Need help on extracted diode

Hi

so a little while ago, i decided to take out the drive in my old laptop to see if i could find any diodes, i took it all apart, and i found a small brass heatsink, i didnt think much of it then, so i put it on top of my wardrobe

now, about 2months later, i picked it up and saw it had 3 pins at one end,i got excited, and proceeded to solder off the solder and the PCB thing attached to the pins, then i tried pushing it out of the heatsink, but it was glued in tight, so i grabbed my dremel and a small file, and long story short, i grinded the sides down and out popped a diode, it has like a silver can on the top, and the lens is slightly tinted blue if you look at it from the right angle

i dont have a camera otherwise i would have added pics, but i dont know if its bluray, red, IR, or most importantly, if it is still alive. i kept the soldering iron on for about 5seconds max, however, the grinding bit on my dremel really heated that heatsink up, i didnt grind it with the grinding stone for more than 3-4 seconds. anyway, i have the bare diode now, but i dont know what to do, should i solder wires on? i dont even know which is positive, negative and case, but like i said, the lens has a blue shine to it if that helps.

any help would be much appreciated

EDIT: i have hammered the diode into the aixiz module head i had lying around ( with the back part of the aixiz ofcourse, i didnt hammer the diode itself)

Blue lens is probably IR or red. Was it a burner or just a cd drive? If just a cd / DVD and if there was only one diode it's probably a low powered 650nm red. Most you can drive to 90mA or so without damaging them. You can find the pin out with a multimeter on the diode check range. It will read a few volts forward when the probes are on the right pins.

um, the laptop i had probably had a burning feature. do infrared diodes have the can iswell?
i have put it into the aixiz head, ill try finding out the pinout, i have used my multimeter for testing LED'S before, and if the correct pinout was acheived, the LED's would switch on with a very dim light, will this happen to my diode iswell?

well, i soldered to the pins and everything, applied heatshrink, and cause im soo impatient,i touched either end of the wires to a single AAA battery, nothing happened, i even pointed it at my laptops built in webcam, which usually picks up IR, still nothing.

i am sure iv destroyed it, but it was useless anyway, still, good practise i suppose of how to solder to diode pins.

Maybe the potential (1.5V AA) was too low? I thought reds and IR needed just over 2V? If the potential was too low, you may be lucky that it didnt drive the diode, because attaching it to a battery you havent limited the current! I would use a driver or PSU at a low current setting to test it :beer:

yh, i also just tested it with a 16340, still nothing. i dont really mind if it doesnt work, and i dont have a driver spare.
now however, i have murdered it, i wanted to push it out of the aixiz head, it wouldnt budge, so i got angry, grabbed a screwdriver, placed the screwdriver on the diode can window, and hammered it out.
to be honest, i dont really need it, i already have a red build and also some bluray diodes on the way

You're making my cringe. Hammer?!?!? Screwdriver?!?!?!? Dremel?!?!?!? Straight batteries?!?!?!?!

Man even if it didnt work it was a perfect practice piece. If you are going to build you need a light touch, patience, and the right tools. You have to be delicate and precise. Any single screw up and you just threw money out the window.

i know, but, like i said, i wasnt really bothered about this, it seemed to be a infrared diode, and the heatsink was just a solid block of brass, and nothing would penetrate it except for my dremels grinding bit. and i only used the hammer to push the diode into the aixiz, i didnt the hammer the diode itself, but only the back of the module which i was using as a press tool. still, i havnt really wasted anything

The dremel is my favourite tool. In a skilled hand a Dremel is a tool with a surgical precision.
Sometimes I cleave the heatsink with the Dremel to get the diode.
Also for getting the pcb out of the C6 pill I make a incision in the edge.

yep, i love my dremel, and i think it was great for this extraction, as the heatsink was about 1cm thick, so it would have taken me forever to file through it

These can cut brass like butter.

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And shock kills diodes if you have not heard. Use Vice grips, not a hammer. If a hammer was OK everyone would be doing it.

yep, no worries TJ, i am familiar with how diodes work etc. like i said, i didnt relly care about this diode, cause it was probably just a IR or low powered red. if it was like a 12x, then i would obviously take the neccesary precautions

If you want to test it with a battery you need to limit the current otherwise the diode will just draw an amp of current or whatever the battery can supply and destroy itself.

For a small cd or DVD burner I'd stick to below 90mA so with a 4.2 volt fully charged lithium cell, from Ohms Law that would be R=E/I or R=4.2/0.09 or 46.6 ohms (47ohms would be fine).

In case you are wondering why we don't throw all our driver boards away and use resistors, if you try this with a battery that has discharged to 3.6 volts, for I=E/R you get 3.6/47=0.076 or 76mA. Thats a pretty huge variation.

Run the numbers with a high power 455nm diode that draws 2 amps and the difference between blowing the diode up and having a working laser is a fraction of an ohm. Plus you need 5 watt resistors to dissipate the heat.

I should have replied earlier but Ive had to go interstate to see my father and was in and out of airports most of yesterday.

no worries. im planning on buying drivers for all my builds so i should be fine