My first build! Eudaimonium Phobos host and nexbox360 module...

Ok,

I know that building a green is not a monumental task, but next to my Survival Laser kit, this is my first build so far. You gotta walk before you can run!

I was really excited with how it turned out.


EUdaimonium Phobos with nexbox360 green module beam shot 1 by tsteele93, on Flickr

I started with Eudaimonium's Phobos Host which proved to have a couple of challenges.

I decided to use the Phobos host to house my ~150mW 532nm nexbox360 module. http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/1...m-results-listed-shipped-usa-stock-70846.html

The host is very short and the nexbox360 driver requires 3v. So no 3.7v Li-ion build.

I ended up just ordering a box of good CR123A Li-ion primary (aka, not rechargeable) batteries from Amazon.

Amazon.com: 10 pcs Panasonic Lithium CR123A 3V Photo Lithium Batteries: Camera & Photo

I expect the box will last quite a while. If I decide to stick with this config, I will probably order some rechargeables in the future.

My first problem was that the tail cap on my host was too small in inner diameter to accept this battery. I'm not sure if my tailcap was machined incorrectly, but I also could not use the clickie that was sent by Argon (arranged by Eudaimonium) either.

I ended up taking a Proxxon tool (Dremel) with a metal cutter head and enlarging the inner diameter. It is soft Aluminum and it was easy to do.

I still had to find another clickie and I had a cheap flashlight from lowes laying around with a small enough clickie to fit. I will eventually get a better one in there.

Once I was able to get he clickie working, I had to modify the driver to turn on and off using the clickie instead of the momentary on button. This was easily done by soldering some of flaming pyros silicone wire across the leads, thus shorting the switch into an always on condition and enabling the clickie to become the new switch for the power circuit.

Then came the physical installation. It is pretty easy to press the module in place and tighten the set screw. The fit was nice and firm even without the set screw.

The only "rigged" part of my build is the lens cover on the front of the unit.mit isn't threaded or set screwed in place. It has threads on the inside of the aperture that are not large enough for the green module to work with, resulting in no real way to attach the cover.

I have several rolls of copper and silver tape for any situations where I may need to tighten a fitment.

9 feet ~ 1/2 Inch ~SILVER BOTH SIDES~ Copper Foil Tape | eBay

I used a couple of turns of this tape to the point that the cover fits very firmly on to the head and is still removable at a later date.

In all honesty, right now this laser is not quite built (by me, not Eudaimonium or nexbox360) to the quality of one that I would sell, but it is a great learning experience and personally I love it as a very bright green laser to easily carry around.

Here are the pics, I apologize for the iPhone pics. I have a Canon 7D with macro lenses but it is too late for that so I'll just use what I have...


Eudaimonium Phobos host - cruddy iPhone pic... by tsteele93, on Flickr


Eudaimonium Phobos with nexbox360 green module beam shot 4 by tsteele93, on Flickr


Eudaimonium Phobos with nexbox360 green module beam shot 2 by tsteele93, on Flickr


Eudaimonium Phobos with nexman360 green module beam shot 3 by tsteele93, on Flickr

Lol... I just ordered a second slightly custom phobos... Was goin to make twins...one of which is going to be a greeny just like this one... And the other one a 445 with a slightly longer battery tube...Will post pics when i get everything done

Nice job! That's a great first build. You don't see a whole lot of greens being put together.

I love these hosts. The only issues I ran in to that were a factor of it's design were:

1) distance between the battery's top contact and the driver board's spring's tip was too long for the standard length spring. I wound up having to extend the spring length and then insert an insulator tube around the spring so that it would not short out against the host body.

2) the depth of the tailcap was too long by nearly 15mm, and that is with the extended driver spring length. I had to use aluminium shims between the clicky switch and the bottom of the tailcap for the battery to make good contact between the two springs and not have the clicky be pressed out of place because there wasn't insufficient tension to hold it still.

Both of these factors were when using a protected 16340, which is longer than an unprotected cell. So, overall the tapered section in the battery tube was too long and the depth of the tailcap was too long resulting in too long of a battery tube for a single cell.

So don't feel bad you had to jerry rig some things in to make it work, I had to too. Your build came out nice!

Well, I didn't expect a green laser being built into this! Nice work!

For even longer battery life, may I suggest a different battery variant?
UltraFire 18350 3.7V 1200mAh Batteries (Pair) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

These are essentially CR123 on steroids, and last even longer. And are rechargeable!

Thanks for all the comment and feedback, guys! Every remark you make goes into next redesign, in my continous effort to make the host perfect (and my effort to nitpick in everything, whenever I can )

Eudaimonium said:

Well, I didn't expect a green laser being built into this! Nice work!

For even longer battery life, may I suggest a different battery variant?
UltraFire 18350 3.7V 1200mAh Batteries (Pair) - Free Shipping - DealExtreme

These are essentially CR123 on steroids, and last even longer. And are rechargeable!

Thanks for all the comment and feedback, guys! Every remark you make goes into next redesign, in my continous effort to make the host perfect (and my effort to nitpick in everything, whenever I can )

Click to expand...

Afaik 3.7v batteries will kill these, as they require 3.0v to run

Ahhh yes, I forgot to add my second point to my post to cover that *facepalm* I'm sorry, I didn't have my morning coffee yet.

About the switch jumping - when I need to install a module in a host that does not have a side momentary switch, instead of simply bridging the switch with wire, I like to remove the switch, and replace it with one 1n400x series rectifier diode - this way, you get two benefits:
1) You can use lithium batteries with it, since it drops some 0.7 volts,
2) It instantly has a reverse polarity protection, unintentionally tried and true...

I learned something new today! Thanks for that Eudaimonium! Which direction do they have to be installed?

Would these be a good choice?

100PCS DO-214 1N4001

Sorry for no reply long time... For some reason I didn't see this thread in my Control Panel.

Any 1n4001-1n4007 diode would work, and it needs to be facing with negative towards the contact spring (positive is on the case, through laser workings, to the diode, then to the spring and finally battery negative, correct?)