hello, new to the forums and lasers. Before i get hit with people telling me to search, i did for quite a while and didnt find anything that helped me. If a solution is mentioned somewhere else, a link would be great :yh: . So i was really interested in building a 405nm laser as a first project (perhaps not the best idea?) so i went on ebay and bought a 120 mw diode, an axiz module, some components and batteries. I put everything together correctly and...... really weak output from the diode. now the batteries i decided to use are some cr-123's and the driver i built was just a basic lm317 driver. So i used the batteries and also a power supply to test. and even when i crank the power supply up to 10 volts, its still really weak. No beam, the dot is very hard to focus as well as see (yes i am aware the wavelength is harder to see than others), and certainly isnt going to be burning things. I next tested the output of the driver at about 9 volts and with the pot adjusted to full open, it still only puts out about 38 ma of current. So i think the problem is the driver, but maybe not. i feel i am missing something. any helpful suggestions?
oh yea, and i did make sure the diode was as far countersunk as is could go and im fairly certain it isnt LED'd.
oh yea, and i did make sure the diode was as far countersunk as is could go and im fairly certain it isnt LED'd.
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