So i decided to crack open my dvd burner...

and much to my dismay, i couldnt find the diode... man i feel kinda dumb.  

can someone point me in the right direction?  is this thing even usable?  I just wanted to make a burning laser pointer.

its in this sled i cant really tell but it should have a ribbon or wires going in it

I don't think so, John.

It looks like he's removed only the lens assembly from the sled.  Your arrow is pointing to the lens assembly.  

If you look at the part that is still in the drive you can see the heat sink in the lower right hand corner and the mirror(s) near the center.

Look under that "finned" looking part in the lower right hand corner of the part still stuck in the drive.

What is the type and burning "speed" of the drive?

Peace,
dave

uhmm ok I've never done one of those I'll shut up now ;D ;D ;D :-X :'(

john lawson said:

uhmm ok I've never done one of those I'll shut up now  ;D ;D ;D :-X :'(

Click to expand...

Don't "shut up." I don't recognize the sled. My suggestion is just another potential based on the picture.

Peace,
dave

I'm pretty sure its not in the sled, i looked and its just a piece of glass. Is this it?

Did you look under the "finned" part in the lower right hand corner of the picture? Either remove the "finned" part or remove the rest of the sled so you can remove the covering on what would be the "under side" of the sled (in the picture)

Peace,
dave

is this it?

mnishimura00 said:

is this it?

Click to expand...

Looks like you found it/them

Do both of the "parts" have "pins" on one side and a "window" on the other?

How many pins are on the one that has the "window" facing us in the picture?

Peace,
dave

[highlight]**EDIT**[/highlight]  I'm headed out for dinner. Can someone take the hand off?

mnishimura00 said:

is this it?

Click to expand...

Yep, that looks like two diodes connected by a ribbon cable. One of them should be red and the other is infrared. I'd venture to guess the one on the right of the picture is the infrared one and the one on the left is the red, but that's just a wild guess.

Check the number of pins on each diode, the red one will certainly have 3 pins, while the infrared ones sometimes have different numbers of pins. See if you can get them out of their little metal heatsinky dealies by grabbing them with two sets of pliers or diagonal cutters, and torquing. The metal is brittle and should snap pretty easily. Take some closeup pictures once you've harvested them, hopefully we can identify them for you.

Also, as Daguin said above, what speed of burner was this from?

I'm pretty sure its a 16x burner, could be less though. Is that gonna be a problem?

I also broke off a small piece of glass while trying to extract the diode. Is that bad?

Thanks for your help guys.

mnishimura00 said:

I'm pretty sure its a 16x burner, could be less though.  Is that gonna be a  problem?

Click to expand...

No problem, just wondering because generally speaking the faster the burn speed of the burner, the more powerful the diode... Given its speed we should be able to suggest a safe current range to run it at.

mnishimura00 said:

I also broke off a small piece of glass while trying to extract the diode.  Is that bad?

Click to expand...

Don't worry, if anything that'll increase output, just make sure not to let any dust etc get inside the can.

So, do you have a multimeter? Does it have a diode test setting? If so, you can try using that to test which one is red and which is IR... Using the diode test on a multimeter should give you a dim red glow for the red one, and the IR one should be either completely invisible or a very, very dim dark red glow. The IR should also show a lower forward voltage on the meter.
Once you've figured out which is which, press the red one into your aixiz module, attach a current regulated driver, try setting it to 250-300mA. (that is, assuming it's a 16x of a good brand... if it's a lower speed or a lousy brand you might want to drive it at a lower current. Post the model number and brand of the burner and we should be able to help further)

Just to help out here is how to use the meter....

Regards rog8811