Building My own laser

Hello, As you can see this is my first post. I have always like lasers, but am not very experince with them and would like to be. Almost a guru of lasers. My goal is to build a homemade laser for underabout 60$ and is about 125 mw  This will be my first time building a laser. I want to fit it into a small flash light casing.

My goal:

Red
Put into a small metal casing flashlight
125-200 mw

You are going to need more than 30 bucks to build a high powered laser.

Get a laser diode pre-installed in an aixiz module.
Either build this driver (here's the video tutorial) or buy one, here's another one.
You could also skip the driver, get a resistor and do this mod, here's the video tutorial.

From my researching into this you'll need around 50 bucks to build a good high powered red laser. The guy above me listed the stuff though.

Which one is better for a more powerful laser that can run constant. Driver or resistor

driver. 100%

Is the beam visble through the air or can you only see the dot.

P.S Doesnt matter just a little curious

That depends on the power of the laser, how much stuff is in the air (dust, smoke, humidity, etc.) and how dark the place where you're shinning the laser is.

EDIT:

NS0201 said:

Which one is better for a more powerful laser that can run constant. Driver or resistor

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If you use a resistor alone the current won't be regulated and therefor as the batteries start to drop in power, the laser diode will too. But since the dorcy jr. has a boost driver this won't be a problem. The power is decided mainly by how many mA you put into the diode.

How powerful is pre-installed diode and is the dvd burner like in the kipkay video more powerful? But also how long does it last compared to the other one.

Overall which is the best choice for how long it last and power.

Remeber I want a power of 125-200 mw

NS0201 said:

How powerful is pre-installed diode and is the dvd burner like in the kipkay video more powerful? But also how long does it last compared to the other one.

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Kipkay video = crap. All he does is connect the diode straight up to the batteries without any protection. If you want your diode to last long then you should make or buy a driver for it. You can still kill it if you put to much current into it, if you leave it on for a long time and the diode overheats, etc. The overall life of the diode depends on lots of things.

NS0201 said:

Overall which is the best choice for how long it last and power.

Remeber I want a power of 125-200 mw

Click to expand...

Your best choice is to get the diode pre installed in the aixiz housing so you don't have to take it out of a DVD burner and press it in tha housing yourself, then get a driver or do the dorcy mod which I posted a link to above.

Here's a graph of the StonTek diodes' performance:



I recommend you don't drive the diode above 350mA, just to be safe. At 350mA it will surely output well over 200mW.

At What levels should safety goggles be used. And should I be worried about radation, Ir, and any other things?

NS0201 said:

At What levels should safety goggles be used.  And should I be worried about radation, Ir, and any other things?

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You should use safety goggles but you don't have to if you're careful, just don't point it at people or yourself. I just got a pair of StoneTek's goggles and they are awesome, Wickedlasers makes them.

you don't need to worry about radation, there is no IR, it is 650nm light, IR is like 808 and > nm light.

good luck

NS0201 said:

At What levels should safety goggles be used. And should I be worried about radation, Ir, and any other things?

Click to expand...

Keep in mind that I am NOT using sales as a reason for my answer - I have always held this opinion, even before I started selling anything !

You MUST use safety goggles if you plan on using a laser over 5mw in power. Now - lots of people don't use them, but they are taking the health of their eyes into their own hands, so to speak. Goggles do lots of things - primarily, they are there to provide you enough time to blink in the event of a direct hit from a reflected beam, or being fumble-fingered ! Without the goggles on, you WILL lose eyesight if you suffer a direct hit. you only get 2 eyes this time around life - use your eyes to shop for the best prices on legitimate safety goggles, and you will be happier in the long run. There are a ton of posts in the safety section of the forum regarding some knock-off, or look alike goggles - and I happen to prefer the ones that Wicked sells (I sell them too now) because they are just damned good.

Whether you buy goggles is up to you, but regardless of your decision - experiment with lasers carefully - they can be dangerous if someone who is not aware how powerful they are gets a hold of them, someone could literally lose an eye over something as simple as picking up a laser, and shining it at a mirror - trying to be like a Star Trek Borg or something like that...okay, sorry for the long speech

NS0201 said:

And should I be worried about radation, Ir, and any other things?

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When I first started to research into lasers I was a bit worried about IR just as you are. Some fool on youtube was saying that you were going to go blind if you didn't use an IR filter on your home made red lasers. But as I started to learn more and more I found out he was just a dumbass who didn't know a thing about lasers because a red laser diode will only output red light (which is around 660nm) and that's it, absolutely no IR light.

sk8er4514 said:

I just got a pair of StoneTek's goggles and they are awesome, Wickedlasers makes them.

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I'm just pointing this out. Wicked doesn't manufacture the goggles. Another company does that for them. The 650nm protection Sport Elite goggles are manufactured by NoIR, but I don't know if the green and red Laser Shades are manufactured by the same company.