Tutorial - My 'Pocket Pal' Blu-ray Laser!

lamborgini8 said:

If you look at the little round board, is the outer contact part needed where it meets the spring?

A guy here helped wire up my build and he insisted it was not needed and would just be shorting it so he took the liberty of cutting the track. The build just refuses to work now, it is definatly wired up correctly so I am lost if thats not what the problem is...

Click to expand...

I'm sure you could make it work with out the metal ring that I show 'cut down' in the pictures. (first post)

But the method I used to get ground, is to use this metal ring to push up against the circuit board. So that the host (negative) pushes up against the ring, and the ring touches the outer contact points on the round circuit board. Which I used for the negative lead to the FlexDrive.

This is the only way I have done the build, but there are other ways. You just have to have good contact from the host to the negative side of the FlexDrive, and good contact from the center contact on the circuit to the positive side of the FlexDrive input.

Then the output leads to the diode...
Jay

jayrob said:

[quote author=lamborgini8 link=1213338268/144#159 date=1237386937]If you look at the little round board, is the outer contact part needed where it meets the spring?

A guy here helped wire up my build and he insisted it was not needed and would just be shorting it so he took the liberty of cutting the track. The build just refuses to work now, it is definatly wired up correctly so I am lost if thats not what the problem is...

Click to expand...

I'm sure you could make it work with out the metal ring that I show 'cut down' in the pictures. (first post)

But the method I used to get ground, is to use this metal ring to push up against the circuit board. So that the host (negative) pushes up against the ring, and the ring touches the outer contact points on the round circuit board. Which I used for the negative lead to the FlexDrive.

This is the only way I have done the build, but there are other ways. You just have to have good contact from the host to the negative side of the FlexDrive, and good contact from the center contact on the circuit to the positive side of the FlexDrive input.

Then the output leads to the diode...
Jay[/quote]

I am using the metal ring, the only thing I don't use is the o ring because it just will not fit together with it. I didn't trim the metal ring so I could be completly sure that it is making contact with the board and the host.

If you look at the board there are two tracks as you say. There is an outer one and the inner one, at one point the inner track turns and conencts to the spring and so does the outer track.

I will give it a test with my multimeter when im home, if I am lucky thats all the problem is... It was working yesterday when I connected the diode to the driver so I could test it.

Edit: The metal ring does make contact with the outer side of the board and the little solder rectangles. Thing is if its all wired up correctly and theres something wrong between the diode and driver then having it powered on to test it with a multimeter will be damaging the flexdrive even more.

Do your testing with only the DMM on the setting for checking continuity. Where you can hear a 'beep' when there is continuous contact.

Just check from the outer contact points on the board to your FlexDrive negative input. Then check from the center of the board to your FlexDirve positive input.

Also, check that the it does not beep from negative board contact, to positive FlexDrive input...
Jay

jayrob said:

Do your testing with only the DMM on the setting for checking continuity. Where you can hear a 'beep' when there is continuous contact.

Just check from the outer contact points on the board to your FlexDrive negative input. Then check from the center of the board to your FlexDirve positive input.

Also, check that the it does not beep from negative board contact, to positive FlexDrive input...
Jay

Click to expand...

Ok, I gave it a check over before I left work and it was a bad conenction.

It works now although there is an issue with the contact where it doesn't turn on unless I force the heatsink down a little so I may give it a try with the o ring.

Yep!

That's why I use the o-ring, as a spacer to give a tight fit for the heatsink, and good pressure on the 'ground to host'...
Jay

jayrob said:

Yep!

That's why I use the o-ring, as a spacer to give a tight fit for the heatsink, and good pressure on the 'ground to host'...
Jay

Click to expand...

Awesome

90mW of blue ray is nice, it has a pretty good beam as well.

Seeing as my 2nd host appears to be broken now I may turn that into another pocketpal

You ought to try the Pocket Mini man!

It's a much better build...
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1231664443/0
Jay

jayrob said:

You ought to try the Pocket Mini man!

It's a much better build...
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1231664443/0
Jay

Click to expand...

Tempted indeed.

I have two spare reds laying around though, one is going in another pocket pal and the other being turned into a laby.

both my pocket pals are leaking light slightly to the side, i think allmost 90 degrees to the side. Is this normal?

You mean out the front of the lens? Sounds like maybe the diodes are not pressed in evenly...
Jay

sorry for taking so long the inside diameter is 26mm
and the protruding bit is a hair bigger than 21mm

That sounds like the same dimensions as the sku 46 heatsink.

You could order one and try it, or just send me the host to be sure...
Jay

Mine appears to be somewhat dim now, not dim to the point where you cant see it or the battery issue I mentioned in another post. Its sort of in between the two... Like from 90mW down to 20mW for example...

I have tried a few different batteries and its the same for all of them...

Amazing tutorial... Thanks alot, I'll be using it!

Your welcome!

But if your going to be doing a FlexDrive build, I must tell you that the Pocket Mini is a much better build!

See here:
http://www.laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1231664443/0
Jay

Heres a picture of the PCB board so those little holes with a thick line connected to them connecting to one of the circles?

The ones connecting to the OUTSIDE circle are NEGATIVE

The ones connecting to the INSIDE circle are POSTIVE

Hope this helps