Here's my latest laser build:
445nm projector diode
Flexdrive @ 700mA
IMR 16340 Li-ion
DX 1x123A flashlight host

The thing that makes this pointer really special is that it is the first use of my Laser Lock system to increase the safety of the device. I have used a PIC 10F206 microcontroller and 4 other components to create a system that controls whether the Flexdrive gets power from the battery. The tailcap switch now forms a safety switch, and I have added a momentary switch and an LED to interact with the Laser Lock. Laser Lock requires an access code based on a short series of presses and clicks in order to arm the laser. It uses the LED to give the user feedback, indicating the events: safety off, incorrect code, unlocking, armed, and firing. The system also implements a momentary and a constant mode, and an automatic shutdown in constant mode. Here's a video that goes over the operation:

YouTube - Everett's Mini-Projects: Laser Lock

This was a challenging build due to the space constraints, but it came together well. There is a custom aluminum heatsink holding the lens module with a glass lens. All of the electronics are mounted to this heatsink as one unit that drops in from the front of the body. Because of limited space, I did not use a PCB for the Laser Lock electronics, so the circuit is built with loose components and wired point-to-point with 29 gauge wire.

Since LPF has given me so much useful information in the past, I want to share this system with the community in case anyone else is able to make use of it. Below are some build pictures along with all my documentation of the system. I have also included a design for a PCB that can be made at home using the toner transfer method, and I will make my source code available to anyone that is interested. It is written in PIC assembly and fairly well commented. The whole code is only about 260 instructions. I would also be willing to provide programmed chips or perhaps a populated board if there is interest.
Thanks for reading!

Jeez well done!!! One of the nicest looking compact portables I've seen! With the 445 OMGGGGG..> DROOLING.... That laser lock system is pretty impressive I might add... I wish I had a engineering mind like that

Very nicely done!!! I'm sure there are people on LPF with the know how to do this but this is the first time I have seen this implemented in a build. +1 rep.

Very well done! Impressive, you seem to have done your homework. I'm interested in learning how to do this myself. Thanks for sharing!

I must also comment of the detail and thought put into this build. GREAT JOB!!! You have definately constructed a wonderful 445nm laser with a great safety system!!!

I am going to school now to become a mechanical Engineer. I can only hope to have such a creative and techinical mind as you after I learn all there is to know from my classes. I hope to build something like this for my lasers in the future as well.

Great work. Keep it up and people will be wanting to buy this interface from you.

Excellent!! And open source too! Props dude!
I've been wanting to add a mcu to a build.

WOW this is amazing! I couldn't ever imagine successfully building a laser like this.. you have skills.

By any chance is your username named after a city.. such as... Everett Washington? (that's where I live) Or is that just your actual name?

Neat design, and out of the blue as well. Cool stuff.

That is amazing job.

Now we can make these high power lasers safer.
+1 rep

+rep... you definitely deserve it
you should start making and selling these boards, especially to members with 445nm builds


but I'd personally use blue led as indicator

Amazingly clever design, and i love the features.

Very cool! +1

That's awesome, man. Maybe you could design a host that uses one of those glass fingerprint readers built in to laptops, these days (just send me one if you actually do it *wink*). =D

Well done. I think a few manufacturers could implement this. You made it on hackaday.com also!

+1.

Wouldn't be able to see a blue led while wearing your glasses.

Patent it and sell it to WL

Did anyone notice the burn marks on his work table?
That's an awesome build.

Very nice build, also really like your flame thrower build, it looks and runs fantastically.

I would really like to get into programming things like that but have yet to come across anything, the PIC controller looks very nice, do you program it using a kind of flow chart system or purely writing out code?

Cheers +rep as well, very nice start to the forum, hopefully you stick around for a few more builds

I'd like to see PL reactions to this! Surely they must be impressed?

Really nice build Everett!

+1 too.

M

I usually plan out my code with a flowchart, but the programming is all done in assembly language (code). Most people find it pretty unintuitive, but I have grown to like it much more than higher level languages. Working in assembly puts the programmer much closer to the actual operation of the processor. Here's an example of some assembly code-it's the loop that runs while the switch is down after Laser Lock has been armed (everything after a semicolon is a comment):

clickloop
call getswitch
ifset switchflag ;if switch has been released
goto clicktest ;go take action
decfsz presstimer,f ;count down press time
goto $+2 ;normally jump ahead
bcf clickflag ;if press time was too long, clear the click flag
decfsz blinktimer,f
goto clickloop ;not zero, continue looping
movfw GPIO ;blink timer was zero, so
xorlw b'00000001'
movwf GPIO ;toggle the led
movlw blinktime2
movwf blinktimer ;reload the blink timer
goto clickloop ;stay in the loop

If you are interested in working with PICs, this is a great place to start: Gooligum Electronics

Very impressive.... Well executed and very useful...
Keep up the innovations...

Jerry

I prefer asm to the higher level language stuff for micro-controllers as well. I only use it in PC programs when the function needs to be fast. Haven't used pic's though. When I first started out I liked the SX Ubicom/Parallax. Its 75 MIPS / 75 MHz. Of course performance is not a constraint in you application, so smaller and cheaper is better.

Thanks for link, I'll get reading through it today and see how I get on.

Hopefully I can get into this, there's so much potential with the ability to program electronics Lot's of ideas I want to get made.

Thanks!

Amazing! +1

Now let's see how WL's "Smart Switch" turns out compared to this excellently designed system...

-Chris