rhd
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This saga started with the "Ancient Light" - 90 year old 445nm:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f65/ancient-light-90-year-old-diy-chrome-445nm-65855.html
Next, we were introduced to the "Elder beam" - Ancient Light's 635nm Twin:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f50/elder-beam-diy-635nm-500mw-ancient-lights-twin-68195.html
It was only a matter of time until historians uncovered yet a third sibling in this ancient line of coherent light sources... the "Dragon of Yore", a mystical machine that gave new life to the soul of a Chinese Dragon.
Alright, lets get down to it! This build was the most challenging of the three. It doesn't have the fancy voltmeter of the Elder Beam, nor does it feature the near 2-Watt output of the 445 Ancient Light. But it was challenging for another reason. I wasn't willing to limit this build to the typical ~200mW max output that we see from 12mm 532nm DPSS modules.
The solution was simple in theory: Rip open a FireDragon, take out the module, ditch the bulky driver, build my own, and mount it inside the ancient host. In practice, it was a little more difficult. I needed to design a heatsink, and in reality it is more of a "housing" or "retaining module" than it is a heatsink. Thermal dissipation requirements are almost nill, even at the 450mW+ I was asking of my FireDragon module. In perspective, there's probably a 2W IR diode inside this module, and the module itself has more mass than a lot of 445nm hosts+heatsinks combined. So even the slightest connection between the Firedragon's module and my aluminum "retaining module" would be sufficient to allow the final build to function fine for at least 2 minute run times. Here was the design I came up with:
I wanted the housing to allow me to embed inside of it an M9x0.5 lens. In an earlier thread I discovered that you can largely remove the "wide beam" aspect of a Firedragon by mounting your own M9x0.5 lens closer to the aperture of the DPSS module, and ditching the stock final focusing optics. You sacrifice some divergence, but you get a much tighter beam up close, which in my opinion leads to a more satisfying experience.
The retaining module was very difficult to get fabricated. I talked to a few machinists with varying responses. Ultimately, Jayrob was the hero here. He actually built my design in two pieces, and connected them together pre-shipping. The module I received was 100% perfect - exactly what I had hoped for it to be. The Firedragon module gets attached to the back (the right side of that photo), shines into the M9x0.5 lens, and exits the front (left side) of the laser.
On top of the rear portion of the Firedragon's original module, I built the driver. Now, I tried a few different approaches. I started with a pre-built 7135 driver running 2.8A, running from one cell. I wasn't impressed. My own 7135 drivers at a similar current were equally unimpressive. I just couldn't get comfortable with the way they sat on the driver back, nor the performance they seemed to provide. So I went old-school with a design I KNEW would be rock solid. I used a 1084 (the 5A cousin of the popular 1085) linear regulator, and built a DDL-style LDO driver. I used a 0.47 ohm 10W current setting resistor to dial in a current of 2,660mA, heatsinked the crap out of both the driver and the resistor, and wired it through to two AW IMR 18350 cells. The entire completed module then slipped inside the host, and I wired the button switch into the driver's supply side. An integrated charging port is included just inside the tailcap.
The completed build is a joy to use. It has the common (for lights of its age) switch configuration that allows for both momentary and on/off usage. You can "push to fire" or "switch on for continuous". The beam is gorgeous and thin. Modding the optics to trade divergence for beam diameter really increases the up-close power density, and thus the impression of power.
And speaking of power, this guy is no slouch. For a DIY 532nm portable, I'm thrilled with the 450mW + of output (seemingly low IR) that I'm measuring.
I didn't know how well this would turn out, but I'd say that almost everything went to plan. There's not much more I could ask for! Well there's one thing - why did the host button have to be RED ?
http://laserpointerforums.com/f65/ancient-light-90-year-old-diy-chrome-445nm-65855.html
Next, we were introduced to the "Elder beam" - Ancient Light's 635nm Twin:
http://laserpointerforums.com/f50/elder-beam-diy-635nm-500mw-ancient-lights-twin-68195.html
It was only a matter of time until historians uncovered yet a third sibling in this ancient line of coherent light sources... the "Dragon of Yore", a mystical machine that gave new life to the soul of a Chinese Dragon.
Alright, lets get down to it! This build was the most challenging of the three. It doesn't have the fancy voltmeter of the Elder Beam, nor does it feature the near 2-Watt output of the 445 Ancient Light. But it was challenging for another reason. I wasn't willing to limit this build to the typical ~200mW max output that we see from 12mm 532nm DPSS modules.
The solution was simple in theory: Rip open a FireDragon, take out the module, ditch the bulky driver, build my own, and mount it inside the ancient host. In practice, it was a little more difficult. I needed to design a heatsink, and in reality it is more of a "housing" or "retaining module" than it is a heatsink. Thermal dissipation requirements are almost nill, even at the 450mW+ I was asking of my FireDragon module. In perspective, there's probably a 2W IR diode inside this module, and the module itself has more mass than a lot of 445nm hosts+heatsinks combined. So even the slightest connection between the Firedragon's module and my aluminum "retaining module" would be sufficient to allow the final build to function fine for at least 2 minute run times. Here was the design I came up with:
I wanted the housing to allow me to embed inside of it an M9x0.5 lens. In an earlier thread I discovered that you can largely remove the "wide beam" aspect of a Firedragon by mounting your own M9x0.5 lens closer to the aperture of the DPSS module, and ditching the stock final focusing optics. You sacrifice some divergence, but you get a much tighter beam up close, which in my opinion leads to a more satisfying experience.
The retaining module was very difficult to get fabricated. I talked to a few machinists with varying responses. Ultimately, Jayrob was the hero here. He actually built my design in two pieces, and connected them together pre-shipping. The module I received was 100% perfect - exactly what I had hoped for it to be. The Firedragon module gets attached to the back (the right side of that photo), shines into the M9x0.5 lens, and exits the front (left side) of the laser.
On top of the rear portion of the Firedragon's original module, I built the driver. Now, I tried a few different approaches. I started with a pre-built 7135 driver running 2.8A, running from one cell. I wasn't impressed. My own 7135 drivers at a similar current were equally unimpressive. I just couldn't get comfortable with the way they sat on the driver back, nor the performance they seemed to provide. So I went old-school with a design I KNEW would be rock solid. I used a 1084 (the 5A cousin of the popular 1085) linear regulator, and built a DDL-style LDO driver. I used a 0.47 ohm 10W current setting resistor to dial in a current of 2,660mA, heatsinked the crap out of both the driver and the resistor, and wired it through to two AW IMR 18350 cells. The entire completed module then slipped inside the host, and I wired the button switch into the driver's supply side. An integrated charging port is included just inside the tailcap.
The completed build is a joy to use. It has the common (for lights of its age) switch configuration that allows for both momentary and on/off usage. You can "push to fire" or "switch on for continuous". The beam is gorgeous and thin. Modding the optics to trade divergence for beam diameter really increases the up-close power density, and thus the impression of power.
And speaking of power, this guy is no slouch. For a DIY 532nm portable, I'm thrilled with the 450mW + of output (seemingly low IR) that I'm measuring.
I didn't know how well this would turn out, but I'd say that almost everything went to plan. There's not much more I could ask for! Well there's one thing - why did the host button have to be RED ?
