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Custom Single Mode Altoids PL450B With Safety

AMooMooCow

AMooMooCow

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LD: DTR Osram PL450b.
Driver: Chinese 180mA.
Power: 160mW with 405nm 3 element lens.
Weight: 5oz (140g) with batteries and perfectly balanced between the front and back.

Here is a laser that took me 6 hours or more to make. The metal of an Altoids tin is too thin to work with machines, so I had to use hand tools to grind out the holes for the aperture and button (use ear plugs if you attempt to). Been selling these on eBay (safety glasses always included) to save up for a metal lathe, as I am not allowed to work and must concentrate on my studies. There is a small switch epoxied to the heatsink that arms the laser and turns on the green LED.

Video Demo:
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Alaskan

Alaskan

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Great job, nice home brew solution. I like the safety switch and LED idea. This kinda reminds me of my early ham radio days and the tuna can transmitters we used to build :)

Ohh, I had to come back in and edit in more, single mode lasers are the bees knees to me too due to their lower divergence, I'd be interested to know at what cloud height you can see a terminus spot. I'm betting at 3000 ft cloud height, maybe more for 445nm blue at that power level.
 
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AMooMooCow

AMooMooCow

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I loves muh switches. The more the better:thanks:
Edit: did the experiment. Thin clouds at 3500ft based on weather reports. Could only see the beam. So defs lower. 2000ft?? I'll probably be watching the weather for the next week cuz that question will be bugging me forever until I see it.
 
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olympus mons

olympus mons

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Thats a great little build. What do you sell these for? I didn't find any when I searched altoid tin laser.
 
AMooMooCow

AMooMooCow

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nwfreefly said:
Thats a great little build. What do you sell these for? I didn't find any when I searched altoid tin laser.
Click to expand...

Why thank you :)
120mW PL450B 450nm Blue Burning Lab Style Laser in Altoids Tin | eBay
On eBay, I have to sell this for 122.89USD because they're ridiculous and charge 10%. I also have to lose profit to include safety glasses because these people are unlikely acquainted with lasers yet.
On the LPF, I could part with it for 95.86USD plus 3 for USPS Priority Shipping within the US.
I know it sounds insane for a single laser, but these literally take no less than 4-6 hours to make, and I would go insane.

Edit: I'm getting better. 3 hours.
 
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olympus mons

olympus mons

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AgentMcBaine said:
Why thank you :)
120mW PL450B 450nm Blue Burning Lab Style Laser in Altoids Tin | eBay
On eBay, I have to sell this for 128.89USD because they're ridiculous and charge 10%. I also have to lose profit to include safety glasses because these people are unlikely acquainted with lasers yet.
On the LPF, I could part with it for 112.91USD plus 2.32 for shipping within the US.
I know it sounds insane for a single laser, but these literally take no less than 4-6 hours to make, and I would go insane.
Click to expand...

Sounds more than fair. I have no problem compensating people for their time and efforts at their asking price. I added you to my watch list so I can contact you in the future. I just spent way too much on lasers and hosts this month. Gotta wait till next month.
 
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BowtieGuy

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Nice work, I like these little lasers built into tins, every one is unique! When I did mine, I had a hard time finding a green tin to match my 532nm.
I agree, those single mode diodes are special, I see that the tin is even color coordinated with your wavelength. :D

:gj: +rep!
 
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AMooMooCow

AMooMooCow

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I could probably start a buy thread in the future after I liquidate all my laser assets. But would anyone be interested in buying these? I assume most people on this forum might know how to solder and drill holes
 
Pman

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See you are also selling a 700mA Oclaro too. Surprised Ebay hasn't caught on. Hope you don't get in trouble. Cool looking Altoids. I also have made one but with a 532nm.
 
AMooMooCow

AMooMooCow

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Pman said:
See you are also selling a 700mA Oclaro too. Surprised Ebay hasn't caught on. Hope you don't get in trouble.
Click to expand...
Yeaaa, if i do get in trouble I'll just unscrew it and call it diy. I'll make sure to include a class iv safety briefing if it goes.

And the funny thing is that the this laser was supposed to be a 532, but i touched the pot by accident and it destroyed it :'c
 
AMooMooCow

AMooMooCow

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BowtieGuy said:
When I did mine, I had a hard time finding a green tin to match my 532nm.
I agree, those single mode diodes are special, I see that the tin is even color coordinated with your wavelength. :D
Click to expand...

Hey thanks :p At some point in the future, I'll have a collection of wavelengths in color-coordinated tins. Cinnamon - 660, Peppermint - 635, Spearmint - 520, Wintergreen - 450/405
I think I remember seeing a yellow tin too. Can't wait until yellow lasers are needed by any industry
 
AMooMooCow

AMooMooCow

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Alaskan said:
I'd be interested to know at what cloud height you can see a terminus spot. I'm betting at 3000 ft cloud height, maybe more for 445nm blue at that power level.
Click to expand...

Cloud cover: 100%
Ceiling: 1300ft
(Accuweather.com)

I could not see the terminus of the blue laser at all. It just seemed to be a beam that disappeared into the clouds. I got out my new Laserbtb 20mw 515nm pointer and did a side by side comparison. It was the size of a candle flame across a football field, but yes I could see the green dot. I also had my Oclaro with me so why not? I could see its dot (bar) too.

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The camera sees all beams equally well, but it's different for real eyes.

It's not hard to see the reflection of the PL450B from 1300ft away though. I think it's the rayleigh scattering of blue light in particular that causes the beam to sort of overlap the dot, especially since that dot is just kind of diffusing into the cloud.
 
Alaskan

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Thanks for trying, I'm guessing it is just hard to see the spot when our eyes are only 5% as sensitive to 445nm compared to green. Even with 520nm, the spot was so small, the width of the beam on the way up was in the way for me too, but green stands out so much better, I bet that's all it is.
 
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