Share your inexpensive builds thread

[Zom-B]

I adjusted the BlitzBuck drive because when I got it with the pot in the dead center.

Oops, you weren't talking to me XD

 

[Lazerbeak]

Great job on those Pman! Love the "Lazerbeak Special" :crackup:

What's up with the crazy numbers on the B50 and F12 Kudos there. The Gold host turned out gorgeous too :beer:

__________________________________

Cool Labby Zom-B the Peltier setup is way impressive :gj:

Thanks for sharing. Some serious skills here. I never fail to be impressed Pman.

~ LB

 

[Pman]

The Fasttech modules have been kicking some butt with pot mods.
Take a guess at what the "cap" is on the B50 Look like the front of something you own?
Thanks guys and REP to you when I can.
Great ingenuity there Zom-B! That was a great build to add here for us thinkin outside the box people

Pete

 

[Lazerbeak]

:crackup: Yeah, recognized that. Had to do a double take. With the accents and heads it took me a minute to realize what I was looking at Nice mod with the parts.

~ LB

 

[Livinloud]

isnt it the cap off the black and decker light?

 

[Pman]

Bingo!

 

[Pman]

So, what's very different about this build than most that I've done plus see what I did with the tail cap from the B&D? Don't know how I missed this little detail, but I didn't align the front end with the host when I epoxied it in Looks OK still but it didn't dawn on me when I pressed and glued it in at the moment to align it.
The front tip has an adjustable focus metal piece with a grommet over it for easy adjustment. 118mw. Module was taken from a $5 Ebay pen, put an extension on the lens to focus (like my pen tutorial) and runs off a single 10440.
This was a pain to put together from "scratch" and took lots of hours. The tail clicky had a small orange cap but didn't look right with the red O-rings (look orange in the pic but they are red) and since I didn't have a small enough black one, I cut one down and siliconed the black one over the orange one which turned out really well. Looks exactly like a black tail cap.

 

[Zom-B]

Don't you have the problem that black tailcaps stink like car tyres? Mine in my MXDL really do, and make my fingers stink too after some use.

 

[Pman]

Never really noticed to tell you the truth but now I'm going to be trying to smell it on my fingers all the time.... thanks a lot LOL

 

[cmendoza]

Pman,
A couple questions on your MDXL aaa (or 2aaa) builds.
Do you use the driver that comes with it (for a 450 or 638 build)?
What do you think the duty cycle would be on a 450nm 50mw build?
Thanks for some great ideas!
Chris

 

[n2stuff]

Damn you Pman fasttech is going to keep me broke. Their is soooo much stuff I can't stop filling my cart. I don't see any 50mW modules only the 5mW 5 volt new wish and 3 volt ones. +1 when I can.

 

[Pman]

All of my long MXDL builds are using either the 5V or 3V 5mw Fasttech modules as is. Just jumper across the button. add spring, shrink tube the board, bore out the MXDL with I believe a 15/32 drill bit from front end down enough so the module will slide in, add 10440 and you are good to go (that's the basics) of it.
Up to you whether you try adjusting the pot or not but many have broken their modules not paying close enough attention to what they are doing.
The smaller MXDL hosts are a bit more of a pain and use the module out of Fasttech single AAA pen and of course the single AAA battery.
These builds are using modules with boards/drivers that they already have so I have no answers for other nm.
Remember that I'm building as inexpensively as possible so I'm purchasing pieces/parts with that in mind and not buying diodes and boards/drivers/custom heatsinks etc....
You can certainly get some inexpensive "stuff" like that and put it together but that's not what I "personally" am doing and feel free to post all that stuff!

Their haven't been 50mw modules for months and they are not going to carry them. When we requested more powerful modules, they apparently looked into the legality issues and now won't sell anything that doesn't say 5mw. Almost all my builds are using the single AAA pens or the 3V/5V modules that all say 5mw but are actually MUCH higher (up to 28 times higher in one instance with a pot mod).
Really need to read what I've said about these modules through the thread
Basics are the single AAA pen modules are really small and can fit in lots of small hosts. The 5V and 3V modules are basically the same other than length and the deal with the 5V module is it puts out mw from the same lower voltage as the 3V but can handle up to 5V or more in so there's more battery choices. You don't get more output with 5V than 3.2V into the 5V module! The 3V module appears to have no issues running a battery that outputs 4.2V at full charge.
There are plenty of modules you can buy from all over the place that claim more power and if they are not scamming, ouput more. But, I haven't seen anything that rivals the price/output of the Fasttech module.
The last unit pictured above is a 650nm module stolen from a $5 pen and puts out 118mw. Was going to make another focusable pen when I noticed that the module wasn't glued down and I could easily push it right out. Was all out of 532nm modules so figured why not build something other than a 532nm. Of course, I wouldn't do that without making it focusable (same technique as my focusable pen tutorial) because I find the 650 and 405nm boring otherwise compared to seeing the 532nm beam

Pete

 

[cmendoza]

Pete, Thanks for the info! I'm going to try to mod the single aaa mdxl. I like the size and the tail click.

 

[jander6442]

Here is one I call the RayOVac PHR-803 Xboost:

Here is the original build thread. Truth be told I had to buy another host $2.99:crackup: because I galled the first one. I have A couple of more of these... fun thread:beer:

Well I have a pile of 803 sleds from Andrews finale sale at Modwerx I was wanting to use a boost driver for this one particular build, but it had to be small enough to pull it off. I'm not at all comfortable using the benboost so I was waiting to see if someone would have cloned a Flex and well, no go so far.

Enter the mini Xboost. A great little driver, I wish it would hit the mass production line like yesterday. Great job Angelos, you the man.



I bought this host at WalWart it is a RayOVac and under 5.00 bucks to boot, as many of you know I often use the el cheapo's for host. I found this one interesting because the barrel can be used front and back swappable.

Look at the little baby isn't she cute. As you can see that mini is tiny TINY!.
I also used a copper mod. That back in the day for a PHR was unheard of

I set the driver for 128mA... Did I mention that the driver has a soft start

I did not test it yet, I intend to and when I finally do I'll post the findings here so check back if you like. Thank you for looking. -jander6442

Well hehe look the little guy made it up to 167mW at 128mA not to shabby.

 

[Lazerbeak]

Wow! Amazing build Jander. Really impressive, for the size and use of Lazeerer's Mini Xboost. The copper heat sink and diode are awesome too :beer:

~ LB

 

[jander6442]

Thank you LB... I find myself always grabbing these phr builds when I'm laserfoolery around the house, flies beware.