North Texas guy here, Calling all builders!

Got some money burning a hole in my pocket now that my car is fixed up: My car build in progress

I am looking into a less expensive old hobby I had, lasers. I remember the days off google eye'd kids staring in amazement at a 1mw red laser pointer. I'd be drooling over a tube type one my dad brought home once from medtronic.

My Dad works for intel now, things have changed I have a wife and 3 kids.

My car hobby is just going to have to slow down a bit and I'm redirecting to 445nm lasers, always wanted a blue laser, a few days ago I purchased a 200mw green for $36 from meritline,

Green laser on meritline

It was an impulse buy that got me back into the hobby.

So here I am looking to buy a custom host, dual driver setup and I'm particular about the details I've already contacted a couple on here, I hope seeing my donation helps you realize I'm here to improve the community as well. I think you guys will like my ideas and find the end result pretty interesting.

Thanks for being here

Hargak;

Welcome to the board.

Where in North Texas are you located ?

I'm in north Dallas (Farmers Branch).

We do have some interesting meetings in conjunction with the Flashlight guys in Arlington.

LarryDFW

I head out there once every other month or so one of my offices is out there (Richland Hills), I'm in Wichita falls about 2 hours from there.

Just got my 18650A's in from Orbitron/Panasonic? 3100mah look to be promising: Orbitron cells

Kinda neat, the charger is usable as a portable USB charge port by using one of the batteries.

I put one into my 200mw Green

Nice find on the 3.1amp cells, thanks for the link :gj:

Mighty purdy TIG weld you got there! Did you use a gas lens or were you going for only moderate penetration (your HAZ is exceptionally small, looks to be 1/2 a bead in thickness, so either the heat input was very light or you restricted atmospheric gasses from contact).

Hargak said:

I am looking into a less expensive old hobby I had, lasers.

Click to expand...

That statement is an oxymoron for most people here, LOL.

Welcome to your new addiction.

hmm going to need to learn how to use the multiquote better, The welds aren't mine if you speak of the exhaust on the car. It's a Blitz Nur Spec R catback, and a Cobb racinbg catless downpipe. No meow in that wagon

Thanks about the batteries, everything I read about the they are true 3100's vs the other crapfires and such they overrate some videos of them shorting them and they are amazingly well protected:

~Video Here~

We'll see as far as the addiction, I've done alot of different cooling methods on motherboard chips, like the Fet's MOSfet's, Northbridge Southbridge and cpu's everything from completely passive silent builds with SSD arrays to water, phase change, Tec, and even cascade hybrid TEC using dual liquid loops stepping the temperature down with each pass. the eye burn stuff scares me with 3 kids in the house. Caution will be followed, I think it may find a more permanent spot in my office/car when I leave the office.

I'm planning on doing a 2+ Watt build does anyone have a 445nm that pushes over 2100? I'm looking for an efficient one and will pay a bit extra for it. Also looking into a driver. seems the flex V5's are sold out/backordered.
I found these:

Micro FlexDrive Tiny 9mm x 12mm Laser Diode Driver 1.5A | eBay

1500ma output?
hmmm 3W would be fun...

but two of these to make a 2300 or so seems doable with a good copper sink with sufficient fins like the Serius Host.

Thoughts?

Your not getting 3W anytime too soon. Even 2W is created with a highly efficient diode, and special optics.

Jump on this group buy to get top end goggles for a 25% discount.

http://laserpointerforums.com/f55/gb-oemlasersystems-goggles-71160.html

I believe Flainpyro has some Flexdrives.

Kids and high power lasers dont mix. I suggest only showing them it outdoors. You could get them goggles, but kids are curios, and they wont be able to see the beam with goggles. And you know they would want to take a peek.

Ah, my mistake, it looked like you might have welded it. Heh, I'm a retired precision tig welder. =P

Anywho, welcome to the forum! You're not the only one who restarted an older cheaper hobby... I'm a Ham radio operator =P.

Ah yes, I've thrown out my old ham racks years ago., mostly forgotten about that hobby due to new technology it just seems pointless nowadays. I'm still looking for a tested 445nm that is able to hit over 2100mw, I'm looking into using a unique cooling solution on it as well. Anyone here ever hear of using water blocks or TEC's with a 445? I may set it up on the bench first to test it, also I'm looking for a low cost power meter as well. Even if it is a kit.

You might wanna consider going multi-doide for over 2100 but that puts you in whole new price bracket

I found a builder, spent hours with them and we both clicked once he saw my ideas, so much thought going into it, simple yet effective improvements will yield more stable results imo. Wish I had a lathe to make it.

I'm very excited, wish I could help him do it.

Since my wife has let me use some cash for a smaller hobby than the car (as it's cheaper than a 3k turbo kit)

My build involves:

a known overzealous 445nm
a new type of (brighter/bigger) tritrium vials
copper, brass, aluminum ( all for functional components involved)
dual Fei Long 32650's
direct copper heatsink
a linear driver
multiple modes
a low output peltier driven by a flex v5 I found (a source) on ebay

Sadly this build may take about 2 months but most of it has already been purchased and being shipped. The long wait will be on a host.

also going to grab a 405nm to play with in the mean time from a more basic host.

I spent about 5 days at ~7hours a day researching this project, and I'm known for some of my computer builds I may have to throw some of those pictures up here

Maybe one day when I get my hands on a lathe I'll do it at home

Alright so, I was told I was pushed further back in line, and offered my money back on a diode I spent $100 for. I feel, sad. It appears it's not going to happen, so I figured I'd at least let you guys in on the diode efficiency:

4.98volt
2339mw
1.56amps
So yah, it was a good diode I beleive someone else in the forum will be receiving it fairly soon. Thanks for you guy's support, glad I could toss a $50 donation to help the cause. Safety glasses are important and I hope you guys continue in that endeavor. You're good people for the most part. Sadly I won't be back as I find some people I thought I could trust have other interests.

Thanks!

I have myself been trying to figure a water cool system, I am going to incorporate it into my handheld. I have the pump and a radiator down but im considering adding a TEC...can't decide how I want to get the heat off the diode though..

Anyways welcome to LPF!