50mW O-like module review, and a new laser build!

Hiya LPF folks,

A package came yesterday and I picked it up at the post office today,
And it is a 50mW green module from O-like I was expecting!

Well it performs more than great, but pics are worth a 1000 words, and a video just over 20k...

I had a heatsink made for Aurora Cree C6 housing ,


However inner diameter was between 12.5 and 13 mm so I had to improvise;
Put some Aluminum foil in multiple layers and some thermal paste



After fitting it, it was stable but it would get pushed out by the battery, so I used some Loctite on the other side
Here.
Not quite visible , just as orientation.

Well entire thing holds up exeptionally well.

I sanded the threads of Aurora's head to make eletrical conductivity:


And at such power lever, this combo lasts forever...


Visibility of the beam is incredible, to my eye it is more visible than 100mW green pen (my friends green pen, I got it over the weekend to clean the lens, not compared to here).





Also, incredibly enough, I measured 1.3 mRad divergence, with 1 mm thin beam at aperture exit ! I will double check that with multiple reference points, but with 1mm at aperture and 5 mm at 3 meters, that is 1.3 mRad...
Also beam is very nice, clean TEM00 , no mode hoping , no nothing,
Nicely centered on output lens, as perfect as it can be.

And yeah, I know that the module is sticking out by 2 cm.
I originally planned to desolder the PCB and lay it on the driver pill where emitter usually is, and use blank AMC board as connection board, however the driver is glued with some tough glue, I help my soldering iron tip 5 seconds on it, not a single mark remained, I cannot cut it with razor blade nor with diagonal cutters!
So I improvised , not the best piece of craftmanship but it works.

And also a video presentation of the laser,
Power measurement, and other fun stuff like shining it outside and matches burning. Yup, it can burn matches, with external lens, but it can.


Finally got vid to work guys, enjoy!

EDIT: New beamshot comparison

Nice work there! I've used a pair of side cutters to get the glue off before. It's tough stuff, but It can be removed without damaging the driver!

Meatball said:

Nice work there! I've used a pair of side cutters to get the glue off before. It's tough stuff, but It can be removed without damaging the driver!

Click to expand...

Thanks but I don't know what side cutters are, I can imagine them though by their name.

However I tell you, it is damn hard, like it is a part of the brass that module is made of.

Anyhow, something is wrong with youtube...
After long upload and long processing, I finally get the email, and I go to watch the vid but everytime is says: Video is not yet processed....

YouTube - 50mW o-like

Does it work for you guys?

Nothing is work in progress, and it's name is wrong, it should say:
50mW o-like module in Cree C6 host

This video is not yet processed. :undecided:

Nice laser thou

It says the same thing for me.. Sometimes YouTube takes awhile to get the video stored in a place where the video is ready to be played from. If the video were watched early, quality would be sacrificed. If it's been processing for more than a day, I think something went haywire..

Sidecutters are one of my most handy tools to have around!



Glad you didn't break your module like I did!

Video works for me :wave:

Meatball said:

It says the same thing for me.. Sometimes YouTube takes awhile to get the video stored in a place where the video is ready to be played from. If the video were watched early, quality would be sacrificed. If it's been processing for more than a day, I think something went haywire..

Sidecutters are one of my most handy tools to have around!

Glad you didn't break your module like I did!

Click to expand...

Well those are diagonal cutters that I have...

It is still impossible to cut it without destroying everything.

I will ask Susie to ship the module with driver not yet soldered to the diode, or not glued, for any future green C6 builds.
:thanks: though.

Ash said:

Video works for me :wave:

Click to expand...

And how is that possible, I cannot get it to open anywhere exept annotations editor. Weird...

Not bad at all

Nice laser! Too bad the video isn't working :cryyy:
Why didn't you take any pics of comparing it to the 100 mW green pen?

Eudaimonium said:

And how is that possible, I cannot get it to open anywhere exept annotations editor. Weird...

Click to expand...

Clicky --> Youtube
Maybe it's magic :thinking:

KiLLrB said:

Not bad at all

Click to expand...

Thanks man!

x90z75ek said:

Nice laser! Too bad the video isn't working :cryyy:
Why didn't you take any pics of comparing it to the 100 mW green pen?

Click to expand...

Pics will be taken in 2 minutes by your request milord !
Vid works now, enjoy buddy!

Ash said:

Clicky --> Youtube
Maybe it's magic :thinking:

Click to expand...

It works now for me, however out of 3 vids I uploaded till now, 2 on them YT gave me a hard time because of background music used.
I filed a dispute on both, because I downloaded music from youtube also.



Thanks everyone!:wave:

EDIT: Yup Video works now 100%,
However those comparison beamshots will not be in 2 minutes as my cam died and I need to pay a visit to El-Chargéro, pics in an hour or so!

Well the video works now. Iz nice! But I see you still haven't uploaded the comparison beamshots.

You may be looking for trouble using that battery, I believe they dont recommend using batteries with a peak of 4.2v any more.

I have started using a diode inline with my battery now to drop the voltage.

I do love the o-like modules, great performers!


P.S. I use a dremmel to remove the glue on my drivers.

A 16340 would work in that host. The driver pill would be removed, allowing the module to be pushed farther back in the heatsink so it doesn't stick out too much. Since the host uses a tailcap clicky and you have bridged the switch on the driver board, this would work. A 16340 would be enough to run this module.

Nice looking host and build, with good performance.

When you upload a video to youtube, it does not become available right away. Once uploaded, youtube then processes the video, compressing and often derezzing it so it occupies less space. Once this completes, the video becomes available for viewing.

When you have a sloppy fit between the module and heatsink, the aluminum foil works well. I think that you have another option, as you have some indium pellets. These are soft metal, and can be rolled out into a foil fairly easily. This can then be used to give your module a tight fit.

x90z75ek said:

Well the video works now. Iz nice! But I see you still haven't uploaded the comparison beamshots.

Click to expand...

Sure EEZ nice!

I took the beamshot , looks very realistic, will upload it tomorrow (1:00AM now damn, gotta get myself to get some sleep)

I was more than a day and a half without internet connection, very strong winds here don't do good to town-wide DIY wireless connection here

jaycey said:

You may be looking for trouble using that battery, I believe they dont recommend using batteries with a peak of 4.2v any more.

I have started using a diode inline with my battery now to drop the voltage.

I do love the o-like modules, great performers!


P.S. I use a dremmel to remove the glue on my drivers.

Click to expand...

Nope, tested out, works very nice.
Also, please note that li-ion batteries are 4.2 V only when measuring without load.
18650s were tested some time ago, they drop just under 4.0 V when load applied.
P.S. I don't have a dremmel. I don't know how is that called in Croatian even... maybe I will order it online, since everything here sucks when it comes to DIY

billg519 said:

A 16340 would work in that host. The driver pill would be removed, allowing the module to be pushed farther back in the heatsink so it doesn't stick out too much. Since the host uses a tailcap clicky and you have bridged the switch on the driver board, this would work. A 16340 would be enough to run this module.

Nice looking host and build, with good performance.

When you upload a video to youtube, it does not become available right away. Once uploaded, youtube then processes the video, compressing and often derezzing it so it occupies less space. Once this completes, the video becomes available for viewing.

When you have a sloppy fit between the module and heatsink, the aluminum foil works well. I think that you have another option, as you have some indium pellets. These are soft metal, and can be rolled out into a foil fairly easily. This can then be used to give your module a tight fit.

Click to expand...

That would be great yet , however I do not have any 16340 ATM...
The driver pill is removed, both springs shortened to provide as much space possible, minimizing the pressure on the module.

I would feel bad using indiums for this, they deserve better (mounting some multiwatt diodes or so).
But I do have a lot of them, I will use them in next green build which will be 100mW green, same housing, O-like module also.

Previous 2 videos I have uploaded were finished processing in like, 2 minutes. This one took a night.
I think it is because of confirmation of Audio content , since it was not at the beginning right away.

Nope, tested out, works very nice.

Click to expand...

Yes it will work, but your overdriving it so maybe it wont work for so long.
Anyway I am just quoting what o-like have recommended and a diode inline is a very cheap insurance policy!

Good luck.