***This post is extremely long and very verbose, but hopefully has some useful information in it.***
First off...thanks to jayrob, DTR, lazeerer and CajunLasers for making this abysmally long post possible. If you are even remotely considering one of jayrobs builds...you won't regret it! Not only is the build top notch, but he seems to be a pretty swell guy too! Thanks jayrob!
Hello Laser Pointer Forums!
My name is Jeremy and I have an addiction. I'm addicted to sophisticated weather changing devices (if you haven't seen the first Austin Powers...you really are missing out). I recently bought an Optotronics +30mW laser pointer and that was the beginning of the end. When that thing lit up the night sky, I was addicted. I started lurking around the Laser Pointer Forums, until I had just enough info to be dangerous. I reached out to jayrob, he responded and I bought my first host, heat sink & driver. I then hit up DTRs store and got me a shiny new M140 diode to place in jayrobs P19 host. Everything was beautiful. I received all of the parts, followed jayrobs detailed instructions, got my laser pointer fired up and got chills!
Seriously, the first time I hit that tail cap switch...I got chills! I was an 8 year old kid on Christmas with my brand new Red Ryder BB Gun...only my BB gun shot light! I texted one of my best friends and it went something like this (pardon the expletives)...
Enough said...
So here's my review of jayrobs P19 build...
Things started out great. Jayrobs kit was complete with thorough instructions, the host, the original LED from the host, a spare O-ring for the focusing mechanism and the original lens.
I got to it. I unscrewed the head of the host to reveal the focusing adapter and heat sink. The kit I ordered from jayrob included the copper heat sink and the 405-G-1 glass lens, as seen in the following picture.
I then unscrewed the focusing adapter to reveal the heat sink. I used a small set of needlenose pliers to unscrew the pill & heat sink from the host body.
So I ordered the kit with the "Hot Option", set at 1.25A, which makes the case of the host the negative feed for the diode. This makes it really easy to get this pointer up and running as you only have to solder on the "+" and "-" from the driver to the diode, secure the diode in the heat sink, screw the lens in, screw the head of the host back on and you're good to go. This worked for about a day for me. Let me explain why...after I had depleted one of my 18650 batteries from just pointing to the sky, in a bottle of water, bouncing it off a couple of mirrors, burning a hole through a plastic spoon, etc., etc. I swapped out the dead battery for a freshly charged one. I pressed the tail cap switch and nothing happened. I checked the battery and it was installed properly and had plenty of juice. Screwed the tail cap back on and nothing. I messed with everything possible on the pointer and it would only occasionally flash on for a second and then immediately turn off. I was totally frustrated.
I emailed jayrob and he answered the same evening. Through a handful of private messages, he asked me a ton of questions to troubleshoot the pointer. He asked me about my batteries...to which I responded that I had bought the exact batteries he had recommended.
He asked about a faulty tail cap and how to remedy it. Reminded me about how sensitive diodes are to ESD and I could've fried the diode...to which I responded by building a simple driver with an LM317 to test my diode...
...and it was fine. Touch the leads from the driver together to discharge the cap so I don't fry the diode when I connect it. Check. Finally, he asked me about the length of the pins coming out of the diode and the possibility of them shorting out on the driver if they're too long. At that point, I completely disassembled the whole pointer...lens from the heat sink, pill from the host, driver from the pill and diode from the driver. I cleaned out all the holes on the driver PCB. Ordered some nice silicone covered wire a new M140 diode and a new driver. I started from scratch.
I got my new M140 diode from DTR and removed the wires that were attached to it.
Once the cables were removed, I checked the length of the pins...they were all different.
I trimmed the pins and moved on.
Having learned from a mistake the first time assembled this pointer, I labeled the diode as to which pin was "+" and which one was "-".
I then attached my new driver to the host board...
...and tried to put the driver and the host board into the pill...no luck! Are you serious? The board that jayrob had sent me was a v7 X-Drive. The board I ordered from CajunLasers was a v6. No big deal, there's some more efficient components on the v7...WRONG! The v7 board is physically smaller than the v6...as you can see in the following photos...
There is actually a pretty significant size difference. So I clean all of the solder out of the original board and solder all new silicone covered wire onto the original v7 X-Drive, attach it to the host board and move on.
I enlist the help of my "third hand" and start attaching the leads from the driver to the diode.
I then grab the pill and the heat sink...
...and thread the diode, leads, driver and host board through the bottom of the pill and heat sink, until the host board is slightly recessed and resting flat on the little lip of the pill.
I then press the brass ring down onto the host board, sandwiching the host board and driver between the lip and the brass ring.
Almost done... Just to give you an idea of the difference between my first build and this one, in regards to excess wire that has to be stuffed in the pill. This is from the first time I built this pointer...
This is the second time...
I then push the diode down into the heat sink and tighten it in place using a #6 Torx driver (all of my allen wrenches are at work...oops).
Now just put the pill in the top of the host and use your small needlenose pliers to screw it down into place.
ALL DONE!
Now, for the moment of truth and what everyone has been waiting for...
...and the final product...
In conclusion...I probably should have gone with a build that had a little more space in the pill and was a little more forgiving for my first one. But, I learned a ton doing this build. If I could do it all over again, the key is to assemble it outside of the pill and the heat sink. That way you can really suck the diode up into the driver, with the shortest leads possible.
Now that it's done and working...I still get chills. Everyone at work is amazed by it and they want me to make them one. I just like pointing it up into the night sky, clicking the tail cap and changing the weather.
Looking forward to my next build...
First off...thanks to jayrob, DTR, lazeerer and CajunLasers for making this abysmally long post possible. If you are even remotely considering one of jayrobs builds...you won't regret it! Not only is the build top notch, but he seems to be a pretty swell guy too! Thanks jayrob!
Hello Laser Pointer Forums!
My name is Jeremy and I have an addiction. I'm addicted to sophisticated weather changing devices (if you haven't seen the first Austin Powers...you really are missing out). I recently bought an Optotronics +30mW laser pointer and that was the beginning of the end. When that thing lit up the night sky, I was addicted. I started lurking around the Laser Pointer Forums, until I had just enough info to be dangerous. I reached out to jayrob, he responded and I bought my first host, heat sink & driver. I then hit up DTRs store and got me a shiny new M140 diode to place in jayrobs P19 host. Everything was beautiful. I received all of the parts, followed jayrobs detailed instructions, got my laser pointer fired up and got chills!
Seriously, the first time I hit that tail cap switch...I got chills! I was an 8 year old kid on Christmas with my brand new Red Ryder BB Gun...only my BB gun shot light! I texted one of my best friends and it went something like this (pardon the expletives)...
Code:
Me: HOLY S**T!!!
Him: What?
Me: HOLY S**T!!!
Him: What's a matter?
Me: YOU AREN'T GOING TO F***ING BELIEVE THIS!!!
Him: What's a matter?!
Me: THIS IS THE MOST AMAZING THING I'VE EVER SEEN!!!
Me: YOU AREN'T GOING TO BELIEVE THIS!!!
Him: What the hell is a matter?!
Me: HOLY S**T!!!
Me: I HAVE CHILLS!!!
Me: This is dangerous...I can't own this...
Him: What the hell is going on?! Are you OK?!
...and then I sent him a pic of my 445nm beam shooting out into the darkness of night.
Him: Holy cow!!!Enough said...
So here's my review of jayrobs P19 build...
Things started out great. Jayrobs kit was complete with thorough instructions, the host, the original LED from the host, a spare O-ring for the focusing mechanism and the original lens.
I got to it. I unscrewed the head of the host to reveal the focusing adapter and heat sink. The kit I ordered from jayrob included the copper heat sink and the 405-G-1 glass lens, as seen in the following picture.
I then unscrewed the focusing adapter to reveal the heat sink. I used a small set of needlenose pliers to unscrew the pill & heat sink from the host body.
So I ordered the kit with the "Hot Option", set at 1.25A, which makes the case of the host the negative feed for the diode. This makes it really easy to get this pointer up and running as you only have to solder on the "+" and "-" from the driver to the diode, secure the diode in the heat sink, screw the lens in, screw the head of the host back on and you're good to go. This worked for about a day for me. Let me explain why...after I had depleted one of my 18650 batteries from just pointing to the sky, in a bottle of water, bouncing it off a couple of mirrors, burning a hole through a plastic spoon, etc., etc. I swapped out the dead battery for a freshly charged one. I pressed the tail cap switch and nothing happened. I checked the battery and it was installed properly and had plenty of juice. Screwed the tail cap back on and nothing. I messed with everything possible on the pointer and it would only occasionally flash on for a second and then immediately turn off. I was totally frustrated.
I emailed jayrob and he answered the same evening. Through a handful of private messages, he asked me a ton of questions to troubleshoot the pointer. He asked me about my batteries...to which I responded that I had bought the exact batteries he had recommended.
He asked about a faulty tail cap and how to remedy it. Reminded me about how sensitive diodes are to ESD and I could've fried the diode...to which I responded by building a simple driver with an LM317 to test my diode...
...and it was fine. Touch the leads from the driver together to discharge the cap so I don't fry the diode when I connect it. Check. Finally, he asked me about the length of the pins coming out of the diode and the possibility of them shorting out on the driver if they're too long. At that point, I completely disassembled the whole pointer...lens from the heat sink, pill from the host, driver from the pill and diode from the driver. I cleaned out all the holes on the driver PCB. Ordered some nice silicone covered wire a new M140 diode and a new driver. I started from scratch.
I got my new M140 diode from DTR and removed the wires that were attached to it.
Once the cables were removed, I checked the length of the pins...they were all different.
I trimmed the pins and moved on.
Having learned from a mistake the first time assembled this pointer, I labeled the diode as to which pin was "+" and which one was "-".
I then attached my new driver to the host board...
...and tried to put the driver and the host board into the pill...no luck! Are you serious? The board that jayrob had sent me was a v7 X-Drive. The board I ordered from CajunLasers was a v6. No big deal, there's some more efficient components on the v7...WRONG! The v7 board is physically smaller than the v6...as you can see in the following photos...
There is actually a pretty significant size difference. So I clean all of the solder out of the original board and solder all new silicone covered wire onto the original v7 X-Drive, attach it to the host board and move on.
I enlist the help of my "third hand" and start attaching the leads from the driver to the diode.
I then grab the pill and the heat sink...
...and thread the diode, leads, driver and host board through the bottom of the pill and heat sink, until the host board is slightly recessed and resting flat on the little lip of the pill.
I then press the brass ring down onto the host board, sandwiching the host board and driver between the lip and the brass ring.
Almost done... Just to give you an idea of the difference between my first build and this one, in regards to excess wire that has to be stuffed in the pill. This is from the first time I built this pointer...
This is the second time...
I then push the diode down into the heat sink and tighten it in place using a #6 Torx driver (all of my allen wrenches are at work...oops).
Now just put the pill in the top of the host and use your small needlenose pliers to screw it down into place.
ALL DONE!
Now, for the moment of truth and what everyone has been waiting for...
...and the final product...
In conclusion...I probably should have gone with a build that had a little more space in the pill and was a little more forgiving for my first one. But, I learned a ton doing this build. If I could do it all over again, the key is to assemble it outside of the pill and the heat sink. That way you can really suck the diode up into the driver, with the shortest leads possible.
Now that it's done and working...I still get chills. Everyone at work is amazed by it and they want me to make them one. I just like pointing it up into the night sky, clicking the tail cap and changing the weather.
Looking forward to my next build...
