Broken LD pins

I just purchased an NUB44 diode, and managed to sheer both pins off when I was pressing it into the heat sink.

I think I might be able to solder onto the positive pin, but my question is about the negative pin.

Is the case on this diode tied to the cathode? In other words, can I use the case instead of soldering onto the negative pin?

ghostgeek said:

I just purchased an NUB44 diode, and managed to sheer both pins off when I was pressing it into the heat sink.

I think I might be able to solder onto the positive pin, but my question is about the negative pin.

Is the case on this diode tied to the cathode? In other words, can I use the case instead of soldering onto the negative pin?

Click to expand...

That's terrible, and more than a little expensive. I am not sure anyone here has successfully re soldered a pin back onto a diode before, if you do, please let us know. As for the negative the answer is no, no blue diode is case negative, they are however case neutral. So it may be possible to make a connection from where the negative pin was to the case and then use the case, but I am skeptical about this, the heat may be too much, don't use more than a 30W iron and a drop of solder and be real quick. In theory it can work.

Alan

what the heck were you pressing it in with? FlaminPyro sells diode presses. If I were you I would grab one! It makes life a lot easier

http://laserpointerforums.com/f64/diode-press-sale-15-00-a-42590.html#post559262

They're electrical terminals - they're DESIGNED to be soldered to. Heat will not be an issue, especially if it's already mounted in a heat sink.

As mentioned above, you can still repair this diode. You can MAKE the diode case negative by simply adding a solder bridge from the case to the broken pin.

Hi. Ghost,
I've soldered a LD pin back on a 405nm/16x diode it can be done. First find a piece of wire close to the dia. Of the original. Magnification is really important here and a steady hand this is of course before the stress kicks in. Relaxe take your time as PI said minimal heat as possible. But in your case it's a 9mm diode lots more room to work with then my 405nm 3.8mm . Make the repair wire long so you can hold it in place with your fingers to get the feel. Hope it helps you brother I feel your pain $150.00 worth OUCH !!

Rich)

I recently built two BDR-209's. On the first, I couldn't find my press, so I just tried using an appropriately sized(or so I thought) steel cylinder. I blew it. The negative pin ended up coming off after trying to solder to it. I simply applied a solder blob to where the pin originally was, ensured that the positive wasn't contacting the case anywhere, and soldered the negative lead to the blob. It puts out slightly more power than the undamaged one I built. That is simply variation between the two diodes, not a result of the pin or anything, obviously.

Just make sure you solder quickly and remove the iron as soon as possible once it is in place. It should be slightly easier being a 9mm diode, but I would also be even more careful with it being a $150 diode.