated lenses, they are totally worthless and way overpriced.
These UCL lenses.. Damn, you cant really see it when holding it in your very hand! Its almost scary,
you feel it, you see the rim, but look right through the glass..
What else. Now, that I am almost done with some lasers. To prevent them from frying when
someone should insert the batteries wrong, I cam up with this:
The lower are the heads/modules. I built a plasticring with the positive contact in the middle.
The flat negative batteryside wont contact the slightly recessed blob of solder, all fine.
The greenie. Battery goes in opposite, positive to the tailcap. Which is a good way to confuse the
polarity! I removed the spring and soldered a magnet in. Of course it lost its magnetism. But a second
magnet will gladly snap to the first one, and keep the battery from rattling too. As you can see some
pics ago, I use a cr123a cell in this 18650 host, which is wider than the cell.
Any questions, comments, wishes?
No?
Kidding..
Here comes a quick action-shot..
I swear I have no clue why the green one is making these weird insane-laughing noises every time I
switch it on!
I hope you like it. I hope I included all necessary info for you people to follow the steps.
As someone else said it, honor me by building a similar one!
I have a hard time explaining why I spent (spend) so much time building *cough* laserpointers..
So, any positive feedback is welcome! ;-)
Manuel
