White laser *now with host* :)

and I will give you this in return......

You could get thousands for that. It is stunning

And to think I feel good when I make a special heat sink ....................

That's great machining and engineering. You da Man here.

Mike

Thankyou kind sirs, I must say I am rather proud of the result.... hasn't stopped me working toward my next build though :

Regards rog8811

A couple more questions, just me being optimistic and wanted to make sure I do this right (to minimize cost, don't want to break anything, short term or long term):
Is there a specific reason for Araldite, or would any epoxy (or J.B. Weld) work?
I think I'd rather use some AA size batteries ( http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790 ), those hold more power, so hopefully would last longer, and I have a holder for them. Any problem there (still 3.7v)?
Is there any way I could use a single pole 6 position rotary switch? (I have a binary counter that would function the same, or similar)

A couple more questions, just me being optimistic and wanted to make sure I do this right (to minimize cost, don't want to break anything, short term or long term):
Is there a specific reason for Araldite, or would any epoxy (or J.B. Weld) work?
I would guess that any 2 part epoxy would do it, the slow setting one, although making the job longer, means you do not feel in any rush to get it all in line before the glue sets.
I think I'd rather use some AA size batteries ( http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.5790 ), those hold more power, so hopefully would last longer, and I have a holder for them. Any problem there (still 3.7v)?
Any batteries will do, the RCR123A I used give areasonable time between charges
Is there any way I could use a single pole 6 position rotary switch? (I have a binary counter that would function the same, or similar)
You need the 2 pole as you will be switching 2 circuits, see diagram.
You would find it easier to use 3 pushbuttons maybe?

Regards rog8811

Amazing! was that using the built in spiro?

was that using the built in spiro?

Click to expand...

If you are refering to the photo at the top of this page, Yup!

Regards rog8811

I saw this on hackaday.com and it got me to thinking. Could this laser, when turned on white mode, be used as a light source for a lcd or DLP projector? I understand that you would need to expand the beam to cover the DLP or LCD completely but I know this could be done. Is there any chance you could try this out and see what the results are?

I saw this on hackaday.com and it got me to thinking.  Could this laser, when turned on white mode, be used as a light source for a lcd or DLP projector?  I understand that you would need to expand the beam to cover the DLP or LCD completely but I know this could be done.  Is there any chance you could try this out and see what the results are?

Click to expand...

I can try a beam expander on the output, I assume you are wanting an even colour rendition across the width of the wide beam?
If I get a result I will post a picture here.

Regards rog8811

[edit]I am struggling to find an expander that does the job, but I will have a look in the workshop tomorrow to see if there is anything suitable [/edit]

Absolutely incredible Rog.

I can't believe my own eyes!

You Sir, are a genius and master craftsman...
Jay

This is a guess, but I don't think it could be used as a source for a projector. It is white, but it is just 3 wavelengths combined, not a full spectrum white. Whenever a color displayed on screen isn't one of the 7 colors here, I think it'd just be dark.

Is there a spirograph built into the laser, is that what Switch meant by built in spiro? That's awesome.

Also, for circuits, would the attached picture work (I don't have a program that I can use to make a nice clean picture, so I used MSPaint, sorry).
I'm hoping that the driver on the green is like a flexdrive and thus the green case would be at 3.6v, otherwise this wouldn't work. This is something I'd check out when I get the green laser. Instead of using the contacts on the switch on the green, I'd just solder the switch closed and put mine between the battery and the driver. I also don't know if connecting and disconnecting the ground on the red and bluray would be bad, I don't think it'd make a difference though, so long as it's between the driver and the battery. In this circuit, the positive of the single battery is connected to the negative of the 2 batteries, so the negative terminal of the single is -3.6v, and the positive of the 2 is +7.2v. The binary switch is like a binary counter, it counts 0 to 7 in binary (connecting the common to 1, 2, and 4, perfect for 7 colors, if it can be used).

I need to look out the drawing I did of this, I am sure I came up with a reason why the binary switch wouldn't work, so I went away from it..... I will be back....
[edit]Am back, I could only find the drawing below and I was worried that there could be a case when something would happen to put too much voltage into a driver....

I'm hoping that the driver on the green is like a flexdrive and thus the green case would be at 3.6v

Click to expand...

The green is indeed case positive. But with the red case negative (blu-ray can be ignored) and both modules mounted in a connected path isn't there around 11v floating around somwhere.
I did look at hex switches but I think I put it into the "too hard to do" pile and looked instead for a 2 pole switch :[/edit]

Regards rog8811

About how much power do you think the red laser needs? Could one use the Red/IR diode from the 803T or the Red/IR/Blu diode from the PS3 sled?
The 20$ stonetek diode seems a little pricey considering that you can get an open die sled for ~10$ which can output far more power.

Awesome idea, I will probably attempt one of these although PS3 sled bulk buys seem to be rather rare... How wide is the ps3/laser diode assembly? Without the spiro how small do you think this could be made?

About how much power do you think the red laser needs?  Could one use the Red/IR diode from the 803T or the Red/IR/Blu diode from the PS3 sled?
using the PS3 blu ray and red from the 803T I would guess you would need about 1mw of green, that really  is a guess though

The 20$ stonetek diode seems a little pricey considering that you can get an open die sled for ~10$ which can output far more power.
I just went with what I knew, you could try a number of combinations

Awesome idea, I will probably attempt one of these although PS3 sled bulk buys seem to be rather rare...  How wide is the ps3/laser diode assembly?
with the turning mirror and the red module without the back cover, it approx 2" across.

Without the spiro how small do you think this could be made?

The spiro only adds about 3/4" to the length....I am on the mark2 at the moment, I will let you know how small it can go

Regards rog8811

re

How about adding a microcontroller with 3 logic level power mosfets, one for each color, and add PWM control for them, to achieve much more different colors? I actually don't know how drivers would handle PWM... but i think there should be a way to achieve it. I have a DIY laser with a rkcstr driver which i can use for testing.
I have to check if there's any small PIC model with 3 hardware PWM modules and i could program it for you. It's not a difficult task. I could also make a 7 colors only switch using a tiny SOT-23 PIC , 3 power mosfets and 3 push switches in a small area.
Imagine making a laser spyrograph with slow fading color changes...