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ArcticMyst Security by Avery

Cute little industrial style PL450B build

Joined
May 15, 2012
Messages
320
Points
28
I bought this 405nm laser from Techhood to see if it was a good deal. It actually was, despite only emitting 300mw instead of 500. So I cranked up the amperage! It made a pop and a smoke. Both the diver and diode were dead.
I bought a PL450B form marcuspeh and stuck it in there. I actually almost broke the diode by pushing it in too far, but thankfully it just dropped right out the front with a lot of forceful shaking. I applied thermal paste to the collimator module.
I had an ebay driver for 405's running at 220mA from the 5.5v supply. Both the leads from the fan and from the power supply wire are soldered together in pairs onto the input pads on the driver, so both the laser and fan turn on when it is plugged in. The power supply wire is just stuffed into the cylindrical driver cavity in the module and held there by friction from screwing the fan on tight.
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After 10 minutes, the laser shows signs that the components on the driver are getting kinda hot. That's the same behavior it had when it was a 405nm laser. Not sure, but the fan appears to have a thermistor on it to regulate speed better.

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pardon my bedspread

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Looking at the beam quality, the lens looks like it's made of plastic; just a hunch. 160mW from 220mA does sound pretty bad. It looks like more of a cyan to me than my 80mw 450nm pen from Laserlands did, and that's probably because this unit is receiving twice the current (455nm-460nm??). The only thing I hate about this build is that the lens/diode appear to be very slightly off center, and the beam wobbles when focusing.

Video demo:
 

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Joined
Jan 13, 2010
Messages
2,516
Points
63
Thats a nice build actually. Most cheap lasers you buy are actually the cheapest diode the manufacturer can buy and its current is cranked to its max already. As you mentioned with the 405nm diode popping, I am guessing this is the case though it could have just been that you turned the pot too much.

I noticed you saying it might have a plastic lens. That may very well be the case but from what I have seen, those singlemode diodes look like that when unfocused. It's still a circular output but doesn't look the same as a DPSS when unfocused. Pretty normal.

Now lastly you said the beam is off center. Thats probably due to the set screw (I assume your module is not press fit) coupled with the loose threads on the lens cylinder. The wobble can be fixed with a few wraps of plumbers Teflon tape.

You got some +rep for some cool beamshots and good use of spare parts (Granted those spare parts may have come from something you muffed up)
 




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