So, what's in those cheap 5mW eBay pens? *pic heavy*

[NightExplorer96]

Hello folks,

I bought a higher quality 405 pen, so I decided to take the $4 one I had sitting around and try to dip my toes into opening up lasers and checking out what makes them all works! The pictures will be a little large, that way you can clearly see what I was aiming to show. Description of the pictures will be above the image. I hope you enjoy :beer:


I first started by showing you guys the laser, it's your typical $5 ebay pointer. Comes in 532/650/635 colors as well. Nothing fancy:

The back of the laser. Has "Laser Pointer" marking on it. 2xAAA's batteries go in here:

Front of the laser:

Inside the module part of the laser,
is the well....module.

The label on my pointer. Note, my unit peaked at 35mW's well above the listed output, which is typical of these lasers. Please be careful around these!

Label off, we can now see the sticky residue, and the top cap which can be taken off to reveal the optics! I have to note these top caps are PITA to take off. Much sweat was needed

Removing the top cap, which reveal the focusing lens which helps bring the divergent dot to a more recognizable pointer size

From there, you can simply unscrew the magnifying lens. This will leave you with a highly oval, divergent laser pointer. Also, including is the spring which holds the lens in place

Final Result: You now have access to the diode, probably a Sony 405 I would assume. Laser now acts more like a flashlight then a dot. Perfect for a violet ambiance

Thanks all for looking! I'm sure most hobbyist know what goes into a laser, but I decided to try and bring new interesting material as we are lacking new, affordable wavelengths currently. See you around LPF.
-Alex

 

[dontblindmebro]

I have one of these and in very aware they're much more powerful than it says on the label.

 

[paul1598419]

Sounds like you had a good time tearing this thing down. It has been awhile since I had one apart. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. :yh:

 

[NightExplorer96]

Sounds like you had a good time tearing this thing down. It has been awhile since I had one apart. Thanks for the walk down memory lane. :yh:

Thanks Paul! Yeah, it was a fun, but sometimes tedious time

-Alex

 

[Accutronitis]

Hello folks,

I bought a higher quality 405 pen, so I decided to take the $4 one I had sitting around and try to dip my toes into opening up lasers and checking out what makes them all works! The pictures will be a little large, that way you can clearly see what I was aiming to show. Description of the pictures will be above the image. I hope you enjoy :beer:

Cool, I really like a good tear down video, Especially if I had no idea what would be found OR even more so if i thought i knew more or less what made it tic BUT after watching the video i learned i did not know !

 

[GSS]

Nicely done Hap:beer:
Didn't realize those 405's have a lens tension spring
Have taken apart many 532 pens but never a 405, good info....
It looks like the front cap gave you a heck of an effort to take off, is that part of it still stuck in the front?

 

[RB astro]

Good one Alex.
I enjoyed this, brings back memories alright.

It looks like the front cap gave you a heck of an effort to take off

Like I said, memories.... :crackup:

:beer:

 

[NightExplorer96]

Nicely done Hap:beer:
Didn't realize those 405's have a lens tension spring
Have taken apart many 532 pens but never a 405, good info....
It looks like the front cap gave you a heck of an effort to take off, is that part of it still stuck in the front?

Yes! That cap was a pain!

Good one Alex.
I enjoyed this, brings back memories alright.


Like I said, memories.... :crackup:

:beer:

Thanks

-Alex

 

[GSS]

Get your self a few other cheapie 532's and do the same..You will enjoy it
A bit of a different setup and pretty cool..
Not all front caps are hard to take off on these, some are pretty easy

 

[3DLaSeRBuiLDeR]

Pen Violet

 

[lasersbee]

Hello folks,

I bought a higher quality 405 pen, so I decided to take the $4 one I had sitting around and try to dip my toes into opening up lasers and checking out what makes them all works! The pictures will be a little large, that way you can clearly see what I was aiming to show. Description of the pictures will be above the image. I hope you enjoy :beer:


I first started by showing you guys the laser, it's your typical $5 ebay pointer. Comes in 532/650/635 colors as well. Nothing fancy:

The back of the laser. Has "Laser Pointer" marking on it. 2xAAA's batteries go in here:

Front of the laser:

Inside the module part of the laser,
is the well....module.

The label on my pointer. Note, my unit peaked at 35mW's well above the listed output, which is typical of these lasers. Please be careful around these!

Label off, we can now see the sticky residue, and the top cap which can be taken off to reveal the optics! I have to note these top caps are PITA to take off. Much sweat was needed

Removing the top cap, which reveal the focusing lens which helps bring the divergent dot to a more recognizable pointer size

From there, you can simply unscrew the magnifying lens. This will leave you with a highly oval, divergent laser pointer. Also, including is the spring which holds the lens in place

Final Result: You now have access to the diode, probably a Sony 405 I would assume. Laser now acts more like a flashlight then a dot. Perfect for a violet ambiance

Thanks all for looking! I'm sure most hobbyist know what goes into a laser, but I decided to try and bring new interesting material as we are lacking new, affordable wavelengths currently. See you around LPF.
-Alex

Nicely done Alex... Been a while since I tried
that.

Jerry

 

[3DLaSeRBuiLDeR]

Hi Jerry :beer:

How is the weather in Quebec?

 

[lasersbee]

20 deg C...
Chance of Rain...
20-40 Kph winds.

Jerry

 

[3DLaSeRBuiLDeR]

Very cool ....! Are you close to Alaska eh?
There is a very long freeway leading from Canada to Alaska! if I do not, there are also military vehicles that go and go!

 

[lasersbee]

We should try to stay on the topic for this Thread...:beer:

Jerry

 

[Rivem]

Thanks for sharing Alex. Like the others, this brings back memories.

These things seem to be put together with lots of glue and tight press fittings for sure. Definitely makes things difficult.

When I tried to get the green modules out of some, I ended up just using a small pipe cutter to get the rest of the host off so that the module was mostly exposed. That was before I knew higher quality modules were easy to get.