Need help with my build. (First time)

Hi all,

Let me introduce to my first >5mw laser. =D

From left to right:

4 x 1.5v (AA) in series, 2 x LM317 (simple voltage and current regulator), a few resistor to control the voltage and current and lastly my laser diode at its home. =D



I choose to have 2 LM317 so that I can any power source that is acceptable and able to regulated to desire V & mA.


The two resistor (10ohm) on the right is for current regulator. It is connected to parallel. So that I can mix match to get the mA I want.


Lastly, my laser diode. This diode is a 4 pin diode and it is not a round type. It look like a IC chip. I am afraid I might damage the diode so I decide to let it stay.





Putting everything together, I get my gigantic laser pointer. =D




I have equiped it with two switches. 1 is always on and the other is push to on.


2 problems:

1. The problem is with the beam. Let take a look at the shot.

It look like some kind of targeting system. Which component cause it? So I can remove of replace to get my sweet dot.

2. Before I connect it to my 4 x 1.5v battery, I was using a switching mode power supply which I get long ago. I select it at 9v (9v 1.5A on spec 9.15v 2.9A on my multimeter). After going throught my 2 LM317 I get 3.03v and 260mA(measure at the point where diode is connected). Now I switch to battery. I still get the same output. But when I turn it on, it do not seem to be as bright as when I use the power suply.

The batteries are probably just going dead. As for that pattern it is caused by the flat square turning mirror I think, been awhile since I've played with sled optics.

Prototype said:

The batteries are probably just going dead. As for that pattern it is caused by the flat square turning mirror I think, been awhile since I've played with sled optics.

Click to expand...

So if I remove the cube optic from the sled I will not be able to get the beam out right? Meaning it cannot reflect to the desire location. Is it possible to replace the cube optic?

Yeah i recognize those dots. It's from one of the sled's optics.

You need to just remove all the sled optics and mount a standard lens in front of the diode, that would be the easiest solution.

I don't know much about optics and beam splitters and all that stuff to help you much, other than to tell you thats what is causing it.

These diodes can be tricky to harvest from those heatsink if i recall correctly.
If your wanting to keep it in it's original heatsink, you could just cut that part off with a hack saw.

You've probably spent just as much as it would of cost to buy an LPC-815, a rkcstr driver and an aixiz module.

It seems that 4 x 1.5v AA battery get drain up pretty fast on my setup. I plug in the power supply and it really shine. Is AA battery an ideal power source or I should try the 9v battery?