Share your inexpensive builds thread

[Pman]

? Have to explain that one.... me stupid. No way that's a cigerette laser unless you stuck something in the box

 

[Tmack]

It's a fast tech module and a little cheap e-cig. Inside the box is of course the battery holder. Lol If it was a cigarette laser I would have proudly took it out of the box!!
Lol I was just messing around and the module slipped right into the e-cig.

 

[cantthinkofone]

just finished my focusable DPSS greenie. excuse all the junk. my living room is a mess. i know the focusing is sort of not needed, but it just has a unique feel. so here goes:
Total Price: $4.69
Items used:
Ebay Greenie $4.69
Pen Free
Hot glue Free

Pics:
here is the pen itself

here is the focusing part with my pen mod

here is a slightly unfocused shot

and here it is from the front

as unfocused as it gets

focused down

crystals

and to ice the cake, another head shot

what do you guys think?

 

[vortish]

pman

I recently picked up one of those single led rayovac flashlights from wallyworld and I have a twenty mw module coming from fasttec. I have really taking a liking to that site. for one most of the products have reviews which help in the decision making two prices are not crazy expensive. I am a father of 8 and a grand pa of three working 60 hours a week for 12 bucks a hour and going to school full time no I am not over fifty I am 38 --- 8 kids you say how the heck. wife is older she is 44 I have three that are mine and she had four before we were married two of the three of mine are together and one is adopted I e grandpa at 38 sorry rambling .... back to task will I be able to get that twenty mw into just that ravovack or am I going to need a bigger host I have a fastec
UltraFire S5 Cree XR-E Q5 HA-III 3-Mode 250LM LED Flashlight coming in that same order would that work better? I am new to laser diy building but not to electronic diy... I just getting started been interested for years. I will say one thing and when i can donate I will to the forum.. Many of the vets here have been welcoming and helpful. I see so many parts from some of builders I want just money goes to bills before hobbies.. Hope to get some parts from JayRob and a couple others ty for your tutorials

Vortish

 

[Pman]

That's a lot of kids
My daughter is getting married this August (she will be 22) and my son is 20. Looking forward to Grandkids but can't imagine going through it again at 49 (25th anniversary in November too).
Understand about the money thing. VERY easy to get way too caught up in this hobby.
If that is a standard 532nm module you definately won't be able to fit it with a battery unless you double up like I did in the above pics by cutting the threaded piece out of the part you don't use *like the other top piece) and then screwing them together.
I believe that other light is long enough but don't think you will be able to use the battery that it takes as it will take up too much space. You would just need a smaller (shorter) battery.

 

[vortish]

Pman


Yes it is a lot of kids. I have my oldest daughter married off and have a while before any more are old enough to be married. Though my 15 year old came out of the closet about six months ago... Dont agree with it but I will support her in that decision. That 20 mw is a 405nm from fasttech. cheap and though it would be good for a first build... Any way that flash has a 18650 battery do you think I should go down one size on the Lithium Ion and fit a spacer so that it does not rattle. any help would be appreciated very much I would like to shoot you a Idea and see if there is any validity to my crack pot idea using lasers

Thanks again

Vortish

 

[Mattronium]

I finally finished the build that you (Pman) gave me the parts for! I figured that I'd finally tackle it.
I actually built two of them, the first one (silver) I used my lowest power 532nm module at about 20mW. For the second one I used a green colored SK68 flashlight host and used my most powerful laser module (~50mW).

The first try.

And the second.

I actual don't have any AA sized Li-ion batteries so I had to use a single AAA sized one with some magnets for added length

I don't know if I said it before, :thanks: for the parts

 

[Pman]

You are most welcome
Kind of fun messing around trying to fit stuff together on your own and refusing to fail. Even a low powered 532nm can be impressive compared to other colors. I have this one 25mW 532nm module like the ones you used but it has a very low % of IR and it's much brighter than you would expect.
Did you remove the adhesive on the copper sheeting to fill the gaps? Takes some work but you can make it really tight between the copper pieces. Found that paint thinner takes it off immediately. Got to be careful to not cut yourself with the edge of the copper sheet though
I believe that most of the Fasttech ones (that they still sell) are about 10% IR if I remember correctly so they tend to be very bright. When I get them (either the 3 or 5V versions I set them all to about .43 amps using my variable DC power supply as that is about the max output setting that I found from purchasing way over a 100 of them. I set them with a non-metallic screwdriver so there's no chance of shorting anything. I know that at least 40 of them output over 100mW as every laser I own has been labeled for output. Most of the over 100mW are the 5V version which work on as low a voltage as the 3V ones. They seem to just waste the extra voltage.
An easy spacer so the batteries don't rattle is just paper rolled up with a piece of tape. I like to use photo paper but have used copy paper too. Can't stand loose pieces/parts.
Honestly I think people get so caught up in the high powered units that some of the "fun" is lost. I have about 25 units from 200mW to 3.6W but the truth that the other ***'s were way more interesting/fun as I built them into all kinds of interesting hosts. Some were easy and some were quite the challenge.
Back when I made up and gave away those "kits" I was trying to inspire others to just have fun with it and to think out of the box a bit. Don't know why I never bothered to look but talking about this reminds me of how I used to think about just looking through toy stores to see what I could find to stick a module in like Jayrob does with his StarTrek phaser kits. For some reason I don't see many people build that kind of stuff on their own. Seems like back then when I gave out that stuff it was a different group of guys. Feels like we lost too much of the "wonder of it all".
I actually have a couple of the 5V modules coming and a couple of rechargeable USB 532nm pens that Fasttech started selling to do a quick review on them. Should be here by Monday at the latest. Didn't buy them because I needed more 532nm. Bought them for something to do and to report on a new inexpensive laser offering.
I see you have an M462. Really nice blue isn't it. Really think it makes all my other blues look a lot more purple/violet. Don't think enough people have jumped on them yet to really see for themselves the difference.
I'll have a 1.5W 520nm probably today but the host I'm putting it in won't get here until next week. Tempted to toss it in another host I have in the meantime. Spent all my Christmas $ on a few things to go in my 2 extra special showpiece cases. Don't think I will bother with one of the newer 3.5W blue diodes for a 5W because of $ and the 1.5W 520nm will be way brighter anyways. Truth is that what I really want is a 100mW+ 589nm but don't see that happening anytime soon since $ and they seem to be going away with no-one guaranteeing that output anyways. Could have bought a possible 50mW one instead of the 1.5W 520nm but from what I've seen that's not really guaranteed either. Would have to have someone sell theirs to me.
Anyways, think I just wrote all that because you brought up this thread and things were different at that time. Oh well, can't go back

Pete