Newbie with 803T - advice

just ordered a 803T hd dvd drive from geeks.com

im a laser newb. i understand i need to obtain a good driver and such.

my first question on this project is - i understand this sled has two diodes, a UV and an IR

ideally I'd like to practice with the IR diode first, just to kind of get myself some practice is this possible?

i want a burning IR. a mini micro one that uses CR lithiums. then work my way to a high powered blu ray.

i want to find a good host that supports CR2 batterys as I have a muckton of them !

one battery only and something small

any recommendations?

heres a good flashlight but it $20.. id like to limit my spending

store.advancedmart.com/chbr5waledke.html

20 bucks.. im trying to find something cheaper maybe ill take some aluminum tubing and just fabricate my own?

dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1255 - that currently takes double A's can the assembley be removed to allow cr2s?

i really want to make uses of this pack of CR2 batterys i have getting old in my closet.. so that would be desireable.

and i want something mini and compact!

Hey kinesis welcome to the forums. I see 2 problems here. One is that the diodes you get out of a non burner sled will not be powerful enough to burn. If you would like a burning ir diode then you could harvest one from a cd burner, witch would only be around 80mw. You could buy one off another website such as ebay but that defeats the purpose of harvesting one for practice. The second problem is that you would need a drlava driver to run it of 1 battery, also a rkcstr driver may work im not sure. Make sure that you have laser gogles specified for the wavelenght you are working with, esecialy ir because it is invisible to our eyes. Be carefull!!!

I have destoroyed many diodes :'( and now I have just goten used to it lol. ;D

i imagine the IR diode in the 803T is for burning. this came from the drive on geeks.com that not only plays HD DVD movies(UV diode) it also burns dvd+-r and rw. check the specs:
(this drive is a bargain and discussed in another part of this forum) apparently there is both an IR and UV diode in the carriage assembly. I imagine the IR is for burning and the UV is for reading. the 803T toshiba sled is noted for its more powerful UV diode, which is capable of putting up around 80mW at 90mA.

# Compatible Standards - Read:
# HD DVD: HD DVD-ROM (Singel Layer, Dual Layer). Twin Format HD DVD
# DVD: DVD-ROM (DVD-5, DVD-9, DVD-10, DVD-18), DVD-R (for Authoring & for general), DVD-R for Dual layer,
# DVD-RW, DVD+R Single Layer, DVD+R Dual Layer, DVD+RW Single Layer
# CD-ROM: CD-DA, CD+(E) G, CD-MIDI, CD-TEXT, CD-ROM, CD-ROM XA, MIXED MODE CD, CD-I, CD-I Bridge
# (Photo-CD, Video-CD), Multi-session CD (Photo CD, CD-Extra, CD-R, CD-RW, Portfolio)
product:
geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=BLK-SD-H802A-DO-R

at $25 after shipping it is a killer bargain. if i dont mess up the diodes ill have both a furious burning IR and a pretty potent UV pointer.

they discuss this particular deal here :

laserpointerforums.com/forums/YaBB.pl?num=1210732931 - if you read this thread you'll see pics of the 803T assembly and it does have both UV and IR - what a BARGAIN

and thank you kindly for the warm welcome
oops, it doesnt burn! i noticed that says "read" - you're right. haha oh well. i still get a little IR diode to play with before i mess with anything. but i still get a more powerful UV diode.

and yes according to the other forum i posted above, the UV diode within this drive is capable of 100mW or so at 90mA (80mW after lens assembly)

i want to know the best lens assembly to use with this also. something compact that'll fit in a little flashlight. i would ideally love to use my CR2 batterys i have that may start leaking acid if i dont make use of them soon

so to start:

1) Lens assembly - I hear of two companies - Meredith and Aixiz - What is the BEST and most compact colimating assembly that I can use, URL to it, and I'll buy it now. I also need something with heatsinking as I don't want to burn out the diode. i heard it may be necessary to swap a lens in a meridith with an aixiz to get the optimum output power from the UV diode, information on what it is i need and url's to purchase it would be quite nice

2) Materials, Ill need tweezers, solder and grounding strap, Recommed a special type of solder ? I hear removing the diode is a pain. I want to do it right. i have access to a dremel if necessary to surgically remove it.

3) Housing (or 'host' as ive heard it called) I want something that will fit my CR2 batterys

4) I hear of two drivers rckstr and lavadrive. rckstr is pre set for 90mA i believe according to what they were saying on the 803T thread

edit for #4: found the rckstr driver , ill have it pre tested and tuned. im gettng advice on that subject from the thread about the 803T's above

this is what i'm going to do:

(I cant post links yet so search the forums for 1210525544)

Well, it sounds like you're on the right track... you've obviously done some homework here... but really, I'd advise against playing with the IR diode, especially for your first laser.

You won't be able to see anything, you won't know if it even works, you will have no way to focus it, so you'll never burn anything, the IR diodes in burners and such are never really more than 120mW, meaning you might get a little smoke if you manage to focus it properly, but again, since you have no way of seeing if you're focusing it properly, you're a lot more likely to blind yourself than to actually burn anything.

Note that looking at the burning spot of any high powered laser is dangerous, invisible lasers even more so... your eyes won't know to blink or squint even though you're getting a blinding amount of light.

If you want some practice, try grabbing a red diode out of an old dvd burner... it'll be a lot easier to see if you're doing it right, and a lot harder to blind yourself without noticing..

Oh, and PS: the HD diode isn't Ultraviolet, it's Violet. If it were UV, you couldn't see it. It's near UV, but it's certainly visible.

pseudolobster said:

Oh, and PS: the HD diode isn't Ultraviolet, it's Violet. If it were UV, you couldn't see it. It's near UV, but it's certainly visible.

Click to expand...

It's called "near" Ultra Violet.

Peace,
dave

I bet you didn't use the 10% off code like I didn't... twice.

The lavadrive2 is probably the best driver you can use for this, but it costs $22 + $3 shipping, but will more than likely be the easiet for you to bother with.  Waiting to get a new diode is always the worst when you burn it out.  So invest in a good driver.

Cool i just bought like $70 worth of stuff at radio shack and the 99 cent store. Silver solder .022 gauge, 15 watt grounded soldering iron (for fine electronics), grounding strap and their expensive digital pocket multimeter for $33 after tax. a compact screwdriver kit, at the 99 cents store you wont believe what you can find. i even got a cool little toolbox, a neat el-cheapo toolkit containing a pair of mini needle nose pliers, more screwdrivers, and a magnifying glass. i also got a mini screwdriver kit at home depot. anything else i need? is that multimeter good enough for this application or too good? its this:
radioshack.com/sm-22-range-pocket-digital-multimeter--pi-2104114.html

ok i did some digging around and i have about 12 Powerizer CR123A lithium cells that I need to make use of. My ideal flashlight host would utilize these. Any suggestions?
heres something cool i found, looks like CR123A flashlights are real common(and it doesnt have the word police on it!!!):
cgi.ebay.com/New-Water-Resist-Torch-CR123A-Police-Light-Flashlight_W0QQitemZ270243611125QQihZ017QQcategoryZ16037QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

by the way thanks a ton in advance for your help

Argh no!  Radio Shack should only be visited if you need something immediately, and certainly not for any tools you want to "invest" into.  You know you're getting ripped off when you're paying a buck for a $0.05 component in a package you can hang on a hook.

Put your silver solder away.  From what I gather, you live in the USA, where we're not bound by RoHS laws which prevent us from purchasing solder containing lead in it.  Why use tin/lead solder?  It melts at a lower temperature, so you have less chance of damaging components, it's cheaper than silver or other kinds of solder, and just overall easier to work with.  

Buy a 1 pound spool of good tin/lead solder.  I was given a spool of Kester Flux "88" 0.031" diameter solder as a gift, but you can buy it here for $22/spool.  I received it like 4 years ago, and I haven't even made a dent in it after quite a few projects.  It'll last you forever.  Why 0.031" diameter?  It's thin, but not too thin--perfect for electronics work.  It's also 63% tin 37% lead--a "eutectic" blend, which makes it solidify without mid-transition states.

For your soldering iron, the one you got is probably okay for now to practice with, etc. However, I would quickly upgrade to something a little bit nicer.  Something like this is pretty decent, and it's a good brand as well.  What's nice is that you can adjust the temperature for whatever job you need.  It has a screwdriver (flat) tip, so you might want to buy a sharp pencil tip as well depending on what you need.  I went ahead and got an Aoyue hot air rework station + soldering iron for $173 (shipped) from Amazon.com and am quite pleased with it.  It might be overkill for you for now however.

That multimeter will probably be just fine.  However, I had an old one from Radio Shack that would only display up to 200mA of current.  Some of these lasers use more than 200mA and having more range would be useful for that.

Hosts and batteries (and charger) can be purchases on the cheap from Deal Extreme.  Some like using a Dorcy Jr. flashlight, which you can buy on Senkat's store.

On the subject of Deal Extreme, you can get your pliers, wire stripper (I'm really happy with this one) and other good stuff.

Finally, you can get some nice high-power red laser diodes at Senkat's store along with other stuff like laser modules and other things at a good price.  Don't forget the 10% off code ("LPFROX!")!

ok well radioshack was convienent i didnt want to risk buying a bunch of stuff online paying for shipping then accidently getting the right or wrong stuff having to muck with shipping it back for refunds or exchanges. i may well return what i bought from them. i dont have access to a lot of resources in my area my girl friend was nice enough to take me to radioshack to get the things i needed. do i really need a $33 multimeter ? iheard sears has ones for $20 but i wanted something accurate, right? i dont have much $$$ to invest in very expensive stuff so I wanted to keep my materials investment to under $100 USD.. plus another $100 for stuff like meredith optics, the driver, flashlight housing, hd dvd rom drive, etc. maybe sell it when im done to make that money back and build another one

i want to use this tiny flashlight and create a CR123A pocket minimicro 80mW (or higher) 405nm pointer -
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Watt-CR123-Bl...kparms=72:552|39:1|65:12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

in fact, SOLD. just bought the thing. $11 for a micro flashlight housing its going to be one amazing piece.

kinesis said:

ok well radioshack was convienent i didnt want to risk buying a bunch of stuff online paying for shipping then accidently getting the right or wrong stuff having to muck with shipping it back for refunds or exchanges. i may well return what i bought from them.  i dont have access to a lot of resources in my area my girl friend was nice enough to take me to radioshack to get the things i needed.  do i really need a $33 multimeter ? iheard sears has ones for $20 but i wanted something accurate, right?   i dont have much $$$ to invest  in very expensive stuff so I wanted to keep my materials investment to under $100 USD.. plus another $100 for stuff like meredith optics, the driver, flashlight  housing, hd dvd rom drive, etc. maybe sell it when im done to make that money back and build another one

i want to use this tiny flashlight and create a CR123A pocket minimicro 80mW (or higher) 405nm pointer -
http://cgi.ebay.com/3-Watt-CR123-Bl...kparms=72:552|39:1|65:12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

in fact, SOLD. just bought the thing. $11 for a micro flashlight housing its going to be one amazing piece.

Click to expand...

I bought a Digital Multi meter at sears for $10 which works great, $33 sounds alright though if you like it.

and the best place to order the dorcy jr flashlight from is [link=http://www.dorcydirect.com/p-15-41-4262-45-lumens-1-watt-led-flashlight-with-cr123-battery.aspx]straight from dorcy[/link] which is a bit cheaper than senkat sells as dorcy is the manufacturer and retailer. The great thing about the dorcy jr is that it has the driver that you need already built into the flashlight, so you just remove the original LED and solder on a resistor (not sure what value for blu rays, maybe around 50 - 100 ohm? I'm sure someone else will know ) and your laser module.

You can use the meredith optics which will work fine, a cheaper (i think it's cheaper anyways) solution might be an [link=http://www.hightechdealz.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=9]Aixiz laser module[/link] which will work just as well.

good luck, don't be afraid to keep asking questions, its the only way to learn.

once you start soldering everything if you have questions it sometimes helps to take a picture of what you are trying to do and ask everyone what to do.

daguin said:

[quote author=pseudolobster link=1212950594/0#4 date=1212968236]
Oh, and PS: the HD diode isn't Ultraviolet, it's Violet. If it were UV, you couldn't see it. It's near UV, but it's certainly visible.

Click to expand...

It's called "near" Ultra Violet.

Peace,
dave
[/quote]

Yeah, thanks Dave, that's why I said

pseudolobster said:

...It's near UV, but....

Click to expand...