How Do You Harvest Blu-Ray Diodes?

I was asked by a member how I harvested blu-ray diodes. There are obviously different ways to get the same result. I thought it might be a good thread for new ones to refer too. Please share your methods!

Using heat to remove the PCB material can be damaging to the diode if too much heat is used. (not saying that it will damage the diode... just saying that clipping the pins clean, eliminates the possibility of heat damage)

I have never used heat on any of my diode harvesting. Not on the open can diodes either. The trick is to have a very fine tipped set of snips such as these in this picture. Then it's just a matter of being careful, and clipping a little at a time. After you get the hang of it, it becomes easy. The final 'cleaning' and clipping, is done vertically along the pins.

The 803T diodes have a stock heatsink that is 'brittle'. It is easily removed by using two needle nose pliers on each 'wing' of the heatsink, and carefully twisting back and forth until the heatsink cracks. Then 1/2 of the heatsink comes off, and the diode is easily removed.

For this method, the only heat used, is when soldering the lead wires to the pins. About 1 second per pin. Just a theory, but perhaps this is why my results have always been very consistent...
Jay

I've found it's much easier to clean up the PCB ribbon stuff BEFORE taking the diode out of the heatsink..

and I use a blob of solder and needle nose pliers. works great

I was surprised at how much stuff is attached to the pins of these 803T's compared to the PS3 LD's...on my first and only one, so far, it took 3 attempts with the soldering iron to get it all off.... I will do better next time now I know what to expect.....
Bottom line for me is soldering iron and a blob of solder and a tooth pick.....

Regards rog8811

yup i keep the diode in the heatsink until i can get rid of all those little annoying ribbon cables and pcbs off - i add a blob of solder so all the pins get heated at the same time and pull it off with a small needlenose

I'm glad to hear everyone else is cracking the 803's heatsink open the same way, my friend saw me pulling it apart and asked if I shoudln't be more carefull with it.

I am stuck also on the pins, especially since it has 2 layers. I've already lost one diode to heat just trying to brush off the solder or pull up the ribbon when the solder melts.
Is a blob of solder really a good way to do it, wouldn't it heat up the diode too much?
Would an ideal method be to remove the heatsink first, place heatsink pliers on the pins under the ribbon and then try and remove the ribbon.
I'm still learning how to do this as well and haven't been very lucky so far. Gonna get some practice in this weekend on a bunch of IR's.

*goodonya jayrob for having the patience to do that, it sounds like the best way but far to tedious for me.

I have the exact same snipper as you. ;D

--hydro15

i use the same one as you now, jayrob, and i have a 100% success rate - only one diode atm though

When i used heat, only one out of 4 lased after i had seen to it : ;

robjdixon said:

i use the same one as you now, jayrob, and i have a 100% success rate - only one diode atm though

When i used heat, only one out of 4 lased after i had seen to it : ;

Click to expand...

I once had to use extra solder time on a short pin for a 2 X blu-ray diode that I cut the pin short. (thinking the pin was not needed) This was in the early blu-ray drive harvest days, when I discovered the hard way about the pin connections.

That diode lasted only a short while. I believe that it was damaged by excessive heat.

Have you ever tried to hold the other end of a resistor when soldering one end of it? Even the wire (2 inches away) gets very hot with a 1 second solder. Imagine those pins, which go directly to the 'hair thin' wires less than 1/4" away at the die!

I honestly believe that heat to the pins may be causing the inconsistencies that I have been reading about people finding in these diodes...
Jay

I take off the ribbons by snipping but leave the pcb on.

For open can's where the ribbon is not flush with the base of the diode, the solder joints on the ribbon are broken when i hammer the diode into the aixiz with the back of the module.

The cutter blade made that antique a harvester. BTW that JD is in excellent condition.

We use combines.


Mule

I take two pliers and snap the heatsink in two. Vice grips work well too. If necessary, you can weaken the break points by filing them down.

i tried the 2 pliers but couldn't get a grip so i just take sharp pliers and cut the thin side the use 2 pliers.