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Success!
For my 1st laser build, I acquired a sled from our friend Kendall at HighTechdeals (thanks for the bonus rubber cap and laser diode pinout, man!), which arrived last Monday.
I was a bit apprehensive about the extraction process but it did go fine. I started disassembling the sled (which features very nice optics) and when it came to the two diodes, I carefully pried the little heat sinks off the sled module, then gripped one side of the red diode holder in a vise and carefully bent the other side with a pair of pliers. It snapped cleanly and the diode came out unscathed, although it was covered with white gunk (I guess the glue that holds it in the diode in the holder). I scraped that off with my fingernail.
Analyzing the way the little ribbon cable is soldered, I decided to try a radical approach to unsolder it instantly. I slid a very fine steel sewing needle between the diode and the ribbon cable... and I blowtoched that sucker right off with my mini butane torch. Took about 1.5 seconds, so the diode didn't even have time to warm up. Now that the red diode was free and clean, I used the same process with the blue diode.
Now both diodes are free and securely stored in a small antistatic bag. I have taken pictures but haven't retrieved them yet from my cam. I'll post 'em soon.
While disassembling the rest of the sled, I noticed that right in the middle of it (between the very large central prism and the focusing lens), there is a very very nice glass lens that looks a bit like the much touted coated glass lens on numerous other threads. Anyone tried it in a Aixiz module?
The optics were relatively easy to retrieve, except the big prism, which shattered when I tried to pry it out, but I did get the nice middle lens and a very small cube which I imagine is the beam "splitter"...
I have to put the build on hold because I have just replenished my Paypal account and need to order a drive and an aixiz module before doing any experiments. I was tempted to try out the blue diode with a 3V button PC battery but held off for fear of zapping it. So i'll put an order soon to acquire the missing parts and resume my build.
I have selected a nice heat sink (formerly a pentium 1 sink) and I have fitted two small 1.5" fans on each side. it will hold the Aixiz module in its center. With that setup, I think i'll be able to drive the diode safely to the upper limits of its values. Oh and i'll power the driver circuit with a small 110v/5-12v power supply used to power external hard disks (I have a ton of 'em).
Robert
For my 1st laser build, I acquired a sled from our friend Kendall at HighTechdeals (thanks for the bonus rubber cap and laser diode pinout, man!), which arrived last Monday.
I was a bit apprehensive about the extraction process but it did go fine. I started disassembling the sled (which features very nice optics) and when it came to the two diodes, I carefully pried the little heat sinks off the sled module, then gripped one side of the red diode holder in a vise and carefully bent the other side with a pair of pliers. It snapped cleanly and the diode came out unscathed, although it was covered with white gunk (I guess the glue that holds it in the diode in the holder). I scraped that off with my fingernail.
Analyzing the way the little ribbon cable is soldered, I decided to try a radical approach to unsolder it instantly. I slid a very fine steel sewing needle between the diode and the ribbon cable... and I blowtoched that sucker right off with my mini butane torch. Took about 1.5 seconds, so the diode didn't even have time to warm up. Now that the red diode was free and clean, I used the same process with the blue diode.
Now both diodes are free and securely stored in a small antistatic bag. I have taken pictures but haven't retrieved them yet from my cam. I'll post 'em soon.
While disassembling the rest of the sled, I noticed that right in the middle of it (between the very large central prism and the focusing lens), there is a very very nice glass lens that looks a bit like the much touted coated glass lens on numerous other threads. Anyone tried it in a Aixiz module?
The optics were relatively easy to retrieve, except the big prism, which shattered when I tried to pry it out, but I did get the nice middle lens and a very small cube which I imagine is the beam "splitter"...
I have to put the build on hold because I have just replenished my Paypal account and need to order a drive and an aixiz module before doing any experiments. I was tempted to try out the blue diode with a 3V button PC battery but held off for fear of zapping it. So i'll put an order soon to acquire the missing parts and resume my build.
I have selected a nice heat sink (formerly a pentium 1 sink) and I have fitted two small 1.5" fans on each side. it will hold the Aixiz module in its center. With that setup, I think i'll be able to drive the diode safely to the upper limits of its values. Oh and i'll power the driver circuit with a small 110v/5-12v power supply used to power external hard disks (I have a ton of 'em).
Robert