Sonar Build

Ages ago Wicked used to sell just straight Sonar cases. I bought about 10 or so of these cases and collaborated with Dark Horse who made some amazing custom heatsinks with not just a place for the module, but space for a driver and a switch for the side button setup. Look around here for some pics of it: http://laserpointerforums.com/f39/fs-sonar-laser-cases-23792-9.html All the cases and heatsinks were sold and I'm sure there are members here with them still.

That was over a year ago though, and I've been a bit busy/lazy with the case and heatsink I got. But I finally sat down and completed it and what a great looking laser!

Mine's got a FlexDriveV5 set at about 100mA with a PHR-803T diode. Puts out about 80mW with the standard lens but with a 405G1 lens from Jayrob it puts out over 115mW! I've set the focus to infinity and screwed over a little end piece that came with the case. It drops the power to 110mW but makes a much cleaner dot (and makes the laser look MUCH better). In one of the attached pics I've got the endpiece off to show the Aixiz module.

The other lasers in the final two pics are a WL Core 5mW green and a Pocket Mini Kit from Jayrob with a PHR and 405G1 lens putting out 150mW.

Yea those hosts are sick! Of course I joined far after this event occurred

very nice.

Nice laser Murudai, love the chrome finish of the gen. 1 sonar.

What battery config. are you using? 17670, CR123 with dummy or two x 3.0 disposable CR123 with a series diode? As far as I remember the gen. 1 host had a bit more clearance than the gen. 2 in the battery compartment allowing the use of the unprotected 17670 without a problem. S2 was pretty much exclusively limited to 123 power.

Somehow I managed to get extremely lucky on my order from DX and received a 17670 that actually fits the gen. 2 host (air tight ).

Dark_Horse really did great work with the modules. Mine has gone through quite a few over-driven 803t diodes it gets so much use. :evil: Though at this point I am really tempted to just jam an 8x into the host.

Now thats how much power a sonar should produce :gj:

Nice job man!

I believe that is a Sonar 2 that is silver, as it has a round-button and the modules for the Sonar 1s need to be a bit larger in diameter to press-fit into the barrel.

I just recently finished my silver Sonar 1 (oval-button) and rebuilt my Sonar 2 host that I got from you. I was tired of them not being finished.

I couldn't resist machining a full-copper heatsink module for my Sonar 1. The copper makes it noticably heavier. Fitted with a V4 Flex-drive (200mA), GGW 6X and a 405G-1 lens it puts out 220mW.

I also machined a new ap-cap that screws onto the lens, so now I can adjust focus for burning too, works pretty good.

These modules were tough enough to build, but the copper was a real pain in the arse, I scrapped two before I was finished with this one.

Thanks for bringing these to LPF Murudai, there is at least 20 of them floating around now. Very cool

Barry

I still have mine, it sure is a beautiful build. Thanks for the offer Murudai and Dark_Horse, I'm glad I participated in the group buy.

Yea there was that GB, the Laserglow one, and the Kryton ones that I missed! AHHHHHH! BTW if anyone wants to sell theirs, send me a PM

That is a sweet build...

I missed that thread and caught it at the end when it was too late to get one.

Great combo and an awesome heatsink design!

I powered the sonar with a single CR123a and a dummy battery. I made the dummy out of the spindle thing that holds the discs when you buy those 50 packs of DVDs or whatever. Looks great and is the perfect size I then put a screw in it with the head of the screw forming the base of the battery and I filed down the screw part to make the top. I'd post a picture but I'm away for a few days at a conference. I typed this message on my iPhone, lol.

Fantastic build! The Sonar really looks nice.

Nice job on the sonar.

Wait a sec. Hey, I recognize that little black host:
http://jwcxz.com/projects/lasers/mxbluray/final1.jpg

That was the first laser I built. I machined a heatsink like this:
http://jwcxz.com/projects/lasers/mxbluray/hsink_revised1.png

This was back in the time of the V3 lavadrives so they needed a lot of space.

It's a great host, isn't it?

Damn, I came home from the conference to find the laser not working. Turns out the end of my dummy battery had rusted, lol. Ah well, I covered the whole thing in foil and shoved it back in. Not the most elegant solution but any connectivity problem can be solved with enough foil

I have scopeguys Sonar that he sent to me. Was putting out I think like 100mw or so when he sent it to me and wanted me to do a little overhaul on it. I threw 2 cr123s into it and BAM 200mw. Nice little fun host. I soo miss my sonar but I absolutley hate the powder coated ones. That coating is soo easy to chip.

Hehe maybe Scopeguy will sell it to me!

Wow, that is one sweet host. Wish I had been around to get my hands on of those. I think the blu-ray symbol is awesome looking.