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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Ok, so I need to solicit help from the laser Gods...

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Dec 24, 2007
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Well, as I mentioned a few months ago before we switched boards, I was attempting to make my Rigel into a keychain. I had worked diligently on mocking up my new host and whatnot to get it to look quasi-OEM, and juuuuust as I got the laser to where I was ready for a powder coat and some glue to finalize the keychain, I pulled the diode assembly out of the Rigel and witnessed what had to be the ultimate horror for an amateur laser enthusiast such as myself:

The driver fell off of the diode.

The sad part is, this has got to be the easiest fix possible for those of you who hand make your own drivers and whatnot. Nothing broke, nothing got messed up, the soldering simply lost it's hold on the driver and fell off after about twenty times in and out of the CNI case and the keychain.

Sounds like an easy fix right? Yup, I thought so too.

I commenced to make probably the worst mistake I could possibly have made.... I tried to fix it. I tried to solder it back (and I'm quite possibly the world's worst solderer) not to much avail. I did seem to close the circuit because the laser works again, but I can only get a very dim orange dot out of it. I'm not sure if I didn't do it quite correctly or if I just used crappy solder.

I am hoping one of you benevolent laser gods would be willing to help me. I would imagine this would be a five minute fix for one of the masters. I don't know what this would be worth in time to one of you, but obviously I'm willing to barter.

I would really appreciate some help from one of you on this.

Thanks in advance,

Rob
 





mmykle

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Dude that sucks, I'm not a laser 'god', but I've gone through PLENTY of good diodes before. Many times it's a stupid mistake by me like cracking the glass in the diode. But I remember the very first diode I broke died due to me trying to hook up the driver to the laser diode, while there was power going to it, with just some thin wire and no alligator clips. This proved fatal because the power 'jumped' from the wire to the pin through the air while they were very close but not touching causing the diode to be turned on and off VERY FAST. So fast, that the light seems to be continuous. This spells instant death for laser diodes.

You could have also just heated the diode too much. Or you could have also made the crazy mess of optics inside become ever so misaligned. Which actually the most probable cause of your dim laser, because I've heard of green laser optics doing this and because yellow lasers are crazy hard to get to work thus need a ton optic converting... stuffs.
 
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I'm not entirely sure your diode is blown. Ordinarily a blown diode would not be powerful enough to get the crystals inside that laser to produce any orange light, so if the didoe was shot, nothing would happen except a nearly imperceptible red glow. Optimistically speaking, I suspect a bad solder joint. Since it is a Rigel, I'd say you shouldn't attempt to fix it yourself until you have a chance to practice soldering a bit. I know that requires patience, but I'd hate to see all the $$ you spent on that go down the drain. Once you're confident enough that you can make a clean connection, try agan. Another option is to send it off to a member here for repair.
 
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I'm not entirely sure your diode is blown. Ordinarily a blown diode would not be powerful enough to get the crystals inside that laser to produce any orange light, so if the didoe was shot, nothing would happen except a nearly imperceptible red glow. Optimistically speaking, I suspect a bad solder joint. Since it is a Rigel, I'd say you shouldn't attempt to fix it yourself until you have a chance to practice soldering a bit. I know that requires patience, but I'd hate to see all the $$ you spent on that go down the drain. Once you're confident enough that you can make a clean connection, try agan. Another option is to send it off to a member here for repair.

Thanks, I'm confident too that it's my poor soldering that is the cause of this problem. I have a deal worked out with one of the most respected and experienced laser gods here who agreed to help me fix this problem. The laser's already been shipped off to him, and he's going to fix it when he gets a break in his busy schedule.

Apparently, drivers coming off of the diode is, while not common, not unheard of on CNI lasers when people mess with them. This won't even be the first Rigel this person has fixed this problem for.

Thanks guys! :)
 

cust11

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A "cold solder" condition could be very possible! The solder joints may feel solid but they very well may not be. Did you use lead based solder or silver based solder? I will explain the visual differences below.

Lead base:
good - somewhat shiney/reflective solder joint
bad - a dull/rough appearance

Silver base
good - The solder joint should look like "aluminum"
bad - a dull grainy appearance

Silver solder joints are much harder to identify "cold" due to the reflow and physical properties.

-Mike
 
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^Glad to hear you found someone who can help. Any yellow laser tends to be expensive, so it's good to hear that you'll most likely be able to enjoy it for some time yet..
 
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If anything ends up being messed up on it and you want to recover any of your losses, I will definitely buy it!!!

I've been looking for a broken yellow DPSS forever with no luck. :D
 
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If anything ends up being messed up on it and you want to recover any of your losses, I will definitely buy it!!!

I've been looking for a broken yellow DPSS forever with no luck. :D

I'll definitely keep that in mind. :)
 




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