NUBM44 6W+ 450nm Laser Diode

Here are a couple of pics of my NUBM44 build. MX900 host, SXD at 4.5A, and one of Rick's full copper heatsinks. Hit right at 7 watts peak. Averages around 6.5 or 6.6. It starts burning anything within a foot or two well before the beam is even focused. This thing is a monster.

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And here's a video I took of it burning a steel spring. I decided to see if it would melt some solder. The solder sliced instantly, so I decided to see if maybe it would make a steel spring glow red. It shot some sparks, and sliced the steel spring off nearly instantly when I was finally able to hold my hand still. As powerful as I expected it to be, I still underestimated it in this regard. I sure did not expect it to cut steel so easily.

Someone had asked on the 07E thread about how these new diodes compare to the 7875 so I tried to make a little comparison video.
Since I am hunting leaves I thought I would try to show the difference at 14 feet between the 7875 and the 44.
I am going to have to knife edge some 44's or something but even with the default wider divergence the 44 is quite the powerhouse.

Jesus! I been busy with another hobby for the last few months and haven't checked out the laser scene. I stop by DTR's shop and see this diode. 7 freakin watts!:drool:
Unbelieveable! The side by side comparison pic looks like the beam is a little tighter too. Narrower, like the A140's.

It's crazy the amount of power that these diodes are producing. Makes me wonder where the limit is for the 9mm diode package.

A year ago I never would have thought this was possible. Guess the GaN production process is getting perfected to the point that these efficient diodes can be produced.

RedCowboy said:

Someone had asked on the 07E thread about how these new diodes compare to the 7875 so I tried to make a little comparison video.
Since I am hunting leaves I thought I would try to show the difference at 14 feet between the 7875 and the 44.
I am going to have to knife edge some 44's or something but even with the default wider divergence the 44 is quite the powerhouse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryWD31ttJXU&feature=youtu.be

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Nice comparison.

With this wavelength I find that focusing at a distance is easy using a leaf. Some leaves are better than others, especially the ones that fluoresce a magenta (ish) color.

barthchris said:

Nice comparison.

With this wavelength I find that focusing at a distance is easy using a leaf. Some leaves are better than others, especially the ones that fluoresce a magenta (ish) color.

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Yes some materials show more of the " ring around the bar " or wings as I call it and other more absorbent materials hide it.
Anyway it you can't quite see a perfect bar coming into focus then it's always going to be a hair past that larger solid bar and the tighter center bright bar with a little wing or ring around the bar. You can go past focused in both directions when turning your lens and there is also lens thread slack that comes into play at longer distances, not that 5 meters is long distance, but respectively speaking.

Of course everyone MUST wear safety glasses made to attenuate the wavelength of laser light they are looking at to see this, otherwise it will be a blinding blur, literally blinding.

I like to use a spring outside the lens barrel as well as inside and outside only with canless or decaned diodes. Make sure your lens is screwed tightly into your adjuster and make sure you use a tightened set screw to hold your module into your heat sink.

I know I need to hit that with a toothbrush and knock that heat sink paste off, it's amazing as we get older how much we don't notice up close because as we age our eyes lens stiffen and that's why it gets harder to focus up close without glasses, yup the strongest muscles in your body for their size are around your eye and when you strain to see up very close you actually cause your eyes lens to flex and increase magnification.
I don't wear any glasses yet but if family genetics matter and they do I will need some soon. When I was 18 I had microscope vision, I could see a spec of dust on a spec of dust, oh well.

Yeah, never thought about a dual spring setup, I'll have to try it. Good idea! I've always done the teflon tape thing, it's worked very well to keep a steady tight focus but I have to be careful with it though because of pieces falling on the window. I've ruined a decanned diode that way Where do you get the outer springs from?

How much brighter is the perceived beam when compared to the NDB7875 9MM 445NM diode? Is the difference really noticeable? Just asking because I know that the perceived brightness doesn't necessarily follow the increase in power. In your video it seems a little brighter but I think the camera doesn't do it justice. How about divergence, is that better as well? It seems like it is.

BTW, little off topic but I've found that if the diode window gets crapped up, if its not burnt on the most reliable way to clean it is by using a toothpick. I know, it seems a little harsh but from all of the commonly available items I've tried including dust free cotton swabs with 99% IPA, lenspen, rubber air puffer, etc. Using a toothpick tip swiped lightly across the diode window has consistently worked for clearing up dust, smudges, accidental spit particle from trying to blow the dust off:tsk::crackup::shhh: It makes for a clean pre-collimation image. God help you if you get a decanned diode dirty though! (no trying to blow dust off those using your breath on those!)

Yeah, Getting old sucks doesn't it. Im turning 42 in a few weeks and Im not particularly happy about it. My eyes aren't what they used to be either. I've often wondered if my laser hobby has anything to do with it.:undecided: Gone are the days where I couldn't wait to get older.

BTW, really off topic now but I remember Stone Mountain was one of the first places where I ever saw a laser show. IIRC, it was probably 1984 and they projected some civil war dude on a horse against the mountain. For the time I remember it was groundbreaking. That was the beginning of my laser fascination. Pink Floyd's Division Bell tour in 1994 was another moment but that a story all to itself.

They still have the laser show during the summer months, but it's all politically correct now and a lot of the lasers are defocused, every once in a while they will let some fly tight and focused.
They have lasers in the back on top of the big building and right in front of the mountain behind the lake, also there's a projection house that comes out of the ground halfway on hydraulics, it's a air conditioned trailer sized room with people in it that sinks into the ground like something out of a James Bond movie.
That laser changes colors instantly and it's putting out some power.
As for the springs I have a bunch of assorted stuff, you will have to hunt some online because homedepot and Walmart don't have squat.

RedCowboy said:

I like to use a spring outside the lens barrel as well as inside and outside only with canless or decaned diodes. Make sure your lens is screwed tightly into your adjuster and make sure you use a tightened set screw to hold your module into your heat sink.

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barthchris said:

Yeah, never thought about a dual spring setup, I'll have to try it. Good idea! I've always done the teflon tape thing, it's worked very well to keep a steady tight focus but I have to be careful with it though because of pieces falling on the window. I've ruined a decanned diode that way Where do you get the outer springs from?

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I also find the external springs work better, I use them on all my lasers except one where it doesn't fit. The only place I have ever seen that sells them is Survival Laser.
External Lens Spring 5-Pack
External Lens Spring

Alan

Pi R Squared said:

I also find the external springs work better, I use them on all my lasers except one where it doesn't fit. The only place I have ever seen that sells them is Survival Laser.
External Lens Spring 5-Pack
External Lens Spring

Alan

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Good lord 20 bucks for 5 little springs.
I have an assortment of like 500 springs I got from China, I think it was 14.99 lol but hey, if you want convenience you pay.

RedCowboy said:

Good lord 20 bucks for 5 little springs.
I have an assortment of like 500 springs I got from China, I think it was 14.99 lol but hey, if you want convenience you pay.

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Can you post a link? I've always wanted to use external springs on my lasers but the ones from SL are just too expensive.

RedCowboy said:

Good lord 20 bucks for 5 little springs.
I have an assortment of like 500 springs I got from China, I think it was 14.99 lol but hey, if you want convenience you pay.

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Yea, I will never buy those from SL. I buy the internal springs from them all the time, but $4 a spring is absurd. I will double up the internal springs way before I will pay that. But lately, I've found that I can use PTFE tape, and it ends up having a better feel and no slack, and I haven't had any issues with stray pieces at all.

RedCowboy said:

They still have the laser show during the summer months, but it's all politically correct now and a lot of the lasers are defocused, every once in a while they will let some fly tight and focused.
They have lasers in the back on top of the big building and right in front of the mountain behind the lake, also there's a projection house that comes out of the ground halfway on hydraulics, it's a air conditioned trailer sized room with people in it that sinks into the ground like something out of a James Bond movie.
That laser changes colors instantly and it's putting out some power.
As for the springs I have a bunch of assorted stuff, you will have to hunt some online because homedepot and Walmart don't have squat.

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Thats it! That's a freakin awesome mountain BTW. It just pops up out of nowhere. Can't stand all the PC crap nowadays either!

Old printers have a bunch of springs and other good stuff as well. I have to go through my pile of junk for some. Thanks!

They have old military amphibious buses that drive people around then into the lake, you can see one across the lake, I used to work weekends doing mobil dj work, that's a crummy cell phone pic I took before the party showed up one sunny day years ago when they were like 1.3 megapixls.

All this talk of springs and such. I watched TaterMay's vid yesterday. Im not much of a burner but my mind was blown with this diodes focused beam cutting through a steel spring like it did. Sparks flying off like it was a cutting torch slicing it in seconds! Unfreakinbelievable! At first I thought it was solder coiled up, but when I found out it was spring steel I was floored! Cutting sheet metal with a cheap DIY CNC cutter may now be possible

I have a bunch of Ricks hosts and heatsinks, They are the older Aluminium versions, does copper make that much of a difference? I will be hitting up DTR very soon. :yh:

barthchris said:

All this talk of springs and such. I watched TaterMay's vid yesterday. Im not much of a burner but my mind was blown with this diodes focused beam cutting through a steel spring like it did. Sparks flying off like it was a cutting torch slicing it in seconds! Unfreakinbelievable! At first I thought it was solder coiled up, but when I found out it was spring steel I was floored! Cutting sheet metal with a cheap DIY CNC cutter may now be possible

I have a bunch of Ricks hosts and heatsinks, They are the older Aluminium versions, does copper make that much of a difference? I will be hitting up DTR very soon. :yh:

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I actually cut solder first, which made me decide to try out the spring. I was very surprised myself. Feel free to throw out some more ideas to attempt to burn/cut through, as I have just finished another one that hit 7.24 watts peak.

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As for the copper vs aluminum argument, some will say that copper will absorb the heat away from the diode better, but won't dissipate it into air as well as aluminum. However, the rate of heat exchange is dependent largely upon the difference in temperature. Since copper has better thermal conductivity, it stands to reason that the heat exchange with air should also be greater than that of aluminum.

TaterMay said:

I actually cut solder first, which made me decide to try out the spring. I was very surprised myself. Feel free to throw out some more ideas to attempt to burn/cut through, as I have just finished another one that hit 7.24 watts peak.

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Steel wool, magnesium strip, charcoal and perhaps a thin copper wire. I never managed to ignite any of these with 3W.